Demon of LaPlace/Diable de LaPlace/LaPlace no Ma FAQ/Walkthrough By Asplagis (aka Zettaijin) e-mail: asplagis@yahoo.com Version 2.3 (December 19th, 2003) (Version 1.0 was completed on June 12th, 2002) ****************************************************************************** I)Version history II)Introduction III)FAQ IV)Game Mechanics i)3/4 view ii)Battle view iii)Status conditions V)Skills, classes and attributes i)Classes ii)Skills iii)Attributes VI)Characters i)Main characters ii)Non-player characters (NPC) iii)Supporting cast VII)Suggestions, hints and tricks i)Balanced party ii)Suggestions and explanations regarding experience and skills iii)The infamous level-up technique VIII)Town guide -_-Walkthrough-_- | Part I - The Manor | I)First steps II)Manor walkthrough | Part II - The Castle | I)Mandatory steps/foreword II)Entering the Castle III)Basement i)Servant's Area ii)Moldiv's Area iii)Ruvan's Area iv)The Dungeon IV)First Floor i)Statue's Hall ii)Lower Area V)Second Floor i)Forest Area ii)Mirror Maze iii)Pentagram Area iv)Upper Area VII)Third Floor i)Western Island ii)Central Island iii)Eastern Island iv)Witch's Abode v)Zoo vi)Prison vii)Cassandra's Room viii)Falls VIII)Fourth Floor IX)End Game X)Mysteries XI)Bestiarum (almost complete) XII)PAR Codes XIII)Acknowledgements & Copyrights ************************************************************************ V E R S I O N H I S T O R Y ************************************************************************ Version 1.0: - First version Version 2.0: - First actual update of this guide, and a major one at that. Amongst other things: -Fixed the overall editing. -Multiple grammar/spelling mistakes corrected. -Added Azel's recent contributions. These include the addition of later psychic powers as well as some of Kusakabe's own powers. -Mysteries section updated. -Some walkthrough changes made, more specifically the trigger for the end game in Newcam. -Added the adamantium spirit machine part and associated powers and location. (Thanks to Azel for this) Version 2.1: - Second revamping of this guide to correct a few mistakes and add a few bits of information. Don't expect updates for a long while. -I placed Azel's findings regarding the last spirit machine part in the End Game section seeing as that's where it belongs. Sorry for the confusion. No, you cannot get the adamantium until the End Game is initiated. -Fixed the editing of the tables and of a few sentences. -Added the location of the last spell books to the quick FAQ section as well as in the actual walkthrough. -Although it is somewhat obvious, I made to sure to mention that the shotgun uses Bullet S(hotgun) and not Bullet P(istol). Version 2.2: - This is the third, and hopefully last, minor update of this FAQ/walkthough. This one was originally supposed to feature a few modifications/clarifications but Azel found more stuff for me to add. -By request, Azel Lacrimator shall now be known as Azel. Why? That's for me to know and you to find out. -Just so you know, Bullet S are only found in Janbon's shop. -Added a mystery at the end of the Mysteries section. -Added some information on the Zoo and its critters. -The Bestiary section was updated to include almost every possible monster. No plans to make this a full monster guide yet. -Added the location of all the spells found in the Castle outside of Suffocate (which I can't find anymore) in the FAQ section. -For the sake of being completely clear, I also added a note that you can't find Wrath of God until you've brought Janbon back to the Witch's abode. You have to finish his quest since he must absolutely tell you where to find it before it becomes available. -A 9999 EXP after each battle PAR code was added. Thanks go to Azel for the contribution. -Oh yeah, changed the damn header so that it no longer reads Version 1.0 - that was dumb, I know. -Added some credits to the folks at AGTP for their hard work at bringing us this game in English. Version 2.3: -Azel, arguably the most valuable contributor to this FAQ/Walkthrough, has come through for us again by cracking the ROM open and feasting on the gooey inside! Ok, not really, but Azel did hack the ROM in order to explore some of the remaining mysteries of this game. Check the appropriate section for more information. -Put in the location of every spell, including Suffocate (you receive it with the 4th floor Castle map). Yes, I feel dumb now. -Bestiary now called Bestiarum by special request from Azel. Considering Azel's efforts, it's only natural that I'd listen. -Changed the last part of the introduction. -Added some information on Benedict and his special attack in his profile. -Added a question to the FAQ regarding use of healing items and the healing skill. -Fixed up some typos here and there including Gideon Zhi's name. Gomen ne! ************************************************************************ I N T R O D U C T I O N ************************************************************************ LaPlace no Ma is little known RPG for the SNES in the same vein as the highly touted Sweet Home for the NES. Both share a "horror" theme and place you in the setting of a haunted house where a group of characters must investigate some strange events. But while Sweet Home placed you in the haunted mansion and left you stranded there for the whole game, LaPlace no Ma (Demon/Devil of LaPlace) allows you (until late in the game) to return to a sleepy town on the outskirts of Boston by the name of Newcam. In fact, you begin your investigation in the town itself by recruiting fellow would be adventurers in order to solve the case of missing explorers and murdered children found near the foreboding Weathertop Manor. The game thus takes on a true RPG feel by allowing you to go back and forth from the "dungeon" (the Manor and later a castle) to the town. It was translated in full by a group known as Aeon Genesis, alas the first version of the patch leaves many bugs and problems but at least the translation of the text itself was finished. Still, the game has yet to catch on with American audiences and as you can see this is the first full FAQ/Walkthrough outside of Lockescythe's small beginners' guide. To say this game is groundbreaking or even very original would be going a bit far. Whereas Sweet Home tried to challenge you with puzzles where different characters must use their unique skills to solve each one, Demon of LaPlace is more of a standard walk and talk RPG where you spend most of your time finding characters/items to reach other characters/items all the while battling or evading countless encounters with monsters of various kinds. Truth be told, multiple gaming sessions prove fatal to this game as its core weaknesses are uncovered but the first time through isn't so bad actually. It's a good game to try, however, you won't be coming back for seconds once its completed. Now then the story puts you before the mystery of the Weathertop manor - the classic haunted house that you'll find in countless horror movies and chilling tales. Children were found murdered near the Manor and now some explorers are also missing. The explorers were members of a search party out to find a little girl who had followed some boys into the Manor. Intrigued, your character takes the case and find others who have their own interests in this affair. The characters and settings bear a strong feeling of déjà vu - it feels as if you've seen all of this somewhere before... While the characters offer little in the way of personality (you don't get that much dialogue with most characters, including your own party members), their portraits do speak volumes. Every cliché in the book has been used in the making of this game and then some. No, really! You have the unshaven P.I., nerdy scientist, perky journalist, stuffy dilettante and mysterious psychic... Add to this a brave knight, a forbidden love story, a katana wielding Japanese medium, an evil wizard, a ruler who feels the ends justify the means... Quite a cast of stereotypes wouldn't you say? Oh and for the curious LaPlace refers to 18th century French mathematician/ astronomer Pierre Simon Marquis de LaPlace who did in fact present a theory featuring a "Demon" (or rather, a devil to be precise), but this game takes his theory a bit too literally... In any case, this game is short by RPG standards as level building won't take that long and you'll be out in a jiffy if you follow my walkthrough. In the end this is an enjoyable way to kill some time, just don't expect a classic RPG. As major contributor Azel suggests, the folks at Vic Tokai were either lazy or in a rush to complete the game as there are countless dead ends and unimplemented/unfinished quests. Of course, this FAQ/walkthrough is now almost in its final stage but feel free to send me comments/suggestions/ideas/discoveries/questions/money if you feel like it. All are welcome to contact me on the matter of this FAQ. Also, check out my Hokuto no Ken II walkthrough for the NES (Aaaaa-tatatatatatatatatata!) ************************************************************************ F A Q ************************************************************************ This section is intended for those gamers who either: a)already played this game a bit and seek answers to specific questions b)players who don't want to read too many spoilers c)lazy gamers who don't want to read a full walkthrough Whether you're a, b or c (or a combination of them) you should find answers to the more commonly asked questions regarding the game. As for who asked these questions, I'd say most came from the Demon of LaPlace message board on GameFAQs and on RPG Classics (Daria's now inactive RPG Classics by the way) as well as my own self when first starting out. Q: My initial stats suck! What can I do to remedy that situation? A: Get stat boosting rings from the merchant in the Castle (3rd floor, eastern island, need 6+ in Parley and plenty of money) or re-roll them by refusing the character you're given at the start (simply say no when asked if everything is ok at the stats screen, make your life easier by saving beforehand). Q: What are good stats to begin with? A: In truth, you'll notice that the scores seem to be pre-rolled and eventually "loop". I suggest you pick the one with the highest rating in Will, Resistance and Evade since those attribute seem to affect MP/HP growth (Will is confirmed, the others are not). Q: There are bodies in the manor and LockeScythe tells me I should bring them back to town for a reward. However, I can't carry them back! What gives? Do I need a bodybag? A: No, you need nothing to carry them back. The one found on the first floor (with the pendant) is linked to a small quest, thus you can't carry him back right away. Try finding the maniac or other bodies on the second floor or basement first. Examine the corpse and you'll be asked if you want to go back to town. Q: I found some pentagram what it's good for? A: If you mean a pentagram on the floor then you've just found one of the essential elements of the Manor. You need to meet up with one of the Manor's numerous friendly spirits who resides in the upper part of the first floor (room right above the Demon Door, check the bed) - she'll tell you what you need to do with those pentagrams. If you meant a pentagram item found on a shelf in the Castle, that's an item you can equip. It gives you +1 in physical protection (it is also sold by the merchant and Janbon later on). Q: Water is blocking my way in the Manor, how do I get rid of it? A: Well, find the room below this one and drain the water! Just examine the statue in the basement's equivalent of this room. Q: OK, I'm stuck! I apparently haven't found every pentagram, help! A: That's not a question you know. I guess we'll see what we can do here... 1st floor: In the room with water, drain the water and go down the path that opens up. Basement: 1)Take the stairs you reach from the main hallway on the first floor. Go left, then up until you reach the place with a body. One of the rooms has the pentagram (you get a message as you enter). It's protected by a spirit, so make sure you have some sacred salts! 2) In a complicated sequence of events, you need to open Benedict's study and find the secret passage to the cemetery. Before the cemetery, take the passage to the left and up the door, following the path into a previously barred area of the first floor. Take the stairs down and search for a pentagram in one of the adjacent rooms. 2nd floor: The room on the far lower right, the greenhouse, has a pentagram protected by Manplants. There's a fifth pentagram used as a warp zone between the Manor and the Castle. Q: Help! These spirits are invincible! A: Depends on which spirit you mean... The pentagram spirit is vulnerable to the sacred salts and other spirits are weak against MP attacks (psychic powers and silver weapons) only. Q: I'm still on level 2! Ack! Can't I gain more levels? A: The maximum level is 10 and, no, gaining EXP in this game is not easy, in fact, it's almost impossible to level up with battles alone! The only solution is to perform every quest and, if you feel cheap, abuse the infamous level up technique. But you don't need to go much further than level 6 to be more than powerful enough to defeat the last boss. Q: What's the technique? A: It has its own section, but long story short it's a way to use the emulator's turbo option to gain levels quickly by battling a regenerating foe. Think of it as a more contemporary version of an old bug (see Zelda 2 and countless others). Q: Where's the bible? A: Under the butler's bed. Q: How do you purify the maniac? A: No clue, it's in the Mysteries section. Q: The bell won't ring! A: Have you saved Benedict's mother (well, her spirit anyhow) and destroyed all four pentagrams? Q: How do I cross the gap in the forest/cave area of the Castle? A: Use the deceased finger you got from the old alchemist on the second floor. Q: Can I save more than one NPC at a time? A: No, and don't even try as you're reducing your EXP rewards by letting an NPC go without solving his/her quest. Take out one at a time, starting with Adolph, then Beyond, Kusakabe and the others in any order you please. Q: No one wants to talk to me! They keep running away when I approach them! A: Have you checked your breath? Seriously, gain more Parley skill first. Some characters/creatures require a higher level than others. Q: Where's that iron heart thingy monsters keep talking about? A: On a table in the Master Servant's room - the table is right next to the door. Q: OK, I found the heart, used it on the statue near the waterway... now what? A: The water in the basement will have dropped, allowing you to pass right through. Remember the small patch of dry land with a statue in the basement? Try passing through there. Q: Can I do anything for those poor aristocrats' spirits? A: At this point this is still a mystery. As far as me and Azel are concerned it's probably an unimplemented/unfinished quest. Q: What's this about a secret mechanism in a statue? A: One statue outside the first floor's gate requires the iron heart to drain water from the basement. The other, in the first floor's statue hall, must be examined and then use holy oils (bought at the store) on it to reveal a Spirit Machine part. Q: The store doesn't carry holy oils! A: Have you tried visiting after checking out the castle's second floor? They will sell new items. Q: Can I do anything with the second maniac? A: Again, another unsolved mystery. Q: What does the Holy cup do? A: It replaces the Talisman as a means to be rid of the Skeletal Knight. Q: I have Joanna in my party and the game bugs when I use her psychic powers! A: Must be something wrong with the patch, but it's normal so don't worry about it. I suggest you avoid keeping Joanna too long and solve her quest as soon as possible. If you're in the market for a good medium, I suggest you stick with Kusakabe. Q: How can I heal that hunter? A: Remember that plant you found in the Manor's greenhouse (far right room on the 2nd floor)? Otherwise, try the Beezo Stone found on a table in Adolph's room. You may need 6+ in clue to find it though. Q: The spirit of the boatman tells me about a secret room, where is it? A: In the mirror maze find the mirror that doesn't teleport you and use a mirror (the item) on it. Go outside the pentagram room and into the maid's room. You should be able to find it in the back room. Q: The merchant refuses to sell me anything! A: As I said, you need at least a skill level of 6 in Parley! Q: How do those skill boosting items work? A: The charm glass, eye ring and Spirit Machine power all give you a skill level according to your actual level. So, a level 6 dilettante has a level 6 clue skill with the eye ring equipped, and a level 4 scientist with Translator has level 4 in Parley (even if he usually has no Parley skill). Q: I keep dropping the items I find on tables! A: Strange as it sounds, high levels/luck make you more prone to dropping items it seems. Q: Can't heal in battles, what gives? A: Use spells (Restore, Heal, Treat) or items such as Heal Medecine (HealMeds), medical kits won't work in battle. Q: Why do some characters make better use of healing items? My P.I. can't seem to heal more than 1-4 HP using medium healing items! A: The higher the Healing skill, the more HP you'll heal when using an item. Remember, it affects the act of using medecine on someone, not the effects it has on you. The same goes for the Psychic skill and MP recovery items. Q: Too many encounters... must... try... to... stay alive! Ugghhh... A: Urr yeah, well in the unlikely event that Mr. Shatner is reading this, I'll give it to you in Shatner speak: must... find... crystal... pole... for... Spirit Machine... on the fourth floor. Or, you could just try that emotion control spell - it seems to reduce encounters... I think... Q: Is there a map to the third floor of the Castle? A: Yes there is, but they got tricky and hid it on the first floor! Find the bottom left room and search the servant's chambers. Q: While you're at it, where are all the maps in the game located? A: Manor Basement map found on body of explorer 1st floor map in the lower right most room 2nd floor map in Benedict's father's room (up from the stairs and turn left) Castle Basement map in one of the apprentice's rooms (first door up and right) 1st floor map in the bottom right room of the Statue Hall 2nd floor map gained after you talk to old alchemist twice 3rd floor map in bottom left room of 1st floor 4th floor map from old lady who spins yarn Q: Guns or melee weapon? A: For a lone P.I., combat is good due to the Holy Sword's usefulness, but with the machine gun found late in the game, it becomes a difficult choice. For dilettantes - or in case you have a second P.I. - it's up to you to decide. Think of it this way: you won't get the better melee weapons until the second half of the game while guns are superior up until you find the Holy Sword. But, you find some powerful guns very late in the game. Remember that the most powerful gun can only be equipped by a P.I., but the Holy Sword can be used by anyone - just decide according to what best suits your party and playing style. Q: How do I kill Ruvan??? A: If this is your first battle with him, there's nothing you can do but wait until he steals your mistletoe wand, the battle will end after three or four rounds. During your second encounter use the ring LaPlace gave you. Q: I'm told the Witch sells stuff - why won't she sell anything to me? A: Janbon will sell stuff much, much later on in the game... Q: I've searched everywhere but can't find the damn books for the last spells! A: Again, once the end game is initiated, speak to Janbon on the 3rd floor. Pick the option "Books" and you'll find that you can buy the last spells at 100$ a pop! Wrath of God, by the way, was lost in the haystack so look for it there after completing Janbon's quest. Q: While you're at it, where can I find every other spell in the game? A: Most of the spells are easy to find so long as you search every room with a high clue skill. Most are noted in the walkthrough but for the record, you can find the following spells in the Castle (Manor spells are very easy to find and you'll eventually bump into every one of them): Castle Basement - Night Demon (in Adolph's actual room and not his cell) Demon Beast (in one of the rooms to the left of the stairs near a small patch of land surrounded by water in the lower half of the basement) Destroy (Ruvan's room) 1st Floor - Electric Attack aka Shock (use upper exit in 4 statues room, check the room on the left) Holify (use lower exit in 4 statues room, check room on the left) 2nd Floor - Plague (kill off the griffon as per the thief's quest) 3rd Floor - Medical Treatment aka Heal (in upper left room of middle island) Emotion Cloud (right above the merchant in the east island) This leaves us with Suffocate which can be