-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ZOMG, A PORTUGUESE PRODUCTION -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Guide name: Secret Characters Guide / FAQ For game: Time Stalkers / Climax Landers (NTSC+PAL) Platform: Sega Dreamcast Version: 1.0, released on 7th July 2007 Author: Ivo Emanuel Gonçalves (Saoshyant) License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License Made in: Kate, ISO-8859-1 encoding, and using Split Infinity's layout Best viewed: With a Monospaced font and the Firefox or Opera browsers ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Attention: Do NOT e-mail me without checking the Contact Info at the bottom. Remember that every time you send me an useless e-mail, the Christian god kills a kitten. Please, think of the kittens. Warning: The following guide may have some sarcasm and mild swearing, as well as spoilers. If you are easily offended, please do not read it. Thank you, and have a nice day. ============================================================================= ============================================================================= 01.) LEGAL INFORMATION - G0100 ============================================================================= ============================================================================= Copyright © Ivo Emanuel Gonçalves. Some rights reserved. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License. To view a copy of this license, visit //creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 543 Howard Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. Thus, you are free: * to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work * to make derivative works But under the following conditions: * Attribution. You must give the original author credit. * Share Alike. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a licence identical to this one. For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the licence terms of this work. However, any of these conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. Your fair use and other rights are in no way affected by the above. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. ============================================================================= ============================================================================= 02.) TABLE OF CONTENTS - G0200 ============================================================================= ============================================================================= If you need to find something quickly, press and hold CTRL (Command in Mac), then press the F button. This will bring up the 'Find' box. In it type the word you're looking for and you should be taken to it immediately. This is much faster than scrolling through the entire guide. For your convenience, there are special search codes near every section to help you easily hop on to that section by using the search code provided. Each search code will appear only twice in whole guide--thus, getting stray hits will be unlikely. Credit goes for Split Infinity for this idea. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- SECTION NUMBER AND NAME | CODE | WHAT'S IT ABOUT? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 01.) Legal Information | G0100 | Copyright and license info. 02.) Table of Contents | G0200 | Sections of this guide. 03.) Latest Updates | G0300 | Read what was added in the last update. 04.) Introduction | G0400 | Self-explanatory. 05.) FAQ | G0500 | Frequently Asked Questions 06.) Secret Characters | G0600 | Information on how to obtain them. 07.) Past Revisions | G0700 | Version changes can be found here. 08.) Honour Roll | G0800 | Contributions and stuff go here. 09.) Contact Info | G0900 | Find out why you shouldn't reach me. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================= ============================================================================= 03.) LATEST UPDATES - G0300 ============================================================================= ============================================================================= - Version 1.0, (07th July 2007) # Initial release. There's probably no need for further updates, but we'll see how the situation turns out. For some odd reason, it's almost exactly one year since I released my first FAQ: the Gun Mage Challenge for FF X-2. Not much of a SEGA game that one. ============================================================================= ============================================================================= 04.) INTRODUCTION - G0400 ============================================================================= ============================================================================= Yeah, well, Time Stalkers was not a great game, I have to confess. Bugs, unbalanced game play, bad graphics, awful story... Why the hell even bother with it? I don't know. I just know I couldn't stop playing til I finished it. And by finish it, I mean obtaining all characters, monsters, and getting the minor character's stories as yellow text (that means listening to everything they had to say, as well as witnessing all key events possible). But my item list was around 60%, or something, so I'm not hardcore. Life sucks, huh? Maybe to you. Anyhow, I had a hard time getting Marion, as well as Cooks and Yoshio. I remember spending around 20 hours coming and going to the Doll House to find Marion, only to be frustated at every attempt. All because nobody told me I had to finish the game to make her appear. And I was so afraid that if I finished the game I wouldn't be able to get her that I just keep trying and trying. Ahem, what I meant to say is that my frustration came out of lack of information on gaming web sites like GameFAQs. So, I decided to write this little FAQ thing. It may help you, but I don't care if you like the game or not. Climax is probably gone now. They were never a big company to begin with, and SEGA's dead. Oh, I still hear rumours that there's some giant company out there named Sega Sammy, which is making abominations to Sonic, but I rather cover my ears and go lalalalalala. I refuse to believe this so-called SEGA has anything to do with the SEGA I knew, the one prior to Sammy that made awesome videogames and really neat hardware. For that SEGA alone, I would write FAQs for every SEGA videogame there is--if I had nothing better to do that is. Remember: it's thinking. And: the legend will never