obtained easily on the 4th floor. Just talk to the old lady who spins yarn a first time to get the 4th floor map, she'll give you Suffocate along with it. Mind you it rarely works and tends to be rather useless for strong parties. Q: How do I navigate through the maze with invisible walls? A: Make your way up and right - did notice how your characters huddle when hugging a wall and regain their spread formation if there's an open space? Use this to guide yourself and remember to never go too far left and down, always go back right and up as soon as you've passed the obstacle. Or just do as Azel suggests and use ZSNES to disable BG layer 3. However, this will not reveal everything in the maze, it will simply allow certain walls to be visible and give you an idea of where you're heading. If you see a grey/black wall of some kind then you'll know you're getting close. Q: The cut scene with Benedict and Cassandra is garbled! A: Again a problem related to the patch. Try keeping a Japanese ROM image and restoring a saved state to see the scene in question. *********************************************************************** G A M E M E C H A N I C S *********************************************************************** This section is devoted to issues of game control, menus and overall gameplay. Seeing as the game isn't too complicated, I'm simply going to mention those aspects of the game which might need a little explanation. First off, the game has three modes: town map, inside a building and battle. The Town Map view offers little to do outside choosing the building you want to enter by placing the cursor over it and pressing A, so we'll skip it. ### 3/4 view ### In a building, you press the A to talk/search/examine - it's your action button. B allows you to dash, X brings up the menu screen and Y allows you to view a map of the Manor/Castle floor you're on (granted you've found the map in question). R/L have no apparent functions and neither does the select button. ### Battle view ### In battle, everything is menu based. You start off by being prompted to either Fight, Run or Talk. You choose your option and press A. If you change your mind, press B to go back one screen. Talking will result in establishing contact with whomever or whatever is standing before you, but to work, you need to have at least some skill in Parley. Running seems to depend upon your Luck attribute. Fighting puts you in a new, glitchy screen. Your choices are as follow: Fight Magic Defend Item Special Status (invisible) The Fight commands makes your character use whatever he/she has in his hands at the time. Thus a Scientist would be prompted to choose one of two Spirit Machine functions while the Journalist would take a picture (if they had a weapon, then they'd attack with it) Defending reduces damage, of course, but at the cost of your turn for the character. Magic allows you to cast a spell or use a psychic power. Joanna will be given a choice between Exorcising an immaterial undead and using a psychic power, while Kusakabe has a choice between regular powers and special powers available only to him. Special isn't available until the meter under your stats (HP/MP) reaches MAX either by fighting, getting hit or being surprised. Once it does, you're given the option to use it and as soon as you do, the meter goes back down. Think of it as this game's equivalent of Limit Breaks. Item brings up your item list and Status shows the character's current status (what he/she has equipped, overall status, HP/MP etc.) - pretty simple and self-explanatory stuff. ### Status Conditions ### While exploring you might find traps or merely spooky events (a piano playing by itself, an eerie voice coming out of a cabinet) that scare your characters or might poison them (insects lurking in beds). You might also suffer from these status ailments in battle, not to mention how you risk being paralysed or confused. Scared: Brings down your max HP/MP total until you get rest at the Hotel or use a stun dart on a character. You often get scared when surprised by enemies or when you run into unsuspected danger. Paralysed: Character can't move, very rare. Use an item to heal. Confused: You're berserk and end up losing control of the character's actions. He/she might attack the enemy or him/herself. A hit by the enemy cures this condition. Poisoned: You gradually lose HP as you walk. Antidotes can cure this. Dead: Your character appears in a bodybag when exploring the manor/Castle/ Town, how cute! Seriously though, either use a Sage Stone or go to the Hospital for a treatment (300$) **************************************************************************** C L A S S E S, S K I L L S & A T T R I B U T E S **************************************************************************** The first thing you're asked to do is create a character. After choosing the sex, you're given the option of choosing one of five distinct classes for this character: the detective/P.I., medium/psychic, scientist, journalist or dilettante. Each time you choose a class, you're given a set of scores for each statistic which you can re-roll, if you will, by refusing and trying again. I suggest you do this to get a good distribution according to the class you've chosen (i.e. good strength score for a detective/dilettante, a good will score for medium/dilettante), and remember, the sets of scores seem pre-determined and eventually "loop" so don't try to get perfect scores - take whatever offers the best in terms of Will/Resistance/Evade if possible. ### Classes ### Detective (or P.I.): Gifted with a good distribution of high statistic scores (though it can sometimes be low) and capable of becoming a very potent fighter, the detective makes a great choice for first time players. He's capable of using every weapon and armour in the game, making him the backbone of your party when it's crunch time. Just wait until you see him do 3 hits with that Holy Sword or 4 with a machine gun! His biggest drawback is a lack of magic. Fighters are more or less the Castle universe's answer to this class. Starting skills : Combat (3), Clue (2), Guns(3), Parley(2) Special: Pummel - a single physical attack which causes some damage but nothing to write home about. Medium (or Psychic): Unable to equip many weapons and armour, the medium must rely upon his psychic powers to get the job done. Unlike the dilettante, the medium does not gain spells by finding books, he already has a good number of psychic powers at his disposition right from the very start and stands to gain more with time. Take note that the powers used often inflict mental damage rather than physical damage, which makes the medium the perfect ghost busting machine but of less use outside of such battles. Both Joanna and Kenichirou have special extra powers - while Joanna has the exorcism power, Kusakabe can use an extra set of psychic powers. Starting skills : Combat(3), Psychic(3), Spirit(3) Special: Mental Bolt - a bolt deals some mental damage on every enemy (note: Kusakabe has his own special attack. Instead of Mental Bolt, he has Truth, which deals good physical damage to all enemies) Name Cost Description Notes Astral Fist 02 "MP DMG with mental fist." Supply MP 04 "Give MP to allies." Treat 04 "Raise hands and heal." Shift MP 00 "Receive MP from allies." Sleep 04 "Calm, causes sleep." Astral Knife 06 "MP DMG with mental blade." Psy Shield 06 "Protect VS mental DMG." Recover 06 "Cures poison." Enchant 06 "Weapons do mental DMG." Ether Knife 08 "HP DMG with mental blade." Aura Shield 08 "Protect VS physical DMG." Confuse 08 "Confuses the enemy." Dispel 08 "Destroys undead." Emotion Cloud 10 "-Not sure-" Attracts monsters? Ether Arrow 12 "HP DMG with mental arrow." Cure 12 "Raise hands and heal." Hold 12 "Halts one enemy." Astral Sword 14 "MP DMG with mental sword." Psy Barrier 14 "Protect VS mental DMG." Targets all allies. Exorcism 14 "Better than Dispel." Ether Sword 16 "HP DMG with mental sword." Aura Barrier 16 "Protect VS physical DMG." Targets all allies. Heal 16 "Heal wounds completely." Gungnir 18 "MP DMG with mental spear." Aegis 18 "Protect VS Mental DMG." Longinus 20 "HP DMG with mental spear." Jigult 20 "Protect VS physical DMG" Elixir 20 "Fully revives." Banish 20 "Burn to a crisp." Instant Kill Note: Kusakabe has a few extra psychic powers that regular medium don't get. Scientist: This brainy class, like the medium, cannot wear every piece of armour or use every weapon, thus making him something of a weak link in the party's fights. The Spirit Machine used by the scientist has its usefulness though - especially when you get some of the better parts later on. At the start of the game, only the scientist and the medium can successfully attack the ghosts (as in immaterial undead) haunting the manor (the medium has powers that damage the MP, while the scientist has the Magnetline attack). Still, the scientist remains an iffy addition - good at the start and at the end, but not great for the middle. Starting skills: Combat(3), Machine(3), Medic(3) Special: Miracle Barrier - puts up a magic/physical barrier on the party (raise dodge/resistance) Machine Powers list: Name Description Parts Notes WeirdBeam "Beam attack." None MagnetLine "Attacks the mind." FrcCoil ManaShield "Create a mana shield." FrcCoil+PsiCndns Scanner "Scans enemy stats." FrcCoil+AstrlAmp Searcher "Lowers hit rate." FrcCoil+PwrStone Security "Fewer encounters." FrcCoil+CrsPole ForceShield "Blocks attacks." PwrStone ShockWave "Shock wave attack." PwrStone+PsiCndns HighFreqWave "Attacks the mind." PwrStone+AstrlAmp PrismBeam "Multicolor Beam." PwrStone+CrsPole Targets all enemies Detector "Clue skill up." PsiCndns Disruptor "Exorcise undead." PsiCndns+AstrlAmp ForceBeam "Protects allies." PsiCndns+CrsPole Translator "Connection skill up." AstrlAmp Parley skill up E-MagWave "Attacks the mind." AstrlAmp+CrsPole Targets all enemies PowerAmp "Mechanical DMG up." CrsPole EtherHeat "Ether beam attack." Adamant AstralBeam "Attacks the mind." Adamant+ForceCoil Much better MagnetLine Eraser "Toss enemy in a vortex." Adamant+PsiCndns Ultimate MindBlast "Attacks the mind" Adamant+AstralAmp Attacks all SmartBomb "Causes huge explosions" Adamant+PowrStone Attacks all ManaBarri "Create a mana barrier" Adamant+CrystPole ManaShield for all Journalist: The camera using journalist is your cash cow. The photos taken can be sold at the hotel for various sums, depending on the quality of the picture (blurry or clear) and the rarity/toughness of the monster. The best so far seem to be around 600$ for a single clear picture of the Skeletal Knight, though I guess you could get more from taking pictures of LaPlace. Outside of the photo skill, the journalist is average to weak at best outside of perception and charisma. Not a specialist of hand to hand combat or guns (not that its known for its strength anyway), this class lacks fighting power. Then again, most of your time is going to be spent taking photographs. Yet, Azel comes in to defend the journalist: "Two things actually. First, I don't think that the Journalist is a weak fighter and can only effectively be used for taking photographs. You see, when I played through the game for the first time, I didn't revive Kasakube and thus did not have any character skilled enough to wield the Holy Sword, as my main character -Detective- was using the Machine Gun and my Dilettante was using the Shotgun. So I just maxed out Morgan's Combat Stat to 10 and voila, she was doing just fine. 50+ damage for every hit. Later, when I was playing with Kusakabe and had given him the holy sword and he also had 10 Combat Skill, he did not do much more damage... So... Second, you are wrong about the Journalist's Special. It is only "Flash" as long as you're using a Camera as weapon. For a gun it becomes "Shoot" and for a melee weapon "Cut", if I remember correctly. Both are just stronger versions of the regular attack." Perhaps so, but other classes have better skills and the detective can wear any armour as well as use every weapon. The journalist just doesn't compare favourably to his/her comrades later on. Starting skills: Combat(2), Guns(2), Photos(2), Clue(2), Parley(2), Medic(2) Special: Flash - Causes blindness (when equipped with a camera) Cut - Stronger melee attack (when equipped with a melee weapon) Shoot - Stronger firearm attack (when equipped with a firearm) Dilettante: The classic "average" class with good, well rounded scores, many skills, thus capable of doing a lot but ultimately fails to be very good at anything. The main attraction of this class is the magic. Alas, you don't have that much MP so you seem to be a little short-handed if you try to specialise in magic (some later spells can cost a bundle of MP). If you don't have a good Will score, then you'd better get cracking on finding some red rings to boost your Will or else you'll be in trouble later on. To make matters worse, the dilettante has to FIND spells rather than having an already established repertoire. On the upside, the dilettante can handle firearms and weapons just fine, but won't match the detective or scientist (using the weird beam for example) in terms of damage per hit since you're likely to try and give her some levels in the Magic skill. At least some of the later party oriented spells can come in very handy, but don't expect magic to do wonders on your foes. Once powered-up with maximum scores (via rings) and skills (through the secret level-up technique discussed later on), the dilettante quickly becomes the most powerful class in the game. But you'll make him/her your designated healer more often than not, thus limiting his/her fighting potential. Starting skills: Combat(2), Guns(2), Clue(2), Psychic(2), Magic(2), Parley(2) Special: Flames of Hell - attacks every enemy with a potent fire magic spell Magical spells list: Name Cost Description Notes Flame 02 "Fireballs an enemy." Def Cloud 07 "Protect VS physical DMG." Is Protection Cloud. Restore 02 "Raise hands and heal." Magic Endow 07 "Give MP to allies." Corrode 04 "Rots enemy's body." Terror 04 "Paralyze in terror." Blind 04 "Lowers hit rate." Shock 06 "Electrical attack." Targets all enemies. Holify 06 "Weapons do mental DMG." Destroy 06 "Exorcises undead." Demon Beast 08 "Steals HP from enemies." Night Demon 08 "Steals MP from enemies." Plague 10 "Poisons an enemy." Emotion C 10 "Calms you down." Suffocate 12 "Halves enemy HP." Heal 12 "Raise hands and heal." Wrath of God 14 "Fireball an enemy." Targets all enemies. Death's Scythe 16 "Might kill one foe." Instant Kill (duh!). Full Heal 18 "Fully heal all wounds." Revive 20 "Revives." Explosion 20 "Eats enemy from inside." ### Skills ### Each individual skill can be raised up to a maximum level of 10 by exchanging experience points at the Spirit research centre. Now, don't worry, you're going to lose actual experience point - you're merely spending a mirror amount. You gain 100 EXP, that means you also earn 100 EXP to use at the research centre. There are three types of skill in this game - battle, adventure and recovery. Battle skills include Magic, Guns, Combat and Spirit. Adventure skills include Parley and Clue. Recovery skills include Psychic and Medic. Battle skills obviously affect the damage done within a single attack/spell and are always useful for your characters, outside of the journalist who should be the designated "adventure" character early on. Adventure skills are most useful when you arrive in the Castle. The Manor holds only very few enemies you can talk to without a high Parley skill/ Charisma score (in fact, I'd say almost none) and hosts only a few well hidden items which require a high Clue skill score to find (which aren't that important anyway). As stated, those two skills become essential in the Castle since you need to engage in discussions very often and many of the people you encounter are frightened by your presence. More importantly, a number of very good items are found in cabinets, tables and shelves - ranging from score boosting rings to strong magic spells. Until you gain at least a few good levels in either skill (up to around level 5 or 6), you'll find that exploring the Castle doesn't yield very interesting results. Recovery skills play a part in how fast you can heal yourself and others using items and spells with Psychic for MP and Medic for HP. It doesn't seem to have an effect on natural rest-based healing. You'll notice, for example, that a P.I. just doesn't manage to heal that much damage even with better healing items. This is due to his lack of healing skills. The higher the level of the skill the better. However, seeing as you're likely to avoid combat you might not find these skills to be THAT helpful in the long run. ### Attributes ### 6 in all with a maximum levels of 10 in each. Without an instruction manual, it's hard to tell what does what, but I think I got a vague idea of the actual function of each one... Power: How much damage can you cause with that big sword of yours? Resistance: Your ability to resist magical attacks (make them ineffective) and apparently affects your initial HP level and its growth Evade: Your ability to dodge attacks and also effects your HP level as above. Perception: As far as I can tell it might have something to do with the Clue skill or perhaps marksmanship/hit rate. Will: More will means more MP per level up and at the start - might affect magic/psychic powers in other ways as well (makes them more effective?) Charisma: Ability to persuade certain creatures to talk to you, I think. Luck: I presume it has something to do with running away from battle. Oddly enough, characters with high luck tend to drop items when searching and sometimes get more encounters/traps as well! Weird! ************************************************************************ C H A R A C T E R S ************************************************************************ I divided this section into three distinct sub-sections: main characters (those who are part of your four character limit), non-player characters (NPC for short, representing those characters who take up the 5th slot and stay for a brief time) and, lastly, supporting cast (characters whom you can interact with but aren't playable - I only include the characters from the Manor/Castle and not the townspeople) M a i n C h a r a c t e r s Name: Any 6 letter name you choose Class: P.I., Psychic, Scientist, Journalist or Dilettante Notes : This is your initial character and as such you choose his/her sex, class and name. Obviously, the P.I. and Dilettante are very good starting classes, with the P.I. edgeing out the Dilettante (but only barely). The three other classes should be taken by those in search of greater challenge. The sex of the character has apparently no effect on the game itself, so between the choice of a snooty looking fellow or a cute girl, I say go for the cute girl. And again, feel free to re-roll your scores for better results. Name: Alex Quinn Class: P.I. Notes: Good old reliable Alex. Big, strong and exuding rugged manliness with his dirty, unshaven recovering alcoholic look - a classic hardboiled detective if I ever saw one. Like everyone else he's interested in investigating those mysterious murders and suggests you talk to the mother of Amy, the little girl who disappeared around the same time. All in all, an excellent addition to your group if using the dilettante or any classes other than the detective. Just be careful he doesn't drown his sorrows in typical hardboiled fashion... Name: Dick August Class: Medium Notes: The tall, dark and mysterious Dick is a card carrying member of the psychic friends network and is thus allowed to summon the fiendish powers of infomercials and Dionne Warwick. In all seriousness Dick isn't that bad a character, but, as with all psychics (besides Kusakabe) and magic users, he tends to be a weak link. At least he has more MP than the dilettante. His raison d'être is the destruction of evil spirits in the Manor. He does tend to make ghost busting a breeze in the early going. Name: Lamont Blackwood Class: Dilettante Notes: This stuffy old codger is a specialist of the occult and a man of many talents (he can hold three billard balls in his mouth at one time!) He finds the stories of occult forces within the manor to be fascinating and seeks to explore them in more detail. A well rounded fellow who starts off with average to good scores but quickly gets overshadowed by the other characters as time goes on. Note that he has a gun skill of 3, rather then a player character dilettante's 2. Name: Morgan Dylan Class: Journalist Notes: This cute little damsel seems a bit young to be hanging around a seedy bar, but who am I to judge parenting in the 20's? This perky journalist wants to see for herself what's happening in the Manor, but the stories of ghosts and ghouls scare her (I myself thought Ghost and Goblins was a real nightmare) Obviously, you'll be needing her