die. ============================================================================= ============================================================================= 05.) FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS - G0500 ============================================================================= ============================================================================= Q. Who are the secret characters? A. Marion, really, is the only secret character. I consider Yoshio and Cooks secret characters, as well, because they are unique characters and quite hard to get, but you may only use them as "monsters". And, speaking of monsters, there's also these dragons that replace the final boss and which you may capture, but only with a 5% chance--sometimes, not even that. Worth it? Possibly Maybe. I wouldn't bother with them. Q. What is the most important thing to keep in mind to get them? A. Simple: DO NOT CLOSE THE BOOK. Closing the book activates the ending sequence and, from what I heard, you lose your chance to get them. Do not save the game either, if you opened the book. Q. What other secrets are there? A. Lots. I got the information about Lady's friends on a web site full of stuff regarding the Ultima series, I think. I lost the address, but there was a lot of stuff there about Time Stalkers, as well, like how to use the Yogurt Ring to gain insane amounts of Exp, how to understand what Kiwi says (hint: read backwards and remove the first letter), how to get the 8 dragons, clone monsters, and information about a bug that may corrupt your VMU save file (hint: do NOT learn too many skills). Q. How useful are the legendary items? A. Not much, really. They are quite hyped. The game is too easy--unless you play without monsters--and you don't really need to spend days looking for them. If you do find one, get ready to waste insane amounts of money to power it up for real. It's supposed to be a vicious-cycle of a-time-wasting, except it doesn't work. You get bored way too fast. Q. What can you tell me about the characters? A. A little bit, I guess. OK, I'm lying. Quite a bit. As you should know, Nigel and Friday come from Landstalker, which was an awesome Action-RPG game for the Mega Drive AKA Genesis. Lots of people seem to compare Landstalker with The Legend of Zelda for the SNES, but I can't see why. Nigel's a thief. Link's a mute-save-the-princess hero. One jumps, the other teleports among worlds. Seriously though, both games are awesome. Zelda is beatable, and Landstalker is insanely hard. Also, everyone knows which one of them is more famous than the other. In Time Stalkers, Nigel is described as a wood elf, while Friday has less scenes than that guy wearing a dress on a fancy shop. I would rather see Friday doing silly things than listen to hours of rambling by that screwed-up Masaru guy, but that's Climax for you. What else to say? Nigel has a silly ending, lots of treasure/dungeon-related skills, and spends most of the game goofing off. Interesting moments come in the form of his growing relation with Pyra, and Climax claims that they both come from the same world, but different eras. However, the creators of the Shining series dismiss this, and regard Pyra's presence as a mere cameo. The Landstalker world seemed pretty interesting and, since its story happens in the "future" and no less than in an island, it's pretty possible to stick the action somewhere on the large map of the Shining world. Trivia: In the Japanese (and French version) of Landstalker, Nigel's name is Ryle. In the German version, he's Niels, and Friday is Flora. Now you're ready to play Who Wants to be a Millionaire! Then, there's Sword. He's a new character, who spends most of the time trying to escape a dream world, so he may go back to a world that hates him. In his spare time, he talks with dogs. For hours. Through his dreams, you may learn that Sword is a kind of vampire, a dark one, but I think nobody cares. Did I mention he has a dog fetish? Oh, and he doesn't communicate with anyone, but Marion. A doll! Yes, he's quite the screwed-up character. Next comes my favorite character: Pyra, Pyra Myst from Shining in the Darkness, the first Shining game by Camelot and Climax. Pyra has suffered major changes in Time Stalkers. She's way more cute and nice now, and seems to have an obsession for her training as a "sorceress" (where did Climax get this from?). The original Pyra was taller, wore a plain magician robe, and was quite a mean bitch. I think I spent 70% of TS playing as her, but I also seem to have an obsession: elves + magic users = instant win. Cinna knows. Pyra's legendary weapon allows her to use Astral Strike. Astral Strike made the really nasty battles (e.g. getting surrounded by Executioners) too easy, especially considering she could cast it twice a turn. Astral Strike never misses, can hit with any of the three elements, and is a level 4 spell. Pyra also has the best ending sequence of all characters, and that's saying a lot, as most ending sequences were quite the crap. However, I have no idea why they changed Milo's name to Daniel. There's a few more characters left to talk about. One of them is Lady. Lady hails from Ladystalker, which is more or less Landstalker for the insane. Yes, Ladystalker was quite the strange game. Released for the SNES, a non- -SEGA system, it featured a wild cowboy girl that hated autorithy (and this from Japan were women obey!), who travelled the world searching for adventure with her old tutor Yoshio and an homosexual cook, Cocks his name. Yes, Cocks. I for one am glad they "fixed" the spelling of his name in TS. TS, as it is, has enough faggotry with Sansan, Masaru, and the guy in a dress. Lady's character and visual was left mostly unchanged, her ending sequence was funny, and she's actually one of the two challenging characters to control--the other one being Rao. And speaking of Rao, I think he comes from Mystaria, a Shining Force-like game for the Saturn, but I have not played Mystaria to this day, so I'm not able to confirm this. Well, what can I say about Rao? He's a lion man, and one of the most honest (and gullible) characters you'll find anywhere. Quite powerful, able to equip fist gloves as well as staffs (or is it staves?), but with no Magic powers whatsoever and with too little Dexterity to hit anything turned him into a challenging character to control. Rao and the guy wearing the dress... Well, it gave me one of the most unpleasant images in my head that stood there for quite a while. And that would be the lion man