special skill unless you plan on playing a journalist yourself. I guess she's the little firebrand who's just as perky as she is tenacious. Name: Vincent Hoffman Class: Scientist Notes: A nerdy fellow with glasses and unkempt hair who just happens to enjoy tinkering with machines and various contraptions - oh and he looks like Bill Gates a bit. To round up our bunch of archetypes, Vincent brings along his spirit machine to test the mettle of science against those supernatural critters - which also scare him half to death. Rumours have it that Vincent's family would leave us with a long list of nerdy heroes with glasses from the nerd in Maniac Mansion to Lester the Unlikely to Harry Potter. Name: Kenichirou Kusakabe Class: Medium Found: The castle's dungeon, large cell with acid pool Notes: What's a good Japanese RPG without at least one moody katana wielding hero? Kusakabe looks cool and quickly becomes one of your more powerful party members. Though, he's not exactly in great shape when you meet him for the first time - as a matter of fact, he's dead! His soul will thank you for freeing him, but asks that you bring some holy water to revive his corpse. May I take a moment to reiterate the fact that this over the counter holy water is VERY powerful stuff - maybe Vincent could host a show called "Amazing discoveries" or something... In any case, with his body revived, Kusakabe offers to join your team, bringing along his own special Japanese sword and accompanying special psychic powers unique to him. Needless to say, you want him for the final battle - despite the fact that his heroic dialogue which borders on the corny. You can safely take out the journalist and put him in charge of kicking ass alongside the detective of your party. As a bonus feature, Kusakabe can equip every armour in the game! Think of him as a dilettante with psychic powers and a cool unique special attack called Truth. Kenichirou's special powers list: Name Cost Description Notes Attack 02 "HP DMG with mental fist." Sleep 04 "Calm, causes sleep." Cut 06 "MP DMG with mental blade." Violent 08 "Confuses enemies." Slash 10 "Attacks all enemies." Tie 12 "Halts an enemy." Pure 14 "Purifies undead." Heal 16 "Heals all allies HP." Kill 18 "HP, MP DMG VS all." May kill instantly. Destroy 20 "Certain kill." Attacks all/Instant Kill. Name: Joanna Sullivan Class: Nut case, I mean medium Found: Castle's dungeon, first lower single cell you find. Notes: Where to begin? First, she's an American, thus, like Kenichirou she can be brought out of the castle. Second, while she's an NPC when you first meet her, you can make her a permanent addition to the party if you take care to avoid the one encounter that will trigger her departure. But before you make plans to include her in your final party, I must warn you that using her magic may lead to some serious bugs in the game (see bugs section). If you don't feel like messing up your game and want to make the most out of this average medium (she's not really better than Dick August, but a lot prettier to look at and has the Exorcism power to go along with her psychic powers), then you need to complete her quest instead. Joanna's quest: You have to reunite her with her long lost lover, Richard Upton Pickman. Richard can be found on the third floor, but the thing is, he isn't human anymore... The two have a violent dispute in which Richard makes it clear that he doesn't love her, or rather, he loved her but she couldn't love anyone but herself. Joanna answers to your group that Richard is just a moody, artsy type and runs off after her now ghoulish ex... This is one of the more twisted stories I've heard in a while, which is a shame they never go beyond what we see in that cut-scene. N o n - P l a y e r C h a r a c t e r s Name: Adolph Class: Wizard Found: Castle's dungeon, upper right cell block Notes: Little more than a one shot wonder, Adolph is apparently a fairly powerful wizard which goes to show what those dumb servants know. Not particularly powerful nor useful, he does provide you with an extra healer and Flame magic user for your battle against Moldiv. Adolph's really bland and could be considered the "wizened old man" of your average fantasy story. He'll make a brief cameo later on in the game. Adolph's quest: Adolph is hopping mad and he's not gonna take it anymore! Moldiv has gone too far! Although considering how he's an escape artist, one might surmise he could do more than lounge around in his cell all day (see the Mysteries section), but who am I to complain? Adolph asks you to take him to Moldiv so he can kick his butt... with your generous help of course. Beat him up (the evil Wizard Moldiv, not Adolph) and you get an eye ring for your troubles (with experience points too). Name: Beyond Class: Knight Found: 1st encounter - Castle's dungeon, lower right cell; 2nd encounter - Castle's third floor, central island, right hand cell; 3rd encounter - Castle's second floor, along the way to the third floor Notes: Beyond is an important character who comes back for a second and third run as an NPC and he's also a cheap bastard who won't give you any experience points for his first quest (finding Kusakabe who's next door). Looking like an extra from Wolfenstein 3-D, this bruiser is all muscles as well as fiercely loyal to Princess Cassandra LaPlace. As an NPC, he can't escape the castle's walls and offers little besides his power. His second quest involves finding and rescuing the Princess (can this game get any cornier?), only this time he pays up in experience (about time!). Beyond's quests: First, he'll ask you to take him to Kusakabe who is held captive in the next lower cell block. Once this is done he goes off in search of Cassandra and turns up on the third floor to ask for your help again. This time you need to go to the small prison island on the north western side of the floor and defeat a tricky Succubus to release the Princess from captivity. He will be around for one final quest, as your bodyguard once you're trapped inside the Castle. Name: Janbon Class: Thief Found: Castle's dungeon, cell right above that of Ryan Notes: Janbon has a funny name. In French, it sounds a lot like Jambon - Ham in English. I guess his parents wanted to play a trick on him or something. He's the bright, perky and annoying kid who's cuteness is supposed to be endearing but grates your nerves like an Olsen twins special. I shudder to think at what Moldiv wanted this runt for, especially considering his name... Janbon's quest: To grandmother's house we go! He wants you to bring him back to the sanctity of the Witch's house so he can stop playing prison b**** for the guards and Moldiv (and I presume a Lizard Man or two). Name: Jerman Class: Thief Found: Castle's dungeon, upper left cell Notes: Well, he's a sneaky, ugly and probably stinky thief. The kind of guy who'd steal money from his dear old mum's purse if she were still alive. Somewhat slimy and pushy, he begs you to help him off some griffon guarding a fantabulous - no not just fantastic or fabulous - but fantabulous treasure. Jerman's quest: Find the griffon, kill it and share the booty... errr... the treasure. He takes the bag of jewels (compact discs?) and leaves you with the rest of the junk... err fantabulous treasure. I said he was slimy and greedy, but at least he got that bunch of Jewels' CDs which I'm sure he likes for her music and artistic talent only... Don't worry, the jewels would have been of little help to you anyhow - XP is always better than money in this game. Name: Ryan Class: Fighter Found: Castle's dungeon, lower left cell Notes: Well this country bumpkin lost his sister to the evils of the castle. Forced to work against her will, she's now held captive somewhere. Apparently, some well dressed city clod took her there and Ryan's so angry he can't play his banjo like he used to anymore. So he gets captured and now that you've freed him he wants to find his sister. His (non-incestuous, I hope...) love for his sister Anita makes him the vengeful big brother of lore. Ryan's quest: Just find Anita who's behind the door protected by Joanna's ex, Richard. They live somewhere safe afterwards. Pretty straightforward and dull compared to Joanna's perplexing little cut scene. Name: Shuu Class: Fighter Found: Zoo on the third floor, last upper cell. Notes: Only recently discovered, Shuu the lizard man is one of the creatures at the zoo and he asks to join if you have enough parleying skill (7+). He seeks freedom but his quest is mysterious - no one hints of anything regarding this character and we're still trying to find out if he even has a quest (he says something about meeting his friend if you rescue Benedict with him). In any case, he's a fighter and can only use melee weapons, but due to his impressive endurance and might, he makes a fair replacement for Beyond. Azel suggests that Shuu's quest was perhaps another unimplemented/unfinished part of the game or that Shuu is merely an extra NPC to help deal with the creatures of the Castle. The first theory sounds more probable. Name: Benedict Weathertop Class: Wizard Special attack: Blizzard of Death Found: Prison island near the bottom/centre of the third floor Notes: Well, he's the owner of the Manor and started all these supernatural hi-jinx when trying to revive his dead mother thus proving that he was no horror movie buff. You only get to use him as an NPC once you rescue him from his cell on the third floor. He's nothing to sneeze at with good stats and high skill levels, but he's also not going to stick around for long since you're supposed to get him back to town as soon as possible. Saving him gets you 3000EXP. Might want to try him in at least one encounter just to see his unique Blizzard of Death special attack. Also, by the time you find him, you should know everything about his shady dealings with the dark side. Seems he and cool, evil looking bishounen wizard Ruvan were cooking up some pretty evil schemes until Kusakabe came in and put a wrench in their plans, thus explaining why he was so brutally tortured and killed. Benedict was imprisoned by one Pierre Simon Marquis de LaPlace, to whom the Castle belongs, and who doesn't take too lightly to the idea of people attempting to steal his all powerful demon beast gods (with naughty hentai tentacles!). Benedict is in fact a mere tool for Ruvan's ultimate goal... Name: Cassandra LaPlace Class: Princess Found: Witch's abode after you fight Ruvan while leaving the fourth floor Notes: Bubbly and useless, the pretty blonde princess is your typical "damsel in distress who finds courage at unexpected moments" - but you still have to save her first. Loving daughter of Pierre Simon LaPlace, she defied her father's wishes and tried to exorcise the Demon, thus, she was kept captive on a secluded island of the third floor. Once freed, she becomes an essential part of the game and a recurring character, much like Beyond, and will hang around the Witch's abode. She eventually joins your party, seeing as the stone guardian refuses to let anyone pass besides members of the LaPlace family and you must reach her father's throne room. As an NPC, she's little more than a gifted healer (good levels in Psychic and Medic) with limited fighting abilities (Combat only and average Power score) and no magic (use items to heal) - but she doesn't stay with you for very long so it's not very important. S u p p o r t i n g C a s t Alchemist: Residing on the second floor, this pushy and grumpy man demands that you bring him gold water in exchange for a neat item (the deceased finger) and, if you talk to him twice he gives you a map of the floor. Not particularly patient or friendly. Amy: The little girl with the golden locks who's been missing ever since the two boys were murdered. You find her somewhat late in the game on the fourth floor, in the sacrificial room at the upper left. Bringing her back to her mother will net you a cool 5000 EXP and 1200$ - but beware, the fourth floor creatures are very dangerous. Anita: Sister of Ryan, forced to work as a maid despite her wishes and locked up in some room for good measure. You'll find her on the third floor, behind the ghouls guarding a couple of doors (including Richard Pickman). Apprentice mages: Moldiv's apprentices reside in their respective chambers in the basement. They remain oblivious of their master's death and offer clues to the more charismatic explorers and reveal more story elements. Boatman's ghost: Up on the second floor, you'll find the boatman's room. According to the man who resides just below this room, moaning and wailing keep him up all night and so he suffers from a lack of sleep. The cause of this racket is the restless ghost of the boatman imprisoned in his room for helping out Princess Cassandra. He gives you a hint as to where his precious bow statue was taken. He doesn't always appear - especially when you've already found the statue and other times as well for reasons unknown. If you see him with both the statue and old compass, he'll ask you to take him to the cemetery on the third floor where he wishes to be buried (thus explaining the hole). This good action is rewarded with 3000 EXP. Castle guards: Found in random and set encounters, the guards of the Castle yield much information - if you're able to persuade them to talk that is. Be careful, some have neither the time nor the patience to deal with strangers and those guarding the dungeon will not relinquish the keys to he jail cells without a fight. But still, try and gain more skill in Parley if a guard refuses to talk. Dancing aristocrats: Mindless and thoughtless, they danced their lives away and even in undeath they refuse to cease dancing. A cruel and à propos critique of bourgeois nonchalance, they left their bodies to rot as Moldiv gave their souls eternal life by way of his dark magical experiments. Guards met in random encounters ask you if anything can be done to help them and this remains one of the great mysteries of the game. (see Mysteries section) Ghosts of the manor's servants: Apart from the butler, most are merely apparitions who give you a few hints but remain nameless/functionless. You can find them in various rooms of the manor, usually by searching their bed. They ask you to release them from their misery by ringing the bell. Ghosts of Benedict's parents: Richard and Janet Weathertop continue to haunt the family estate, seeking to be freed from their tormented existence through your help. Benedict's father can be found within a painting of himself in the drawing room, but only after you've spoken to the butler, otherwise you get spooked. His wife was the object of Benedict's failed attempt at a dark ritual to bring her back to life, the same one which opened the gate to the "Castle brimming with magic", as Benedict puts it. Her body can be found in her room with evil spirits (two banshees) keeping her soul prisoner. She's the only one who can break the spell keeping you from ringing the bell and end their torment. Hunters : You meet two of those forest dwelling men lurking about the Castle. One waits outside the second floor to tell you about the lair of the Griffon while the other injured himself in the mirror maze, asking to be helped (you get a sage stone in return for a henruda plant found in the manor's greenhouse). Insane individuals: Three individuals in this game are obviously a little "touched in the head" as they say. The first is a maniac on the second floor of the manor who can be either purified with sacred salts (apparently, never managed to do it myself, see Mysteries section for notes on all three insane individuals) or talked to in order to cure his insanity. He remembers little about how he came to be mad, but he does remember an Asian man being captured and found a notebook which belonged to him. The second maniac is a bit of a mystery himself. Found on the second floor of the castle, he's a bit more aggressive than the first one and cryptic to say the least. His insistence that darkness is upon us and that the great demon will devour us all (a giant monster covered with eyes he says) leads to a sudden attack on his part. The third individual to be touched by madness is a young woman who seems perfectly normal when you first find her hanging around the lower area of the Castle's second floor. Though her dialogue suggests she's a little off her rocker, it's nothing to be too worried about, until later, when she screams and runs off in a fit of insanity. But she's back to normal once you're trapped in the castle. Weird girl... The Lake Witch: The diminutive old woman lives by the lake on the third floor, awaiting the return of her pupil Janbon. A practitioner of magic herself, she may be able to offer a magical trinket or two in thanks for your help. Being a kindly old woman, she's a boon to any weary traveller and promises to keep the Princess safe after you rescue her. Later on, she asks Janbon to sell some of her wares so you may be better equipped to face the Demon. Pierre Simon Marquis de LaPlace: He who would be Emperor of all Europe through his pact with the Demon. He was actually a French intellectual from the 18th century who dabbled in astronomy and mathematics. Through his findings he conjures forth a Demon who gave him the power to see the future, however, his ability to see the future made him lose all hope for humanity and seeks to rectify this situation by way of the Demon. The Castle is his domain and all who inhabit it are incapable of escaping his all seeing eye, except for your characters who, as outsiders, are immune to this. This makes them invaluable to those who would seek to stop the machinations of LaPlace. The Marquis is an old and powerful wizard and can be found sitting on his throne in the upper room of the Castle's fourth floor, guarded by two arenas (wisdom and strength) as well as the family guardian - a large, invincible stone statue. By the time you reach him, his grip on sanity will be greatly diminished and you'll be warned to take precautions when approaching the reclusive man. Old lady who spins yarn: The sweet old woman lives on the fourth floor and is crucial to your progress after you return from your first fight with LaPlace. She too worries about LaPlace's sanity and is curious as to why he would take such drastic measures as putting Cassandra in jail. She offers a fourth floor map and then offers you a potent magical artifact on your second visit later on... Lizard Man: In the room next to the merchant servant, you find a lone lizard man who tells you about the dreaded Skeletal Knight guarding the third floor prison. By the time you are stuck within the Castle's walls you find that he changes his message and has a Shuu-like portrait added. (see Mysteries) Master servant and the Castle's servants and maids: Led by a man who's soul has been tainted by evil magic, the Castle's contingent of servants and maids continue to work despite the increasing number of wandering spirits and beasts. They are instructed to avoid talking to strangers and only through glibness of tongue will you break their silence. Be wary though, some will call upon the guards in a panicked state, others will run and some will avoid answering your questions altogether. On the third floor, a servant holds a small shop south of the Witch's abode. He sells expensive wares including powerful protection items and stat boosting rings - it would be wise to carry someone capable of parleying (level 6+ Parley). The Master servant holds keys to some of the basement floor's doors, however, he refuses to talk no matter what. It's best to leave him be and get the iron heart in his room instead or kill him off if you feel like it. Moldiv: Apparently, the wizard who corrupted Benedict's soul with his dark ways thereby introducing the inheritor of the Weathertop name to the secrets of the occult. Lurking in the depths of the Castle's basement, he oversees the Castle's dungeon as well as performing gruesome experiments such as the perpetually dancing ghosts of dead aristocrats found on the first floor and crossing animals with men. His cruelty unmatched, he will dispose of any and all intruders with his formidable magic. Adolph has an axe to grind with him, stating he's responsible for LaPlace's change in attitude... Richard Upton Pickman: A strange man who once loved Joanna Sullivan but now wishes to live in an another world, far from any and all humans. Joanna and Richard share a twisted past and it would seem they don't quite agree on the details of their failed romance. While Joanna claims he never loved anyone and his dabbling in the occult led him to this, he says he loved her, but she never loved anyone but herself. Sadly, he runs away before we can learn more of his tragic tale of love and deception. If you talk to him without Joanna in the party, he steps aside from the door saying he couldn't stand the girl's (Anita's) constant screaming and crying. Ruvan: This bishounen would likely break quite a few hearts amongst female shoujo manga fans, but as with all dark suspicious bishounen he's also eeeeeevil. The first time you meet him, in his chambers located at the basement floor of the castle, he asks if you're a friend of Benedict and reveals to you the proper way of saving his associate. It so falls out Ruvan is behind everything and will make your life miserable later in the game when he is revealed as the dark ambitions that grew within LaPlace's heart and took shape as a demon spawn... Sage (first floor): A resident of the first floor, the kindly old sage feels a bit lonely and would enjoy having dinner in your company. He asks about Joanna and wonders about LaPlace's well being: he's been playing hermit as of late and the Sage wonders what might be wrong with the master of the Castle. Sage (fourth floor): This friendly old man also worries about LaPlace's behaviour (don't they all?) and tells you the story behind the oft mentioned Demon of LaPlace and how the Marquis sought to understand the very fabric of the Universe through complex mathematical equations. He offers you the Crystal Rod for your scientist's Spirit Machine in hopes that this will help you in your quest to meet LaPlace. Well dressed men: Two well dressed men appear in the Castle - one worries about Anita (found on the top left corner of the first floor, see Mysteries) and the other mentions something about the boat man's missing statue (middle portion of second floor). Zoo creatures: According to the caretaker, these creatures are all unique (then why is it we find them in random encounters all the time?) and those with proper skill, can seek to tame the wild beasts and perhaps gain knowledge from them. The lone lizard man at the end is a puzzling creature indeed and he will join your cause if you have enough skill in parleying (7+) ************************************************************************ S U G G E S T I O N S, H I N T S & T R I C K S ************************************************************************ ### Balanced party ### To make a well balanced team for the start of the game, you need the following: -A journalist -Someone to take care of ghosts/spirits (scientist with magnet line or medium) -Someone to fight physically with guns/swords (Dilettante or P.I.) The LockeScythe guide suggests a journalist, a P.I., a Dilettante and either a scientist or medium and I agree that this makes for a balanced party, although, a medium could be substituted for the dilettante for a little more challenge/diversity in my opinion. Alternatively, a good party could also consist of two dilettantes, a scientist/medium and a journalist. You see, the main use of the dilettante is to cover the lack of HP recovery during battles via items when you first begin your quest. Until you reach the castle, healing medicine is practically non-existent and they are one of the few items that allow you to regain HP during a battle - which is a considerable disadvantage given the low HP totals for your first few levels. Then again, while the medium can also restore HP, he can't wear the better armour you find later in the game and nor can he do much without his psychic powers due to a limited choice of weapon. Also, since you find a very good medium later on in the game, one who lacks the usual weaknesses of his class, the medium would have to be Dick and not your main character. So until you find our mystery psychic friend, it might not be such a bad idea to include Dick August for a few romps through the Manor - I know of one inevitable fight which could be much easier with Dick around. Once in the castle, the dilettante will seem that much more useful since you'll find better magic books and the adventure skills the class starts with come in handy once boosted. But you'll be forced to make a choice between magic and fighting, since a score of 5 in either one is not enough for the final confrontations. Of course, you could get cheap and use the secret level building technique of doom...(see the Infamous level up technique). In fact, a two dilettante party might be forced to use this tactic to gain more potency. Going at it without a P.I. isn't so difficult during your exploration of the Manor since he doesn't hit that hard yet. But then, once you reach the Castle and gain access to better weapons and score boosting items, you'll be thinking twice about that decision you just made. Then again, the level up trick can make any dilettante into a much more formidable power house than the P.I. The scientist is expendable. Lockescythe already mentions this, but his problem lies more in the long stretch between the end of the Manor and the later portions of the Castle where he's of little use. He doesn't have his better machine parts yet and it'll take a while before he collects the more useful pieces hidden within the Castle. Also, some of his adventure skill boosting machine effects are based on your level. A level 2-4 scientist is thus of little use to you. The journalist is mostly a utility character - you're bound to use her for her adventure skills and photos more than anything else. She's a bit too weak to use as a fighter and doesn't have psychic powers/magic at her disposal. You could boost her scores, but she wouldn't add much to the team. Still, as I said, she's useless in combat unless you put some serious effort into her, thus you can feel free to boost her Parley or Clue skills. The level up trick might make her useful for collecting a bundle of money. Again, Azel contends that a journalist is at least as good as Kusakabe combat wise but I find that her lack of interesting combat related powers/skills make her a weak link for the later portions of the game. ### Suggestions & explanations regarding experience and skills ### Battles yield no money, you've probably already figured this by now due to the brief mentions of the journalist being your cash cow. But they also dole out very little in the way of experience. For example, one measly Ghoul is worth a total of 20 EXP according to the victory message, BUT, this experience is then divided amongst your party members thus leaving you with 5 EXP each. Your first level up occurs approximately at the 1000 EXP mark. A quick calculation brings you to the conclusion that you require a nice total of : 200 ghouls to level up. Understand that Ghouls are amongst the more generous beasties in the Manor and that your subsequent level ups are even MORE difficult to achieve. How does 12,000 EXP sound to you? Seeing as high EXP rewards by way of completing quests are very limited as is and the sole regenerating boss of the Manor offers barely enough EXP to raise a skill by one level after a fair number of tedious battles, one should choose wisely. On the other hand, the Castle has one regenerating boss of its own which offers better potential for cheap level ups (again refer to the Infamous level up technique). But let's go back to the original purpose of this section. We've already said that the adventurer skills are essential for exploring the Castle, but we've also made it clear that your speciality should come first. But, if you've been paying attention, you'll also notice that we mentioned how the journalist should be the designated adventurer due to her being a non-factor in combat and how you really don't need that much photography skill to make good photos (level 5-6 is more than enough for the door trick). So there's your answer. One person per adventurer skill is enough. But if you plan on being slightly tricky about it, there's a simple strategy that can make it even easier: quest experience transfers to the folk at the hotel, thus, the two you don't plan on using can make very good adventure skill only characters with either a high parley or high clue score. You then take one out and place them in the party, do what you need to do and voilà... This way you needn't sacrifice precious experience points on adventure skills until you've made a great battle character. Speaking of which, detectives and dilettantes are given a choice between Guns and Combat for attack purposes. So which one should you choose? Well, guns can fire up to four shots in one attack once you reach higher levels (compared to three slashes with a melee weapon), making them more powerful than most melee weapons of equivalent power (for example, a simple pistol can't compare with a bastard sword, but a riffle can). They also cost less money to buy - though bullets become an issue. Melee weapons have a higher initial cost, but need no expendable items like guns do. So, for now, guns are winning but the battle isn't over yet! The most powerful melee weapon in the game is the Holy Sword. Though guns might do a little bit more physical damage on certain monsters, they can't inflict mental damage. Also, the last boss is particularly weak against the Holy sword making it an invaluable weapon for the final battle. BUT, just when guns look as if they're defeated, they make a comeback with the super powerful shotgun and machine gun! However, both of these are available just as you're ready to initiate the End Game and the machine gun is for the P.I. only. The verdict? It's up to you. The Holy Sword serves you very well for a very long time, whereas the more powerful guns are available only at the end. Of course, the level up technique makes this debate a moot point... Lastly, the recovery skills have yet to prove useful enough to warrant sustained attention and so you should avoid putting too many EXP points into them. Level 3-4 Psychic should be more than enough for any magic user/psychic and even then, you should wait until later, when simple resting isn't enough and the battles get much tougher. ### The infamous level up technique ### Tired of waiting to become powerful? You feel you're a powerhouse trapped in a weakling's body? Annoyed at the small EXP rewards given by defeated monsters? Two "bosses" in this game regenerate. The first is the Demon Door guarding the way to the butler's ghost, the second is the immortal Skeletal Knight. The first boss offers 400 EXP and 300$ per perfect photo, so that means 100 EXP per characters. You can rack up to a good 1000 EXP per characters before getting tired of this scheme, but early on, a few hundred EXP can make the difference between a level 2 and a level 3 skill - oh and it helps for those annoying "need just 100-200" EXP to level up cases. The problem however is that the door regenerates only AFTER you've exited the Manor or gone up or down a floor. Granted there's a door and a set of stairs not too far from the boss, it's still somewhat out of your way. Making money off of the door is easier than trying to collect EXP from it. All you need to do is spend all of your films in one battle, finish it off and exit before returning. The second boss is the third floor's Skeletal Knight, a creature which guards Benedict and a stairway up to the fourth floor. This boss ALWAYS regenerates before your eyes until you use the Talisman or Holy Cup on him during a battle. Doing so will result in his immediate destruction. Before you do something drastic like that, you'd be better off learning how to maximise everything through his generous 1000 EXP reward (200 for a 5 character party). Since he regenerates and isn't too hard too beat (if you've taken the time to boost your skills a little with quest experience and your score with Demon Door money) you can finish it off in a few rounds just by holding down the A button and putting the emulator in fast forward mode. Resting after every battle gives you back most of your lost health and helps to prolong the life of your healing items at the same time. The only thing that keeps you from doing this for hours at a time is the lack of film. You see, his photos are worth 600$! Do the math for a moment: 20*600=12,000! Impressive huh? Sure you may never touch that amount with a poor Photography skill, but a blurry picture is still 300$ and half of 12,000$ remains 6000$, nothing to sneeze at I'd say. For an hour's work, you can get your characters up a few levels and have enough EXP for many skill level ups. Kusakabe and a P.I. with 10 in strength and 10 in combat/guns spell doom for anything dumb enough to cross your path. ************************************************************************ T O W N G U I D E ************************************************************************ The town of Newcam, Massachusetts, 1924... Your quest begins in the quiet town of Newcam, a place you'll be visiting often during your game. This said, you might as well get familiar with the surroundings and take the time to explore each buildings. Bar: "A place where everybody knows your name..." Well, not really, but they soon will! If Cheers taught us anything about bars is that you'll find barflies - people who live, eat and in some cases sleep in the bar itself. The bar in DoL is also a place where one can find countless barflies who not only dress alike, but constantly repeat themselves. Heh, you know, that doesn't sound too far from reality... Be that as it may, the friendly neighbourhood bartender (call him Sam and don't mock his hairpiece) is somewhat helpful - at first. Alas, even he succumbs to the dreaded looping dialogue syndrome soon enough. His only real use is giving you money and experience for carrying dead bodies with you. No better way to stir up business than by bringing in dead people into a bar! It's almost like "Children shouldn't play with dead things", only in a bar. Fortunately, none of the deceased are named Orville. It's in the bar that you'll first meet your band of merry men and merry women - one of each profession as a matter of fact. See the list of characters for more details on whom you meet. The hospital: Do you watch E.R. and Chicago Hope? I don't and neither should you. This game doesn't exactly give the hospital much of a role, outside of providing a nice resting place for various inured NPC and resurrecting your dead allies. Careful though, resurrection cost a pretty penny in the 20's (300 big ones!) - but they furnish lovely complimentary bodybags to lug the dead carcasses back to the hospital. Jesus used to give it out for free, but like free internet, that fad went the way of the dodo mighty quick... The library: If American television and Hollywood movies taught us anything, it's that libraries are known for two things. The first are cranky old librarians who "shush" you. The second, sexy young female librarians who, for some inexplicable reason, tend to lose their clothing rapidly while ending up using the Xerox machine for rather unusual purposes. Oh yeah, and you find books too, but not in this game. In this game it's up to YOU to find your own damn books to read. In other words, you can read whatever reading material you find on your journey, but that's the end of it. Seeing as you read books, notes and memos when you find them, the usefulness of the library escapes me. Well, there's one exception, but you'll find out about it rather quickly once you get there. Spirit research centre: Arguably the second most visited place in town, the research centre allows you the chance to boost your skills with the experience you've gained in battle and through completing quests. Although that's the only service you'll find, it's a very important one. Hotel : Now THIS is more like it. Got scared and peed your pants? Feeling a little low on maximum mental points? 10$ a person per night and you'll feel like a brand new you! Also, this is where you can trade in your naked zombie pictorials for cold hard cash. Seriously though, photos taken by the journalist will be sold here, thus allowing you to live out your future dream, which it just so happens is a shopping spree! (spot THAT reference!) If that weren't enough, the save option allows you to, get this, save your game! And the change command allows you to mix and match your party members (up to three allies can follow you), thus making the Hotel THE most visited location on the town map. Fortune teller: For 10$ she'll give you a clue - must avoid cheesy joke, must avoid cheesy joke... She can also give you an idea of just how many experience points are needed before you can raise your level - an invaluable option were it not for the fact that gaining experience is next to impossible (more on this later). The Weathertop Manor: The town's exclusive tourist attraction and leading cause of death amongst intrepid explorer and ghost hunters. Voted top Haunted House three years in a row, this place will give you the creeps thanks to its assortment of undead creatures (material and immaterial), as well as mutated plants, mutant monsters, evil insects and the requisite rodents of fear. Obviously, the first part of your game will revolve around solving the secrets of this Manor and getting out alive. The second will lead you to the castle which must be accessed via the Manor. Dry goods shop: As opposed to wet goods shop? Seriously though, since when is holy water "dry"? Jokes aside, this place is far more important than the other locations mentioned up to this point. First, this is where you'll replenish your supplies of batteries (for the spirit machine), film (for the camera - *snorts* duuuh...) and bullets (provided you use guns) as well as buy weapons and defensive items. The counter on the right offers some everyday items such as shovels and holy water. I must once again remind you that this over the counter holy water is potent stuff indeed. I'm not sure how the clergy feels about stores selling holy wares though... Seeing as churches are conspicuously missing in this game, I guess you have to assume that the church went bankrupt and was bought by those cheeky corporate suit and tie guys (cue the D.R.I. song). (Before visiting the Castle's second floor) Weapon shop Cost Description Notes Knife 60 "It's weak." Dagger 100 "Not for magic users." Hand Axe 120 "Physical attack." Axe 200 "Physical attack." Saber 220 "Not for magic-users." Rapier 300 "Stronger than sabers." Pistol 100 "Not for magic users." Deringer 180 "Physical Attack." Bullet P 2 "Bullets for a gun." Buy by the singles. Leather Vest 40 "Low def rating." Cap 24 "Low def rating." Camera1 1800 "For taking pictures." Battery 2 "Powers an S.Machine." Buy by the singles. Film 2 "Film for a camera." Buy by the singles. Item Shop Cost Description Notes Shovel 20 "You can dig with it." Mirror 360 "Scares away enemies." Compass 200 "Shows you on maps." Holy Water 60 "Damage to the undead." Healkit1 10 "Restores a little HP." Can't use in battle. Star Amulet 10 "Restores a little MP." Stimulant 10 "Cures paralysis." Stun Dart 200 "Restores 10 Max MP." Antidote 10 "Cures poison." (After visiting the Castle's second floor) Weapon shop Cost Description Notes Knife 60 "It's weak." Dagger 100 "Not for magic users." Short Sword 320 "Not for magic users." Sword 500 "Stronger than short sword." Pistol 100 "Not for magic users." Revolver 300 "For PIs." Deringer 180 "Physical Attack." (That's Dillinger) Government 450 "For PIs." Rifle 800 "For PIs." Bullet P 2 "Bullets for a gun." Buy by the singles. Silver Bullet 6 "Boost gun damage." Buy by the singles. Leather Vest 40 "Low def rating." Kevlar Vest 200 "Not for Psychics, Scientists." Cap 24 "Low def rating." Helmet 130 "Not for Psychics, Scientists." Camera2 2500 "A very good camera." Camera3 5000 "The best camera." Battery 2 "Powers an S.Machine." Buy by the singles. Film 2 "Film for a camera." Buy by the singles. Item shop Cost Description Notes Shovel 20 "You can dig with it." Mirror 360 "Scares away monsters." Compass 200 "Shows you on maps." Holy Water 60 "Damages undead." Holy Oil 200 "Drop enemy hit rate." Healkit2 20 "Restores some HP." Can't use in battles Healkit3 50 "Restores a lot of HP" Can't use in battles Moon Amulet 20 "Restores some MP." Sun Amulet 50 "Restores a lot of MP." Stimulant 10 "Cures paralysis." Sage Stone 1000 "Allows action." Revives an ally from 0HP. Stun Dart 200 "Restores 10 Max MP." Circlet 400 "Warp to Pentagram." From last pentagram used ### The dry goods store shopping list ### Now that you've built a balanced party and have some clue as to what to do with them, it's time for a shopping list. So we'll go visit our friend on the left for weapons and armour. A scientist needs batteries, a journalist needs film and Alex needs his bottle of scotch... err... that is to say the P.I. and dilettante need better weapons and bullets if you choose a gun. Speaking of which, I suggest a nice faithful blade - possibly a rapier - for your detective. One of the strongest weapons in the game is a blade and you find it early on, thus, building up his combat skill would be wise - unless you have someone else in mind. Though you can find some moderately powerful melee weapons in the Castle besides the aforementioned blade, guns tend to be better than them. I suggest you buy a good 50 or so batteries for the spirit machine (if you have a scientist), max out on film (only 20 to reach the max) and get a rapier for the detective. The dilettante is up to you. I guess a Derringer could be nice if you have Lamont in your group or if your main character is a dilettante. If so, buy around 50 bullets - double if you have another gun user. The psychic doesn't have use for weapons, but you might check out some of the melee weapons offered if you have the money to spare after your next shopping spree. Journalists probably won't have much use for weapons and they get the second best camera early in the game. The next vendor - the guy on the right and his items shop - warns you of the dangers of the Manor, but you and the Scooby gang aren't afraid! So he agrees to sell you some useful items, which means you should buy: a shovel, a vial of holy water, a compass and perhaps some restorative items if you have the money to spare. Thus equipped, you can now consider yourself ready to embark upon a first visit to the Manor. -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- W a l k t h r o u g h - P a r t I T H E M A N O R _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ Obviously, the monsters here are weak and you shouldn't count on them to level up your characters. In fact, use them to familiarise yourself with the combat system. Speaking of which, in case you haven't noticed (well, that would be difficult) the battle menu looks glitchy. For the sake of those who never saw the read me file included with the patch or my little blurb about controls in this game, here they are again: Fight Magic/Psychic Defend Item Special Status Once you're comfortable with the controls (X for the menu, Y for a map if available, B to dash and A for actions) and the menus, explore the Manor with the very basic walkthrough I'll provide. It's simple because the Manor isn't that large (compared to the Castle) and rather straightforward in that you need to do things in a somewhat specific order if you wish to advance. ### First steps ### Obviously explore the first floor and get the map as soon as possible. It should be located in the far lower right room. Try pressing A (searching) when you're standing before shelves and drawers. There's nothing else of note here, so exit and go to the room right above this one. Along the way, take pictures of monsters, especially zombies which are worth 80$ a pop for a good picture. But avoid Banshees at all cost, in fact, use save states if you have to, that is, unless you have a psychic. In this next room, you'll find a mirror, a book and your first offensive magic spell in the shelves and desk. Once you're done, exit and now you have a choice. Armed with your first offensive spell, you can either attack the Demon Door or gain some experience first. I suggest gaining experience first. For that purpose, go to the far left room of the first floor, it should be to the left after the first intersection (inverted L shaped room) where you find a body with a pendant. Examine it and go back out through the entrance you used to come in. So now it's time to haul some cadavers! Well, actually, the maniac (Gordon) is a better idea. Use the stairs for the second floor and head up after the stairs and left to the end of the small corridor and into the lower door. This is Benedict's father's room and contains the map to this floor in the shelf. Now you should be able to go around without making useless detours. You also find the very important copper key in a drawer. Head down for the middle door (first one down and a little to the right after the stairs) to gain two new spells (Corrode and Terror) as well as some sacred salts. You could go into the room with stagnant air (to the right of the stairs) and get the 200$ from the drawer as well as the Protection Cloud magic from the bookshelves. The bed has a werewolf to fight. Now you can get that maniac who resides in the far left room (after the locked one). You have two choices, use the salts to purify his mind or talk to him. I say search the room, then talk to him since I never managed to use the salts on him. One way or another you end up back in town and the bartender offers you a silver knife as a reward for bringing back the body. He also tells you to visit him at the hospital. Talk to the man while he's resting at the Hospital to recover a notebook belonging to "some Asian man" and get a few hints about the Manor. Go see the barman and he should now ask you to recover the bodies of the missing explorers and a man in blue should be standing near a table. Talk to him to initiate a quest for a missing friend of his and you'll receive a brand new Camera 2 for your troubles once you complete it. Seeing as the explorer in question is easy to find, agree and prepare for another romp through the Manor. But first, make sure you use your experience and replenish your stock of bullets/batteries/film (if need be). Back in the manor, you need to find the explorer with the engraved pendant again. Nothing too difficult as he's still in the same room on the far left side of the first floor. Once you've recovered his body, you gain experience and your new camera. Things are picking up! You're going to be stuck at lower levels for a while, so you might as well explore a bit before going for the Demon Door. First thing you'll need is to find some more dead bodies - a dirty job but someone's got to do it! Your first cadaver is in the basement, just use the stairs right of the main hallway on the first floor and go up the first door you see. Examine the room before the body for some sacred salts and you get your 500 EXP and 300$ once you're back in town. This means a new level! Congratulations! Now those who had a level 3 skill level should be able to boost it to 4. Get some supplies if you need and get cracking on that manor exploration. Go back to the basement via the stairs on the first floor and go to the left and up the passageway until you find a second corpse, one with a basement map this time! Same as above: 500 EXP and 300$ in town and boost your skill levels and get supplies if you have to. Again in the basement, explore the rooms around the emplacement of the last body you've found. The left lower door contains a ghost in the bed who shall give you hints and a lovely brooch worth 500$ (use unknown). The room under it contains the Blind magic spell book. The upper right room contains a machine part (Power Stone) and a ghost. The room above these two contains your first pentagram, but you need to talk to the butler's ghost and do a few other things before being allowed to destroy the pentagrams. So go back to the first floor, seeing as that copper key isn't of use right now. Go through the door close to the basement stairs and continue up until you find the two rooms on the right. Take the upper door to get some important hints from a ghost who gives away what you must do in this manor: destroy the four pentagrams and ring the bell. Obviously, the bell requires that you talk to the mother of Benedict. Before you go, pick up a Star Amulet in the drawer. The lower one has the fearsome Demon Door boss. At this point, you have no choice but to face it. You need the bible and iron key which are locked away behind the monstrous guardian. If you're fully healed, take a crack at it. Demon Door boss: No strategy needed here - just attack and hope it doesn't scream too often. A few rounds should be needed to dispose of this menace, but it isn't too tough. The rewards are 100 EXP per character and 300$ a photo. For now, this is your sure fire way to make money. Behind it, you find a drawer with the butler's spirit. He tells you more about the manor and its inhabitants, but more importantly, he asks you to talk to the portrait of Benedict's father in the drawing room. He gives you the iron key and you can find a bible under his bed. This item will be very important later on. Now that you know all this, you can return to town if you got hurt too badly or run from some encounters and rest afterwards. You have more choices now - you have to find the four pentagrams, but the order in which to attack them is up to you. I'll give you the locations and you need but to choose the one you feel like doing first. Armed with the iron key, you'll be able to access previously locked areas - beware, a strong boss monster also lurks in that area and one door requires the silver key (which is obtained during the pentagram hunt).. However, fist and foremost, you should go and talk to the painting in the drawing room on the first floor (first room on the right) and try messing with the fireplace. The Will-o-Wisp is worth 80$ a picture and can be defeated though combat but will regenerate unless you use holy water. Do so and collect your prize - a silver ring! With the iron key, open the door to Benedict's study and collect the Magic Endow book, a memo by Benedict and a hidden door behind the right most bookshelf. This passage leads to the second basement stairs and previously unreachable areas. Now the pentagram hunt! First, you can return to the basement near the place where you found a corpse. If you recall, I told you to avoid the pentagram room. Now you can go and find it but to do so to you'll need to use sacred salts in battle to defeat the restless flame spirit which protects the seal. Stepping on the pentagram allows you the option to break it, do so and you're one step closer towards your goal. Now, while you're at it, go back down the long passageway and use the lower door. The first door you see leads to a room with a memo. Once you've got the memo, go out and down to the next room. In it you need to find the small trail leading to the statue. Examine the statue and pull the lever to lower the water level in the room right above this one on the first floor. On the first floor, find that room with the water and statue (it's right above, use the maps to see it) and now that the water has been drained, you can pass without a hitch. In fact, you should follow the path down to the stairs and then to the pentagram. On the second floor, go to the lower far right door and enter the garden room. In it you find a henruda (which can be picked up as an item and regenerates every time you exit the manor) and to the left a pentagram! You need to defeat two Manplants (worth 120$ each) before being allowed to erase it. Once you're done, you are now ready to try your luck with the chapel. Right above this room is a door opened by the copper key. Inside, you find a chapel and by the time you've reached the last rows of chairs, the rooms begins to attack your mind, so cut through the middle before the room attacks you. Use save states and run from combat, resting after each battle to regain some health. Once you're in front of the altar, use the bible from your inventory and you will bring the room back to normal. Examine the altar to open a secret passage leading to some stairs to the first floor's family cemetery. In the cemetery the top centre grave can be dug up after being examined to find a Memento Ring. If you haven't found every pentagram yet, the other door can lead you to a shortcut through the first floor and access to a previously inaccessible area, including a pentagram. If you take the door next to the one leading to the cemetery, you'll find yourself in a small corridor with stairs going to the basement. In this part of the basement you find two doors, one to the right leading to a pentagram and one down leading to a torture room and the silver key. The reason I urge you to get the silver key without deeming it mandatory is that it merely offers a shortcut which will be very useful later on, you won't find anything else of importance down here besides it. In any case, it opens the left most door of the basement area you arrive in using the stairs behind Benedict's study. The room you open via the key has stairs for the first floor pentagram which leads you to the Castle, and, more importantly, you can unbar the door from inside so you can reach it from the first floor without using the basement. The other door in that basement area leads to a small passageway in which you'll meet up with the dangerous and unique Land Crawler creature. Take a picture for posterity since it won't regenerate like the Demon Door. Again, just attack using each person's speciality and you should be fine if you've made sure to be at the best level possible at this point. The path leads to two doors - both of which are for the wine cellars. The rightmost room has a saber in the lower left corner, the other one seems empty. Pretty much a bust I'd say. Go back up to the first floor and find Benedict's mum! The uppermost room on the right (the one with statues) has a small room underneath it with stairs leading to the second floor. The only room you can access is blocked by magic, fortunately you have the Memento Ring now! This is the key to the room of Benedict's mother and you'll soon see that there's a person lying in the bed. What a surprise! Benedict's mother is still in her room and is being haunted by two Banshees! A psychic will make short work of those two, otherwise a scientist and someone armed with a silver knife (say a P.I.) will have to do the job. You can heal and protect with the dilettante's magic, but don't bother using flame or any magic on them. Nothing too difficult for a 2nd level party with 3-4 in combat skills/machine. The corpse reveals that it is Janet Weathertop, mother of Benedict, and explains why her body still laid in bed. Apparently sonny boy's been up to no good ever since he tried to revive her - exploring dark magic, playing dungeons and dragons and listening to heavy metal and all that sort of stuff. She begs you to ring the bell and free the spirits from the Manor's evil spell. She gives you the power to ring the bell as well as a hint, that Benedict might have hidden something useful in the room (an Amegeist which restores everything to a party member). You can return her corpse to the graveyard to gain 1000 EXP and now the quest for the bell begins. With the corpse buried, the door held fast by the mysterious force is now open and you can follow the corridor until you reach the bell room. Ringing the bell puts an end to the Manor's hold on the spirits of its inhabitants, letting them rest in pace for all eternity. In other words, no more monsters (besides the Demon Door and the servants' spirits)! Thus, you should make sure you got photos of every monster in the place if you're looking for a complete set. Here are some unique ones: -Will-o-Wisp (fireplace in drawing room) -Werewolf (bed on second floor's stagnant room) -Land Crawler (basement area lading to wine cellars) -Plates and utensils (very long dinner table on the first floor) -Bed (second floor, one of the lower left rooms) -Demon Door (continues to exist even after you've rung the bell) Many lower level monsters will become more difficult to capture in pictures later on due to the rarity factor (skeletons, spiders, flying daggers, souls and dolls come to mind as well as ghosts and white wraiths). Once you're done and you've rung the bell, you can check some rooms you may have missed but there shouldn't be much to find right now. The fifth pentagram in the small room on the right on the first floor leads to the Castle and the second half of the game. -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- W a l k t h r o u g h - P a r t II T H E C A S T L E _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ The Castle isn't quite as linear as the Manor was, be that as it may, you're still required to accomplish certain tasks before you can access every area, item or character. This said, I'll give you a run down of the mandatory steps: -Capture the bundle of keys from the Master Servant or take the iron heart from the table (fight a doll to get it) and place it within the statue found on the second floor, near the waterway. -Defeat Moldiv and get his Crystal Rod to open certain first floor doors and access the second floor. -Defeat the Catoblepas (Talisman) in the basement or Griffon (Holy Cup) in the forest to gain an item with which to destroy the Skeletal Knight. -Get the bow statue and buy an old compass from the merchant in the eastern island on the third floor. You need 6 in Parley for this, so you might have to find some way of gaining such a score with one of the less useful characters like the Journalist. -Rescue the Princess Cassandra from her prison in the north west corner of the third floor (unsure if this is mandatory, I presume it must be, but the game might free her automatically if you fail to do so). -Defeat the Skeletal Knight and rescue Benedict. -Defeat LaPlace and trigger a chain of events concerning Cassandra, Benedict, Ruvan, Beyond and the party. -Go back to town and learn that Benedict is nowhere to be found and the police are looking for him at the Hospital. This is your last chance to visit Newcam, do whatever you need to before speaking to anyone who usually mentions Benedict to initiate the last part of the game (the Hospital folks are obviously your best choice, but anyone will do). -Return to the Manor's pentagram, warp to the Castle after a battle and go up to the second floor. Adolph sends you on your way but the pentagrams no longer work. You must go to the third floor via the eastern stairs, you are joined by Beyond. -Talk to Cassandra to gain the letter and perform the usual steps to reach the final battle with the Demon. Those steps cannot be overlooked, but everything else is optional and, outside of a few "do step A before step B", most quests/secrets/events can be followed at your leisure. So instead of giving you a step by step guide I'll give you a general rundown of each floor and I'll refer you to the characters section to know more about the NPC quests which make up a large part of the Castle's fun. Before we begin, note that I am not jotting down every item you can find in the various rooms. I'm only mentioning the important ones and those who might happen to be located near important ones. In the future, I'll have a detailed description of where to find every item in the game along with maps of all the floors. At this point, Blank supplied me with maps for the Basement, 1st and 2nd floor of the Castle which is where you'll find most items. Again, every time you reach a higher clue level, search around places that seemed to have nothing and save beforehand in case you drop a useful item. However most of these can be bought from the merchant on the third floor. ### Entering the Castle ### You begin in a room with a pentagram and two exits. One exit leads to the statue near the waterway, keep this in mind since you might want to come back later. The other gives you two sets of stairs - one goes up to the second floor and the other leads down. Go up, then go back down and through the pentagram warp to the Manor and then the town. Our friends the clerks at the dry goods shop have new items for you now that you've explored the Castle a little bit. Stock up on new weapons and armours as well as taking some of the newer items for sale if you have the money. A second vial of Holy Water, a Mirror and some Holy Oil are necessary for some puzzles you'll encounter. Go back to the Castle and go to the basement floor, seeing as both the first and second floors are of no use right now. B a s e m e n t F l o o r The basement floor is home to the Castle's dungeon as well as being the residence of Moldiv, an evil mage who introduced Benedict Weathertop to the dark arts. You'll also find a strange and mysterious wizard named Ruvan who claims to be a friend of Benedict and asks that you save him. Now then, the basement itself is divided into four sections: the Servants Area, Ruvan's Area, Moldiv's Area and the Dungeon. The basement's Servants Area is the only place you can visit for now and it is named as such for there are many servants hiding in the rooms and guards roaming the perimeter. The first door you find on the upper wall leads to a room which holds the entrance to another room where you will find Adolph once you've rescued him. In the meantime, check to see if you can find the Night Demon spell book in his room. Other rooms also contain items, but your clue skill needs to be higher. This portion of the floor is also the home of the Master Servant who lives in the last room of the corridor (upper door) and you're given a choice of sparing his life and going at it without his keys or kill him and take off with the bundle of keys. You don't have to kill him seeing as you can get the Iron Heart sitting on the table when you first enter his room. You must defeat a Doll (a weak monster - might want to take a picture, you'll rarely find them in this place) to get it. The Heart will allow you to drain some water in the basement, giving you a chance to cross over to Moldiv's Area directly. To do so, simply go back to the first floor and take the exit which leads outside. Look at the statue and then use the Iron Heart on it - it'll move and drain water from the basement. Now you can take the lower door you find when you first enter the basement and follow the path down to the second part of the floor, including a set of stairs to the middle of the first floor. You can go up and get some items and magic from the first floor is you so desire, if so, check out the section appropriate for the first floor. Assuming you're ready to continue, I might as well explain what doors the bundle of keys can open if you take them along with you. First, the second door on the upper wall is locked and, when opened, gives you a set of stairs to the first floor. The last lower door leads to a room which give you access to Ruvan's Area. But you can reach the first floor and access Ruvan's Area via Moldiv's portion of the floor. So the key bundle is certainly not necessary and in fact, it's more trouble than it's worth and the Iron Heart makes your life a lot easier overall. We're now ready to visit one of the three other portions of the floor, I suggest you tackle Moldiv's Area first then Ruvan's Area, but you can forgo Ruvan in favour of the Dungeon. |Moldiv's Area| : This is where you'll find the chambers of Moldiv's and his apprentices as well as his pet Catoblepas residing in one of the southern rooms (after a long series of smaller rooms, you know you're close when you can smell the creature). Before reaching Moldiv, you'll pass through his odd trophy room where some of the trophies attack if you search them (the lizard man, wolfman and troll). However, as the character section suggests, it might be wise to at least get Adolph before fighting Moldiv. Moreover, your Parley skill might need some boosting before the Apprentices on the east side rooms talk to you. If you've just got here from the Servant's Area, just grab the Basement Map from the room on the right (enter from the bottom) and leave to explore the Dungeon or Ruvan's Area. |Ruvan's Area|: Ruvan's Area isn't large as it's composed of a series of large upper western rooms with little outside of a few items (need good clue skill) and some guards to talk to. The real attraction is Ruvan, the lone wizard who lives at the bottom left of the area (no matter where you've entered from, the room is at the absolute left). In his chambers, the wizard asks that you free Benedict if you truly are his friends and to seek the "monstrous" pet of Moldiv if you want to rescue him for it holds a special item. You can find a Magic Book on the table in his room if your clue skill is high enough (or if the game feels like it). Your next stop should be the Dungeon which is found when you take the other lower door and cross the small bridge. |Dungeon|: You know you're in the dungeon when you enter a well lit room with brown, rocky walls. Two guards await you, one in front and one in the adjacent room. The one in front holds the important Jail Key, needed to open the Dungeon's actual door and reach the jailed NPCs. He won't just give them to you, so you'll need to knock some sense into him first. The Dungeon is fairly large and takes up most of the southern area of the floor. You'll find some important characters here and you'll be making frequent trips. The characters section of the walkthrough is very useful to know who's who and who's where in this place, so refer to it often. The first NPC you should get is Adolph, or, the Knight Beyond. If you chose Adolph (upper right cell), then go and defeat Moldiv right away or explore the basement for items (especially Ruvan's chambers in Ruvan's Area). If you'd rather free Kusakabe, get Beyond (lower right cell) and then enter the large cell blocks near the entrance. In here you'll find iron maidens and chairs, I'd avoid checking them unless you feel like having an encounter with a phantom creature or get spooked. And in the other room, the water is acid, so don't try anything. The third room has Kusakabe and the characters section tell you what you need to know about this fellow. Make sure you have holy water with you and agree to go back to town when he asks. The other NPC you can find are Joanna (next to the Kusakabe cell blocks), Ryan (far left cell), Janbon (upper cells, lower door) and Jerman (upper cells, upper door). Each one has his or her own entry in the characters section, so I suggest you take a look there. For the sake of quick reference, make sure you don't accidentally talk to Anita on the third floor unless Ryan is with you. And almost each NPC might be required to spend some time with you unless you've already cleared certain tasks. The Dungeons holds nothing more and you're free to explore the other areas or attack Moldiv if you have Adolph with you. F i r s t F l o o r You arrive on the first floor when you first enter the Castle, alas, the actual way is blocked by a river of some sort, so you're forced to go down to the basement or up the stairs to the forest area of the second floor. Once you've acquired the Iron Heart or Key bundle in the basement, you can go up some stairs to reach the actual rooms of the first floor. The stairs in the Moldiv's Area portion of the Basement lead you to the middle of the first floor, while the room with the locked door has stairs for the other side of the riverbank which you follow into the lower section of the floor. All in all, the stairs in Moldiv's area offer a better deal since you're capable of quickly reaching the map for the floor, some potent items and useful magic. |Statues' Hall|: If you take the aforementioned stairs, you reach a small, closed room with nothing but a door. Exit and you find yourself in the vast Hall of Statues. In this hall there are five rooms in total and two exits - one at the bottom, one at the top, and four statues can be examined. The top left statue of a man with fiery hair seems suspicious when you examine it. Indeed, use Holy Oils to reveal a secret Psy Condenser for your Scientist's Spirit Machine. The first room to explore is the one at the bottom right. It has a few beds, one of which contains a blue ring (strength power up) and a First Floor Map! Not a bad deal, I'd say. This will make reading this walkthrough a lot easier and a lot less confusing. Now, try your luck with the upper left room or a yellow ring (Perception up) and check the family portrait in the library (lower left door, right underneath the upper one) for a brief dialogue. No need to rush over to the library, do so when you need to go back to town. Just so you know, the information gleaned if of little consequence outside of slight plot elements and might be useful much later on in the wisdom arena. Once you have the map though, you're ready to venture outside the Hall. The upper door of the Hall leads to a series of rooms: the Dancing Aristocrats on the right (see the respective Characters and Mysteries sections for more information); then, after going up, an Electrical Attack magic book (need clue level 3+ sometimes) on the left. The upper door leads to the throne room and you can also continue to the left for more rooms to explore (Sage and armoury at the bottom, well dressed man and stairs going up to the second and eventually to the third floor at the upper left). You can find out more about the well dressed man and sage in the Characters section and the armoury has some defensive items and weapons (including a silver sword) but you need to fight a guard and only someone with a clue level 4-5+ will find everything that's in the room. Be careful, guards appear often when you search. The Throne Room doesn't seem to have any secrets, though you'll find a throne obviously, in the centre of the room. The lower left room is locked, requiring the use of the crystal rod and leads to the upper part of the second floor. You can find a silver bracelet in the far right room if you have enough clue skill. I strongly suggest you use the stairs here to reach the second floor since it'll allow you to get the map more easily. |Lower Area|: The bottom door leads to the lower section where you can find the Holify magic spell (first door on the lower left), the map for the third floor in the servant's room (next door, use the crystal rod to open the second door inside) as well as stairs for the second floor's Mirror Maze. Apart from all of this, there is a section which you can only reach from the second floor and leads to a set of stairs for a previously inaccessible part of the basement and some items. Also, the haystack at the back of the room on the right is useless until you've rescued Janbon and completed his quest so don't bother until then (you know the drill, Characters section). S e c o n d F l o o r The second floor is divided into four sections, the bottom area is the mirror maze, the top left running diagonally towards the lower right holds the main area, the upper right has the forest area and the spot between the main area and western mirror maze is the pentagram area. |Forest Area|: You first find the forest area by climbing the stairs up near the first floor pentagram. While a hunter here gives you some hints about a treasure guarded by a griffon, you won't be able to do much until you have a deceased finger. It wouldn't hurt to tag Jerman along either. By the way, right after you arrive in this part of the second floor, there's a large room with a wide cabinet inside. It takes a high level in Clue to find it, but inside there's a Red Diary written by Benedict. It gives you more information on the fateful meeting between Ruvan, Kusakabe and himself. It's the last "book" you'll find and reveals just about every bit of obscure plot left. If you at least have the finger, then go up along the forest path and your characters will notice how time and space are being distorted. Nothing to worry about, it just means the programmers didn't have enough time/ patience/money/resources to create a better world outside the Castle walls. Though this would have made the game far more interesting, let's move on. You follow the path and reach a fissure filled with creatures - no way in Hell you're jumping this gorge! Instead, use the finger and offend someone... kidding, a bone bridge is formed and you can now cross safely. On the other side you have to continue running around until you get to the griffon who awaits you in his lair. Jerman notices the treasure and asks that you help him defeat it. Don't worry, this griffon is your run of the mill random encounter griffon. Of course, a weak party might have some troubles with the creature's attacks which hurt the whole party. Nevertheless, it isn't really a boss and you shouldn't have too much trouble with it. Once it kicks the bucket, you take the treasure or split it with Jerman. You get: phantom bracers, Plague magic book, a Trident, a Bag of Jewels and a Holy Cup. Jerman will take the Bag of Jewels (which seemingly don't register when you sell them anyway). There's nothing else left to do here besides returning to the Castle for more exploration. |Mirror Maze|: The Mirror Maze isn't a maze at all, well, not a very convincing one in any case. You arrive here via the first floor's lower left stairs and you soon find mirrors hung on some of the walls. These mirrors, except for one, teleport you to another mirror on the opposite side. While this could have been confusing, it's very simple in fact, even more so if you have a map of the floor. The two sections of the maze are more or less identical, so, each mirror has a double on the other side. This way, you know exactly where you're going to land with each mirror and you can guess which one is the false mirror. So what's in it for me, you ask? Well there are three things to do here: get the gold water to exchange for a deceased finger, get a sage stone from a hunter and, last but certainly not least, find the second floor pentagram. The goldwater is in the middle right part of the eastern side of the maze and can be easily located by the large white mirror-like thing hung on a wall. Just examine the white spot and get the gold water. From there, go as far left as you can and then down. Loop around the second passage to find the injured hunter who exchanges a henruda/beezo stone for sage stone. You can now exit the maze in one of three ways: the stairs down in this eastern part (to inaccessible areas of first floor and basement), the door in the upper right corner or go back to the other half of the maze to teleport into the pentagram room. |Pentagram Area|: The Pentagam area designates those rooms which can only be accessed by way of the pantagram room. The door to this room is hidden behind a mirror in the mirror room, the upper left one in the eastern half to be exact. You know you've found the right mirror when it doesn't teleport you anywhere - this is your cue to use a mirror from your inventory to pass through to the other side and into the pentagram room. Obviously, you can save and warp to other floors or the Manor if you wish. But you can also explore the aforementioned rooms, well, two actually. A large empty room and two smaller adjacent ones. The room on the right has stairs to the third floor's central island and the one on the left leads to a maid and a not so secret room. In this "secret" room, a bow statue can be found - this item will let you control the boat you find on the next floor manually once you buy the old compass. |Upper Area|: The upper area is by far the most interesting one seeing as it holds the most items, including the most powerful weapon in the game! It takes up a good diagonal portion of the floor reaching from the upper left to the middle of the second floor. You find two sets of stairs that go to the third floor and two sets of stairs for the second floor. If you came here by using the stairs near the well dressed man, then you need to go down two doors and enter the very large room with the stairs. If you took the middle stairs near the throne room, then you should already be here. You can get an antidote in the first room on the right, but the second one is far more important. You met the old alchemist there and he requests that you find him some gold water. Talk to him a second time and you get the map for the floor. If you already have the water he'll give you a deceased finger. Once this is done you can explore the other rooms of this area by going through the bottom exit. Here you have a choice go right to find a stairway to the third floor's eastern island and a way into the mirror maze, or, go down and left to find some more interesting stuff. Going down and left, you'll reach a first door going up that leads to the second maniac in the game (see Characters and Mysteries sections respectively). Going down, you can find the young woman with the fragile mind (again, same as above) and a doorway leading to three rooms linked by a corridor. The first one has a well dressed man and a table which holds infinite healing medicine if you have enough Clue skill to find it. The second holds the most powerful melee weapon in the game - the Holy Sword! This baby slices, dices and best of all, attacks both body and mind at the same time! A good way to make your game a lot easier and the final battle into a cakewalk is to equip this sword on someone with 10 in strength and level 10 in their Combat skill. Lastly, the far left room can be opened using the Jail Key and hosts the body of the Boatman (see Characters section). His spirit might or might not talk to you, in any case, come back to talk to him once you have both the old compass and boat statue so he may rest in peace. T h i r d F l o o r Ahh yes, the infamous third floor, how confusing and bizarre it is - until you find the map that is. If you're smart, you'll get the map on the first floor of the Castle before coming here, otherwise, you might be taken back by the oddity of this level. In truth, it's rather simple: you have a certain number of islands all linked by a mysterious ferry, which, at first, allows you to reach pre-determined destinations based on a cardinal point (North, South, East, West) and the central island. |Western Island|: You can reach this island from the second floor by way of the staircase found after a long, narrow corridor heading south (a servant offers to unlock the door for you in the small room prior to the corridor). Otherwise, you'll arrive at the pier and need to go up and through the door to enter the premises. Once inside, you'll find a couple of doors to the left of the stairs going down. The lower door is unguarded and leads to the cemetary. You'll find many ghouls and zombies roaming in this place and one of the four graves remains open (top left hole) so that you may bury the boatman (see Characters section). Nothing else to be found/done in here it would seem, so you might as well go up. The upper door is guarded by a ghoul, an easy foe in the manor made much easier by your new arsenal and levels. Once defeated, the ghoul leaves and you're free to talk to the ghoul in the next room. Unless you have Joanna in your party, this fellow won't reveal much about himself and he only offers to talk to you. You have no option to fight him. Obviously this is Joanna's ex- boyfriend turned flesh eater and part time kidnapper, Richard Upton Pickman (see Characters section). Even if you don't have Joanna, he'll let you pass so you can rescue the maid (Anita, see Characters section) held prisoner in the room behind him. After rescuing her (hope you had Ryan along, otherwise you're missing some easy EXP), you'll find nothing more to do on this floor so you can either hop on the ferry for a new island cruise or, go back to the second floor and possibly grab a new NPC from the dungeon. |Central Island|: You'll find your way to this island by one of three routes - the ferry, the stairs or the pentagram. Yes, this is where the third floor pentagram is hidden, but to access it, you need to visit the merchant residing on the next island to the East. The stairs you find link you to the second floor's Pentagram Area and the ferry is self-explanatory I'd say. Inside the building you find little outside of a few guards to talk to and, of course, Beyond who's looking for Cassandra as always. But being a clueless dolt he couldn't find her. The room above this one is locked and the key to the door is a Golden Scarab which you may buy from the aforementioned merchant. Inside you'll be able to access the stairs to the fourth floor as well as the third floor pentagram. If you have enough Clue skill you'll find a Medical Treatment spell book in the upper left room. The fourth floor has little interest until save Benedict but if you so desire you may go and save Amy for some always welcome EXP and (for once) money! |Eastern Island|: Ah the infamous Eastern Island, the place to be for power mongers young and old! Once you've reached this place via the ferry or eastern second floor stairs (near he mirror maze) you'll find that two individuals inhabit this place. On the right is a Lizard Man (see Characters section) who warns you about the guardian of Benedict's cell, and, on the left we have the merchant. Unless you have excellent parleying skill (6+) he'll refuse to sell anything to you. By now you've probably read how to handle this situation, so I'll avoid going into details. For the sake of reference, here's what he sells: Castle Merchant Cost Description Notes Amulet 1000 "Mind damage to an enemy." Ruby 1000 "Physical damage to an enemy." Crystal Ring 1200 "Damage to all enemies." Crystal 680 "Banishes one enemy." Silver Bell 300 "Confuses an enemy." Pearl 1000 "Hold to all enemies." Mandrake 460 "Can escape from battle." Red Ring 1000 "Will Power up." One use per ring. Blue Ring 1000 "Strength up." One use per ring. Yellow Ring 1000 "Acuity up." Acuity = Perception. Old Gold Coin 1000 "Luck up." Wand 400 "Mind def up all allies." Staff 400 "MP def up all allies." Rod 400 "Resist up all allies." Pentagram 1000 "Physical def 1." An accessory. Def. Ring 1200 "Physical def 2." An accessory. Hexagram 900 "Mental def 1." An accessory. Horus Eye 1100 "Mental def 2." An accessory. PhantBrac 1500 "Dodge Rate up 10." An accessory. PhantMant 2600 "Dodge Rate up 20." An accessory. TranqRune 1000 "Resistance up 10." An accessory. BraveRune 1500 "Resistance up 20." An accessory. EyeRing 2000 "Clue Skill up." An accessory. CharmGlass 2000 "Connection Skill up." Connection = Parley SkullMedal 200 "Attracts enemies." An accessory Gold Scarab 1000 "Opens a door on 3F." Compass 1000 "It's old, but it works." For ship. KrisKnife 350 "Allows mind attacks." The rings are by far the most useful buys and the old compass may be left for later if you wish to limit your exploration to the usual islands. While you're at it, there's an Emotion Control spell book near the merchant. You can go back to the second floor, take a ferry or go out the northern exit for a shortcut to the Witch's Abode. |Witch's Abode|: North of the merchant's building and due East of the North pier is the Witch's Abode. Inside is the Witch (see Characters section) who doesn't do or say much for now, however, this place will become more important late in the game. For now, you can bring Janbon (see Characters section) to complete his quest and gain access to the hidden spell book. Cassandra will hide here once she's rescued. Cassandra will beg you to help her father, Marquis LaPlace, and reveals more story elements to you as she goes along. You'll return here after your visit to LaPlace and Cassandra will then give you a letter for her father. The third time you need to see her she'll join the party. |South (Zoo)|: This is the LaPlace Zoo where rare and exotic creatures are found. You need to speak with the servant before the door is opened for you. He asks that you be careful as these creatures will not regenerate after being killed. There's little to be found here outside of unique hints given out by the creatures and, of course, the NPC Shuu (see Characters section). I'd avoid this place until you've gained excellent parleying skills (at least 7+), otherwise you won't gain much information. Besides, most will mention Cassandra's whereabouts and issue a few warnings about the place ("There's a monster who wields strange magic"). Others will air their frustrations regarding Moldiv's experiments of which they are the result. There's one very unique creature found in the Zoo, besides Shuu of course, and that's the Cockatrice. You won't find another anywhere else so if you're into collecting pictures, make sure to drop by. It will always attack if you try to talk to it, much like the trifid in the upper right cell. Other monsters can be found anywhere else on the floor. |Prison|: Not too far from the Zoo and the eastern island, there's an island that you're unable to reach without manually controlling the boat. Once you're capable of navigating the waters of the third floor, you'll reach this place by going southward from the eastern island (or eastward from the Zoo). Inside, both doors are locked and one knightly figure stands in between both. This is the Skeletal Knight, guardian of Benedict's cell and YOUR ticket to infinite experience points and fast money! Of course, you know you can't complete the game without offing this gaunt fellow, however, before you do, read the comments regarding this encounter in the secret technique section. Once defeated, you gain the skull key which releases Benedict from his cell and opens the door to fourth floor stairs. These stairs will take you near the fourth floor pentagram room so you might as well make a brief stop before bringing Benedict back to town. |Cassandra's room|: In the north western corner of the floor (above the western island) you'll find yet another pier that requires manual control of the boat in order to be reached. Locked away in this odd little dungeon is Princess Cassandra (see Characters section), or so it seems. While Beyond is grateful to see the Princess alive and well (even if the cut scene seems to show a startled Alex Quinn, the P.I.), the dialogue takes a turn for the weird... The lovely Princess makes passes at your main character and claims she's unable to stand up. Before you know it, the Princess turns into a seductive Succubus - a foul temptress demon who steals the "essence" of men as they sleep (or engage in other nightly activities ahem...) This sultry creature is no more difficult than her fourth floor brethren and once defeated, you're able to rescue the real Princess in the next room. After a brief dialogue with Beyond and Kusakabe, she informs you of her intentions to stay at the Witch's abode for the time being and invites you to go and see her as soon as you can. |The Falls|: Apart from the islands, there's the mysterious falls on the west side of the floor which pull you down to the mirror maze with considerable damage done to each member of the party. Is there any purpose to these falls? Guess it's another mystery to be solved. Azel assures me that the falls are nothing more than a trap and have no other meaning. Guess that's solves this mystery. F o u r t h F l o o r Perhaps the most straightforward floor in all the game, the fourth floor offers challenging monsters like Demons and Succubi who can do a number on your party. But it offers little else in the way of difficulties and has only two entrances - in the south east near the pentagram and near the middle of the floor. Either way, you're stuck within the lower half of the floor until you rescue Benedict and make your way back to town with the devious son of Richard and Janet Weathertop. Benedict's emerald statue is the key to unlocking the door that seals off the upper half of the floor where LaPlace resides. Before going too far, you may want to know that you can free poor little Amy from the sacrifice room at the top of the eastern corridor of rooms (a series of narrow corridors with a door to another narrow corridor and another, eventually leading to Amy). Besides Amy, you find two useful characters who help you out. They are the old lady and the sage, each one residing in his/her room on each side of the stone guardian. Visit either one you want first and collect hints, story elements and an item from both. The lady gives you the map for the floor as well as the Suffocate spell book while the old sage offers a Crystal Pole for your scientist's Spirit Machine. To the right of the old lady's room and the left of the sage's room are doors leading to what Cassandra called the arenas. The left one is the Wisdom Arena, where your knowledge of game related trivia is tested. Each room has a creature asking a riddle with three possible answers, only one, of course, is right. Each riddle is tougher than the next, although you'll find all the answers in the game itself until the last three or four rooms. For example, one creature asks you the name of the knight who pledged his allegiance to Cassandra and another will ask LaPlace's first name. The last questions deal with more general knowledge, but again, nothing obscure outside of the last one ("what does the tarot card named the Tower represent?" - tha answer is destruction). In case you're lazy, here are the answers in order: 1 3 1 2 3 1 3 The right one will test your battle skills, as the Strength Arena gives you a series of increasingly difficult battles with a chance to heal your HP or MP after a certain number of battles. As all roads lead to Rome, both arenas lead to LaPlace's throne room behind the stone guardian. You're now face to face with the owner of this Castle, Pierre Simon Marquis de LaPlace (see Characters section duuuhhh) and the old man isn't about to cut you some slack. Surprised that you made it this far (aren't arch villains tired of saying that all the time?), he doesn't feel like dealing with you and your kind. However, if he must, then he'll make a deal: beat him and your world is safe from his invasion. However, if you were to lose, then you'll be fed to the Demon in order to give it access to your world. Talkative fellow that he is, fighting him results in a brief in-battle dialogue regarding the Demon, destiny and his thoughts about you. In the end, he will fight you and a good, strong party shouldn't have too much trouble. Just be careful, as he can cast some pretty good spells that hurt the whole party and some which bring down your total of HP very quickly (Suffocate chops it in half, Night Demon drains you/heals him). Casting effect spells on him isn't going to do you much good and you're best sticking to some hand to hand combat assisted by magic healing and the scientist can use his machine to protect the party. By defeating him you obtain 4000 Quest EXP and 1550 for the battle, not bad if I do say so myself! Impressed, LaPlace agrees to talk a little more but tells you that he doesn't really think the Demon is all that dangerous - well not too much in any case. Long story short: destiny is destiny, the Demon decides everything and the Marquis is tired. Seeing as you've won, he agrees to seal the portal and will refrain from invading your world. You're not very convincing on your own and so it's best to try and get someone who can reason with him - his daughter. But first, you might as well do as he says and return home... for now. E n d G a m e Now begins the end game if you will. Once you decide to go and see Cassandra a second time (after going back to Newcam once you've defeated LaPlace), you're pretty much kissing your freedom goodbye as the pentagrams will be sealed off (as LaPlace told you) and therefore you're forced you to stay inside the Castle. At that point many possible events and quests are nullified and you can only explore the castle via the stairways. This said, the rest of the Walkthrough assumes you've done everything you wanted and that your level in each skill satisfies you as there will soon be no turning back. Now then, you've defeated LaPlace and you realised that he won't listen to reason unless someone gives him a stern talking to. He suggests you return to your world and I concur that this is a good idea as this will possibly be your last visit to Newcam. You could always go and talk to Cassandra, but the Princess won't do much more than offer her gratitude and state that at least he's not going to conquer America. In Newcam, make sure you have the end game party you want (bring Kusakabe, you won't regret having his help) and go to the dry goods shop. If Kusakabe is with you, you'll have a nice surprise: a shotgun, machine gun and shotgun bullets are all waiting for you at the left counter, best of all, they're free!!! Both the shotgun and machine gun are very powerful weapons. Point in case, the shotgun is capable of hitting ALL the enemies on screen for very good damage. Be careful though, the shotgun requires special shotgun bullets (Bullet S for Bullet Shotgun instead of Bullet P for Bullet Pistol) which you can buy only at Janbon's store. Stock up on healing items for both MP and HP, bullets and batteries. Circlets are worthless now, might as well sell them for money. When you're done, talk to people at the Hotel and Bar to learn that Benedict has escaped and the police are chasing after him, then the Hospital will reveal that he was heading for the Manor. Once again, Azel informs me that these are ALL triggers for the end game, meaning you can go around the Castle and use the pentagrams so long as you haven't learned about Benedict from the people in town. Once you're ready, save the game (it'll be a while until you can do this again) and prepare for the final trek into the Weathertop Manor by learning more about Benedict's sudden disappearance act at the Hospital. The end game triggered, you need to go to the Castle again. Once inside you try to use the pentagram but you're faced with a few problems. Benedict was here before you and is ready to get some revenge. A group of guards attack you the instant you arrive at the Castle's first floor and find yourself forced into battle! An easy victory at this point, but guards are all over the place now! They're even preventing you from reaching the underground dwelling of Ruvan! So it's up to the second floor, where you meet your old friend Adolph. Adolph is inside the room next to the stairs and exchanges a few words with you to explain the situation at hand. After this he sends you on your way using a spell and you end up at the bottom of the floor near the insane girl (who's now quite sane oddly enough). The madman is no longer in his room and neither are most characters so there's little for you to do other than try to go to the third floor and find Cassandra. Along the way, you're joined by another companion, Beyond, who was sent as an escort by orders of Cassandra herself. Together you return to the Witch's abode and meet up with your allies. The Witch explains that she's willing to do what she can to help, offering your a place to rest and also mentions that Janbon will gladly sell you some magical wares of some potency. He also buys your pictures and items and allows you to buy the poweful magic books containing the last spells in the game. Each book is a mere 100$ and remember that he lost one of them in a haystack somewhere in the Castle - hope you found it before the end game! Janbon's Tool Shop Cost Description Notes Knife 60 "It's weak." KrisKnife 350 "Allows mind attacks." Long Sword 450 "Physical attack." Bastard Sword 600 "For PIs and Kusakabe." Bullet P 2 "Bullets for a gun." Buy by the singles. Bullet S 2 "Bullets for a shotgun." Buy by the singles. Silver Bullet 6 "Boosts gun damage." Buy by the singles. Leather Armor 40 "Low def rating." Buy by the singles. Platemail 200 "Not for Psychic, Scientist." Cap 24 "Low def rating." Helmet 150 "Not for Psychic, Scientist." Battery 2 "Powers an S.Machine." Buy by the singles. Film 2 "Film for a camera." Buy by the singles. Healkit2 20 "Restores some HP." Healkit3 50 "Restores a lot of HP." Moon Amulet 20 "Restores some MP." Sun Amulet 50 "Restores a lot of MP." Stimulant 10 "Cures paralysis." Sage Stone 1000 "Allows action." Stun Dart 200 "Restores 10 Max MP." Circlet 400 "Warp to Pentagram." Heal Medicine 50 "Heals HP in battle." Amegist 800 "Restores MP completely." Cactus Ext 1600 "Restores all HP and MP." Antidote 10 "Cures poison." Astral Amp 1000 "S.Machine parts." Antidote 10 "Cures poison." Then, go talk to Cassandra. She gives you a letter for dear old dad and hopes you'll reach him in time. You might want to take a moment and buy whatever you may need from the merchant, but if you don't need anything, make your way to the boat and off to the middle island to get one last piece of equipement. Azel comes in again to add something I never found before, the location of the last and most powerful spirit machine piece, adamantium: "Ah, finally I get my chance again and can add something you completely forgot. Or maybe didn't even find. Hehe. There is one final part for the Spirit Machine of the Scientist. And using this he even becomes quite a decent offensive character. It's located in the only place in the whole game I actually suspected to have another item after the first was taken. I'm talking about that single cute treasure box in 2F. The same one we got the bow statue from. As you can't reach it through the mirror maze anymore, I suggest that as soon as you are back on 3F you should go the central island and down the stairs there. Then one room south and two north and you're done." There you go, now Vincent becomes all powerful. Next up is the prison island in order to get to the fourth floor. Once you've arrived, guards block the stairs - a battle ensues and, after you've gained victory, go up and meet with the old lady who spins yarn. She gives you a powerful item - the Mistletoe Wand - however you can't really use it... You should visit the stone guardian now. As expected, he won't let you pass. To make matters worse the arenas have closed shop. Annoying indeed! So you must retrace your steps to the stairs... but, what's this? Ruvan and Benedict ambush you! Benedict is eager to finish you off as any good right hand man would, but Ruvan tells his to keep his cool. He offers you two choices: surrender now and go back to your world, or, fight him. You could end the game with the bad ending at this point by saying yes, you want to leave for your world - but we're brave adventurers out to save the world so obviously you respond with an affirmative NO leaving Ruvan with no choice but to attack you. Face it, you can't win this one. Ruvan CANNOT be attacked by anything and you must endure three rounds of attacks before he steals your precious wand and initiates a little dialogue with Beyond. Beyond sacrifices his life for you, charging Ruvan with his sword while knowing full well the consequences of his act. You flee down the stairs in a hurry and regroup at the Witch's abode. Cassandra is saddened by the death of Beyond and admits that this was all too foolish of her as she knew very well what could happen but was too scared. So now she has to take responsibility into her own hands and end this madness once and for all! She joins you as an NPC in order to talk to the stone guardian blocking the way; being of LaPlace blood she can order it to let you pass. Rest up, buy stuff if you must, and head back up the stairs to get by that guardian this will be your last chance to do all this as the way to the 3rd floor will be blocked. I think this might be an oversight on the part of the programmers. Within the throne room you find a confused LaPlace who fails to understand what his daughter plans to do. As you try to talk sense into him, Benedict appears from out of nowhere to attack the Marquis! The wand given to you by the old woman is a secret weapon destined to weaken LaPlace, with it, she thought, you could possibly change his mind. However, it has fallen into Ruvan's hands and is now working against you! Benedict gloats as he assassinates the master of the Castle and snatches his daughter away from your protection as well, only to leave by means of his magic. LaPlace isn't dead yet and with his dying breath offers you advice as well as two items to help you defeat Ruvan: his crown and ring are now yours. The crown shall be used to discover the hidden passageway leading to your foe and the ring will reveal Ruvan's true form, allowing you to destroy him! He dies on his throne as you head out to meet with the dark side of LaPlace... The secret passage is next to the door leading into the Sacrifice Room's corridor. You'll notice a black crack in the wall, just press A and enter the passage way. From now on you'll be meeting a lot of these invisible passages and the best way to navigate through them is to notice your party characters and how they tend to huddle when there's a wall and regain their original walking formation if there's a free space. This is your way of spotting invisible intersections. But, as Azel suggests, you could simply turn off a background layer (the third to be precise) by way of your emulator which might help you navigate the maze. Now then, this current secret passage is easy enough to follow. You just need to go up, then left, and then loop down to reach the portion of the map that was previously unreachable. The entrance is on the right side of the room. Inside, you meet with none other than our friend Benedict who plans on sacrificing LaPlace's daughter in order to release the seal of the LaPlace family and reach the Demon with hopes of using it for his own malevolent purposes. Note that the cut scene is severely garbled and, though you can see the text, the image won't make much sense. This is a problem related to the patch and not due to your ROM image or emulator. As a matter of fact, I suggest you keep a Japanese version of the ROM handy and use save states to view the cut scene as it was meant to be. You fail to stop Benedict who proceeds to slay Cassandra thereby opening the portal to the Demon's dimension. The dimension rift now open, you're faced with a choice - do you step in or don't you? If you agree to continue, then you're given a chance to save your game one last time before the final section. The dark dimension you enter is plunged in darkness and you can't see the walls, only your characters are visible. You have to guide yourself using the technique described above with hopes that you don't meet too many monsters along the way. Ah yes, I forgot to add that the monsters here are by far your toughest customers in the game. With a high Parley skill (8-9+), you're able to gain some information but nothing you don't already know by now. Battling them won't bring you much closer to a new level and it may be wiser to run than to stick around and waste healing items (not to mention your time!). There's no map to be found, but I can give you a few general guidelines: hug the right wall and try to go up. You'll often get blocked, when you are, just try going back down, hugging the left wall to spot an open passage. But when given a choice, always go up and right as far as you can before going left or down. It shouldn't be too hard to find your way through the room and you'll know you've reached your destination once you find a slightly different wall with an opening. Of course, disabling layer #3 might help a bit. Stepping inside you're again plunged in darkness, but there are no walls to impede your progress this time until you come face to face with your arch nemesis Ruvan! I suggest you take the time to heal up and prepare yourself before going too far into the room. Merely approaching Ruvan will cause an instant battle/dialogue with him. Ruvan will mock your attempts at stopping the Demon of LaPlace and Benedict's ambitions and he's in no mood to play. However, this time you have the ring of Pierre LaPlace and with it (when used in combat) you can finally reveal Ruvan's true form: a winged snake with a human head! Ruvan's no different from LaPlace combat wise, except he deals more damage with each blow. He'll use more or less the same spells (well he is the "dark side" of LaPlace in a way) and has a fair amount of HP (I'd go with 500 or so). If your party features a P.I. and Kusakabe with a score of 10 in strength, 10 in Combat skill and the Holy sword, then you'll make short work of the demonic bishounen by striking for around 100HP per round. Have your dilettante heal and fight with weapons or magic (God's Wrath or use the silver bullets) while your scientist uses his party protecting barrier as soon as he can (useless to do this twice so make sure he can fight too) or, in the case of a psychic, use high level protective powers on the party. With Ruvan out of the way, heal and prepare to meet an old friend in the next room... The power mad Benedict gloats, claiming he has control over the Demon now that the LaPlace family has been eliminated, however, the Demon interrupts this little reunion of yours... and eats Benedict alive! Well that was short and to the point. Your characters discuss their strategy - obviously this Demon is bad news, but what can you do against it? You reach the conclusion that it might be best to seal it up in this dimension by destroying the portal. The goal is to get some distance between you and the Demon first and then destroy the seal for good. In order to do so, you must battle the Demon of LaPlace itself! This giant brain with an eyeball has a certain Cthulu mythos feel to it, but it's not too hard to dispose of it with a strong party. Again, most of its attacks are similar to spells used by Ruvan and LaPlace (incidentally, as well as your dilettante) and does only slightly more damage than Ruvan. Even though he has quite a few more HP than any other boss so far, he's a pushover. As the kidz say, your party 0wNZ his ass or whatever. His 800+ HP go down quickly to repeated attacks, but be careful, he might try and drain some of your characters. Use items if you feel a need to do so, but magic and fighting should be enough. Once you win, there's a cut scene where you destroy the pentagram after reaching the Manor. After the cut scene, enjoy the end sequence (which I won't spoil for you, not that it's anything special). The ending sequence is slightly different if you don't have Kusakabe with you. ************************************************************************ M Y S T E R I E S ************************************************************************ Believe it or not, there are still mysteries we've yet to unravel in this game. Scattered throughout the Castle are characters and events which seem to have a special purpose but no one seems to know what those purposes might be. Also, because we're lazy, some things were left untested and we kept them here in case anyone tried it out at some point or another. The dancing aristocrats: Odd and spooky, but why would the guards tell us about them if there was nothing we could do? They give precious little information and are seemingly unaffected by Moldiv's death. One couple floats through the air and outside the room when you come back later on, is this a glitch or a clue? We've tried every item and still no result. This is probably an unfinished/unimplemented quest left out of the final product. ROM hacking by Azel reveals that our suspicions were right on the money! This is the first of many quests left unfinished by the lazy folks at Vic Tokai. The lizard men: Shuu joins your party if your Parley skill is at least 7 for one character, however, he gives out no clue about his possible quest. He does mention something about finding his friend when you drop him for Benedict, but the lizard men you find in the trophy room and merchant building have nothing to say to you regarding Shuu (the lizard man in the trophy room still attacks you even with Shuu in the party). To make things even more interesting, the lizard man residing near the merchant also happens to have a small avatar/ picture like Shuu's when you meet him again after you're trapped in the Castle. Is he Shuu's friend? Then why would he not react to Shuu's presence? Again, Azel's ROM hacking reveals this to be yet ANOTHER unfinished quest as there is no text nor are there any other flags for Shuu or the other lizard man on the 3rd floor outside those already found. The insane: The first oddity is the sacred salts. How do you purify a madman with sacred salts? You get two of those, one for the spirit guarding a pentagram and the second for a madman we presume. This said, the first maniac answers you when you talk to him, but the second maniac just attacks you. Any possible way to purify him? Also, the young woman on the second floor (the one who talks about the water growing black) seems insane, any chance to purify her? She does come to her senses once the trapped inside the Castle, but before then, can she be helped? Can we do anything for these people? Guess what? This quest is also unfinished! Seems Vic Tokai got lazy and forgot about the madmen (and madwoman) as there's nothing in the ROM to suggest that there are potential alternate fates for these three. Two, count em' two ways to beat a Knight: You can choose between the Holy cup and the Talisman in order to beat the Skeletal Knight, but why doesn't anyone tell you about the powers of the Holy Cup? Why get two items? Strangely, this is also the case with the Henruda and Beezo Stone which both cure the poisoned hunter in the mirror maze. Beating the game with Kusakabe still dead: I've never had the heart to do this, but can you get a different ending if Kusakabe isn't brought back to life? Well, Azel being the cruel and heartless sort did it, and here are the results: "Perhaps the most interesting part. To be short, it is possible to end the game without resurrecting Kusakabe. Or without having him in the endgame party, which interestingly has the same result. [And makes me think even more that the game was quite rushed...] If you do either of these two options, here are the differences: -No chit-chat between Kusakabe and Beyond when Beyond joins the party on floor 2. -All dialogue parts which are spoken by Kusakabe if he is in the endgame party are spoken by the person who is the second slot character. If you have the main character in the second slot, it will be the first slot character who speaks Kusakabe's lines. -If you get the bad ending, there'll only be one sentence missing. "But Kenichiro stayed in the town." -If you get the good ending, you won't see the scene where he says he'll stay a little longer and tells your main character they might meet again someday. Not that much of a loss if you ask me... What is most interesting about this, if you ask me, is the fact that it makes absolutely no difference if you leave Kusakabe alone and don't use the holy water on him or if you revive him, but don't have him in the final party. Makes sense, but in a weird way." Master Servant, my friend: You can go through the Castle's basement and off Moldiv without laying a hand on the Master Servant. Does this mean you can talk to him later on? Azel says no. The Master Servant is a bastard right until the end, refusing to discuss anything with you. So you might as well kill him. Reappearing characters: Some guards and the Master Servant appear after their death. You can't talk to them, but they're there. Anyone know what they might be holding back from us while they were alive? Or is this yet another one of "Vic Tokai's Glaring Oversights" (patent pending)? Azel's findings suggest it might be a bug as the folks behind the game obviously made many mistakes, left things unfinished and seemed generally incompetent (see the final rant at the end of the section). The waterfall: Near the western outside wall of the Castle's third floor, there's a waterfall that brings you down into the Mirror Maze at the cost of severe damage. Any purpose to this unnatural phenomenon? Azel once again says no. If we both agree that there's no purpose to the waterfall, then I guess there's probably nothing more to it. "Is Anita alright?": You save her with Ryan and he still asks you... any way to convince the well dressed man who led her here that she's now safe? And for my next trick...: Adolph is found inside a jail cell, right? But the first time I went through the game, I didn't go to the jail right away, instead, I killed off Moldiv and dealt with many puzzles of the second floor. I returned to the basement to find someone new in the first room. It was Adolph! I then went into the jail and... there's Adolph again! This is why I say we should call Adolph an escape artist - he could have easily busted himself out of the jail had he not been so lazy. Granted this is more of a glitch than anything else, I felt like mentioning it. More insanity!: Azel brings us another example of insanity running loose in Newcam. "-There are many bugs to be found. You mentioned the one with Adolph and this is a rather harmless one, if I might say so. For example, once I was talking to the shop clerk in the Dry Goods Store and he just ran away at an incredible speed. Right into -right THROUGH the wall. Crazy." "What'chu talkin' 'bout?": Once more, Azel steps in with this little oversight on the part of the folks behind this game... "And I also met monsters in the dark dimension who were talking about Moldiv and Ruvan living on this very floor. Weird." DoL's answer to the paladin ring?: From Azel - "Also I did find a strange item in my inventory. It was called "remove" and I could infinitely use it, but nothing ever happened when using it. Also funny: the strange item called "Restores HP/MP all", which mysteriously appeared in my inventory. Not just one piece, but 255!" Dummied items? Who would have thunk it? In keeping with the previous entry...: Azel found some monster names which seem odd and unfamiliar to veteran players of this game. While I think the Jabberwock(y) - Lewis Caroll reference anyone? - is found in the Dark Dimension, I can't say for sure if it is the case or not. From Azel: "XI. And just who're you? There are some weird enemies -or at the very least enemy names- to be found by the curious... Entity Jabberwock Hanbaba are somewhat crazy, but still acceptable, but check these out: Mushufushu and Mirumekoreo A Final Fantasy enemy reference and a totally wacky name... Any idea where THOSE enemies could be found? ...or, *sigh, are these the unimplemented MONSTERS...?" "Stay, even for a little while": "And lastly, something connected to Shuu. Just one time when I talked to him, his textbox did not disappear, but stayed on the screen all the time. I got a real nice screenshot of this phenomenon... :/ Luckily it went back to normal after the next battle." - Azel yet again. Emotion C(loud), what's it good for?: When you use the Emotion C(loud) spell, the small screen says that you've "baited the enemy". Nice, but what does that mean? The actual encounter rate doesn't seem higher or lower at all, in fact, it doesn't seem to change at all! Perhaps it reduces the risks of surprise attacks? It might explain why the effect description says "Calms you down"... Then again, I never felt that Vincent's own encounter rate lowering power was all that effective so perhaps the game simply doesn't change the encounter rate variable much. Azel's ROM hacking hasn't given any results yet. And now for... uhhh... LINE!: Rom hacking yields many surprises, like this bit of apparently unimplemented text! Again, I leave you to Azel... "XIV. But this... ...might just be our occasional unimple...well, you know the deal. *sigh* Fact is I absolutely don't remember seeing this line in the whole game. It goes like this: "Less haste, more speed." ...if my assumptions about the placement of the text blocks are correct, this would have be to be something read in the manor right after the beginning, but shortly before finding the copper key. If you don't remember this line as well, we might have found another mystery... Yay for ...er, whatever..." Not a mystery, but still fun: Azel suggests that there is one instance of the name Jambon being used in the rom instead of Janbon. No clue whether it's because of the translation team or not. While certainly not a mystery, it doesn't fit anywhere else so I end this section with a small rant on the part of Azel. It might explain the reason why so many things in the game were left unimplemented/unfinished... "XVII. My concluding thoughts One. You wouldn't believe how crappy this game is actually coded if you didn't see for yourself. It shows a lot in the game itself, but when you take a look at the rom, you begin to realize the dimension of this madness. About -at least- 10% of the space in the space is completely_ and_ utterly_unused. Nothing there but tons of FF bytes. Which means either there was a hell of text that was planned to put in but wasn't put in in the end or the guys at Vic Tokai just didn't know how to program SNES games at that time. Two. Amazingly enough, even with this many blank space, there are parts of the in-game text stored multiple times in the rom. One of the endings is in there three or four times and many normal dialogue blocks are there two times as well. The meaning of this? No idea, as you can definitely not have different instances of a text block displayed at random, so at least 1/3 to 1/2 of the text in the rom is USELESS. This doesn't seem to be an issue with the translation patch, as it is true with the Japanese rom as well. Three. There IS one issue with the translated rom that is quite weird. About the last readable thing in the rom is this line: "WINDOWS SYSTEM MSMFCNT.DLL" ...and no, it's not there in the Japanese version. What was Gideon thinking...? Four. If you'd like to check out this mad piece of romness (;)), I'll gladly provide you the tools needed to look up the text in the rom. I'm sure you'll find it most ..."interesting". Five. Just so I don't have to keep the sheet of paper I wrote them on the numbers of some pointers that are used very often: 1000 - the 1045 - are 1030 - you 1038 - here 1043 - about 1001 - Benedict ...that's about it. Been really a lot and it took some time to find this out and write it down, but it should really prove to be worthwhile." ************************************************************************ B E S T I A R U M ************************************************************************ In this section, you'll find the names of the possible encounters in each portion of the game and how much their photos are worth (if applicable). At this point, only the Manor is anywhere close to completion, but considering how you're likely to stick with the more lucrative photos of the Demon Door and Skeletal Knight, I don't see why this would be THAT helpful... Also, the library tends to organize your pictures in an odd way. For example, I took a picture of a Knight in the basement and it showed up in the 1st floor category. Just remember that Castle monsters from lower levels can be found dwelling in the upper ones except for the 4th floor where LaPlace himself resides. The 4th floor is where you'll find some of the most powerful monsters in the game, surpassed only by those in the dark dimension. Oh, and of course some monsters are mini-bosses on the lower levels but become common in the upper ones (griffon, succubus, werewolf...) so don't expect to encounter any succubi outside the fourth floor (besides the third floor mini-boss). I don't always mention redundant monsters like Lizardmen, Troll and their ilk as they appear on almost every floor but some are there if I felt like it. Another strange thing I noticed: the fish-like monsters found alongside mermen never once appear in your photo album. No, I don't expect to do a full, detailed entry for each monster. As I said before, combat in this game becomes futile later on and the monsters get so annoyingly powerful that it's best to talk or run. Oh and photographs of the dark dimension monsters are useless as you cannot go back to Janbon in order to sell them. I can't say whether this is a bug in the game or simply a small oversight on the part of the programming team. ### Manor ### Bat 20 Banshee 120 Bed 80 Dagger 80 Doll 40 Door 300 Ghoul 80 LandCrawler 300 Maniac 120 Manplant 120 Rat 8 Skeleton 40 Slime 40 Soul 100 Spider 20 Spirit 80 Tableware 80 Undead Arm 40 Vampire 160 Will-O-Wisp 80 Wolfman 200 Wraith 120 Zombie 80 ### Castle ### (Basement) Apprentice 0 Catoblepas 240 Doll 40 Gargoyle 200 Giant 240 Guard 80 Knight 100 Leprechaun 160 Lizardman 160 Magician 80 Master servant 80 Moldiv 400 Priest 80 Robber 80 Torturer 80 Troll 200 Wight 160 (1st Floor) Apprentice Soldier 60 Bat 20 Demon Eye 120 Giant Rat 60 Giant Spider 60 Ghost 120 Golem 160 Mummy 160 Vampire 160 Wolf 60 (2nd Floor) Behemoth 200 Catoblepas 240 Earth Elemental 200 Evil Seed 200 Fire Elemental 200 Griffon 280 Lizardman 160 Maniac 160 Mold 200 Priest 80 Troll 200 Water Elemental 200 Wind Elemental 200 (3rd Floor) Cockatrice 240 Cyclops 280 Dryad 160 Goblin 160 Fish 200 Harpy 200 Kobold 120 Killer Turtle 280 Kraken 280 Merman 240 Orge 200 Shell Tail 240 Skull Knight 600 Succubus 280 Trifid 240 Troll 200 Unicorn 240 Witch 120 (4th Floor) Basilisk 320 Daemon 360 Fairy 280 Fire 320 Ghost 120 Hidora 360 Incubus 280 LaPlace 800 Manitou 320 Minotaurus 320 Ruvan 600 Shadow 280 Succubus 280 Wraith 180 Monsters whose pictures cannot be sold: Amuducias Black Anise Folklore Ghast Morax Ose Sandoduel Wendigo ************************************************************************ P A R C O D E S ************************************************************************ Azel comes through for me again with these codes for extra experience. Input both of them and you should receive 9999 EXP with every battle, including those in the Manor! Obviously you only go up one level per battle at the most but seeing as the highest level is 10, it's not exactly a big deal. Remember that you share this experience with all party members, thus the final tally is 2000 or so per character for a 5 member party or around 2500 if you take out the special 5th character - still, nothing to sneeze at in the early going. Also, be careful not to go up too many levels as HP and MP are affected by certain statistics and increase more with each level if these stats are high. Until you reach the Castle merchant on the 3rd floor it might be wise to hold back on the level building. This said, this could be used in conjunction with the Skeletal Knight trick to gain levels even faster! 7E943D0F 7E943E27 ************************************************************************ A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S & C O P Y R I G H T S ************************************************************************ First off, a big thank you to Blank from the now inactive RPG Classics message board for all his help with this game. Also, I'd like to thank him for the Castle maps he offered me. Once each floor has been done, I'll be sure to find some way of adding them to GameFAQS. He, of course, is also responsible for the list of items sold in the various shops as well as the magic/psychic powers list. In short, a Hell of a contributor! Another Hell of a contributor award goes to Azel for going above and beyond the call of duty in regards to this FAQ/Walkthrough. From correcting mistakes, finding new items to helping out with the mysteries sections, Azel has done more than anyone (besides Blank) to help me better this guide. Thank you for your invaluable help, both of you. Many thanks go to Gideon Zhi of AGTP and Tomato for their hard work in bringing this game to us in English. Yeah, the patch is still buggy, but it's still a lot of hard work that must be recognized by us players. Thanks also go to thisisnonexistent, who, while always looking for my help to solve some problems concerning this game, provided me with many questions for the FAQ section. Same goes for Y2G who also provided some FAQ questions inadvertently. Oh and let's not forget Lockescythe for his primer to this game! Sorry for overshadowing you like this... -_-; Also, my thanks to Drunky... I mean, RefinedMechGirl for setting herself on fire during the making of this FAQ/Walkthrough (she's such a little trooper *rushes for the extinguisher*) Of course, big thanks to the cast and crew of the Heroes of the Lance GameFAQs message board, as well as to Sturm and his moustache of pure AWESOMNESS~~~~~ Their tales of heroic glory have been a major inspiration in my life. Remember to never let those damn naked midgets kick you in the shin. While we're at it, thanks go out to Hokuto no Ken's Kenshirou, who would like you to know that you are all already dead! Aaatatatatatatatatatatatatata!!! Copyrights issues : Of course, I, Asplagis aka Zettaijin, made this FAQ/Walkthrough. I don't mind seeing this thing on anyone's personal page, so long as you tell me beforehand and give me proper credit for my work. If you don't, then Kenshirou will explode your head! Aaaa-tatatatatatatatata!!!!