muttering "Rao..." in a tiny little kitten mew, as he got . . . What the Niflheim am I talking about? Shall we move on? Finally, we have Marion. After watching too much Rozen Maiden I cannot stand Marion. What a shame. If she comes from any other game other than TS, I have no idea which one that may be. She's the strongest character in TS, but I got her so late that it wasn't any fun to play as her. In TS, Marion's wish is to become a human, or to understand how human emotions work, or whatever, but this was so badly achieved by the TS writer that it turned what might have been an interesting little story into something intolerable to watch. Also, doll joints. I hope PEACH-PIT didn't take any ideas from Marion, because that would be insane... And by insane, I mean retarded. Should I also talk about Yogurt? Yogurt was a debugging character for the first Shining Force game, but its creator felt the design was so odd that he should be included as a playable character. Climax seems obsessed with Yogurt. Lots of characters mention him (Mr. Wire comes to mind), there's a whole bunch of pictures of Yogurt in the Fancy Shop, and you may get a Yogurt Ring from Noiman's quests. If you do, you turn into Yogurt inside dungeons, just like in the original Shining Force. There's also a Yogurt mini-game that you may download to your VMU, but mine did not have enough room to test it, so say sorry sai, as I will not be able to give you any information about it. You do not need to play the mini-game to get a Yogurt Ring, though. They show up randomly as prizes for some of Noiman's quests. ============================================================================= ============================================================================= 06.) SECRET CHARACTERS - G0600 ============================================================================= ============================================================================= The following is addressed in this section: ============================================================================= Marion ---------------------------------------------------------------- G0601 Cooks and Yoshio ------------------------------------------------------ G0602 ============================================================================= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- A - MARION - G0601 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- It's actually quite simple to get Marion, but for me it was the Niflheim to get her. All you need to keep in mind is that you need to finish the Last Dungeon for the first time, and you should not close the book. If you do, you must reset. Afterwards, go to the Doll House and search every floor. You do not need to search the orange areas, and she should be somewhere on the last few floors (Doll House has 13 floors). She's easy to recognize: doll shaped and half the size of Pyra. If you do not find her, try one more time. If she still won't show up, reset to the last save. After you do find her, exit the dungeon through Escape, or just beat the Doll Maker creations on the last floor. All's well now. The hard thing really is to find her. Now go over to Noiman's house--the one standing on top of a giant turtle with the cartoon flowers--and a cut-scene will happen. Noiman promises to fix Marion. Go into whatever dungeon's closer, probably the Fire Mountain and, when you exit it, return to Noiman's. Marion will grow up--a bit taller than Sword, I reckon--and will start yapping about how humans are interesting and what not. Now, you may play as her. A few last notes: Marion equips boomerangs and magical rods, but not both, like her clones do. And by clones, I mean the look-alikes that sometime show up on the Doll House's last floor. Don't try to capture them, it won't work. Marion also has some of the most powerful and useful skills of all characters, together with high status and twice the hunger meter. She won't ever walk straight, though. Go figure. If you want to see cut-scenes with Marion, you need to watch Sword's dream sequences. To do this, you will need more than 30% complete in the item list and to have all characters. Go into whatever dungeon as Sword without monsters or equipment, and let him die. Of course Master brings him back and alive, but Sword will have a dream. Do this twice more, and you'll see two other dreams. After the third one, Sword will wake up with Pyra and Lady being mean to each other. Take Sword to the Doll House, and Marion should be at the entrance. Talk to her. Now, when playing as Marion you'll find Sword hidden on the side of Clock Tower (facing the Shrine). Now, they'll both talk occasionally. There's also a scene with Pyra. When playing as Pyra, check Sword's House, and if Marion's there, something funny happens. Speaking of funny events on Sword's house, when playing as Nigel, try to get Rao and Friday there (it's somewhat random). -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- B - COOKS AND YOSHIO - G0602 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Getting Cooks and Yoshio is also a bit tricky, as it seems random. Before finishing the game for the first time--as in, to get Marion--make sure you have room for two more monsters in the Monster House. Making sure you have free capsule space doesn't hurt, either. Now, after you finish the game for the first time--without closing the book-- you should go to the Monster House. If all's well, Cooks should be there on the list. Put him into a capsule (that must hurt) and drag him into whatever dungeon you prefer. I recommend the Doll House, so you'll go and try to get Marion in the process. You have to use Cooks, so when you exit the dungeon he'll count as a monster in the complete monster list. Go to the Last Dungeon again. The previous boss is now replaced by a dragon, which you may try to capture (good luck, champ). After beating the dragon-- and avoiding the book--return to the Monster House, and Yoshio may be there. If until this point you haven't got any of them, you still have a chance to get them as long as you keep beating the Last Dungeon and returning to the Monster House. Like everything in TS, this is somewhat random. Make sure, however, that after getting Yoshio you will use him in a dungeon, or he won't show up in the completed monster list. Are Cooks and Yoshio worth it? Not really. I prefer to use a Knight and a Priest. Now that's worth it. But if you are reading this guide, chances are you'll try to get them nonetheless. You'll not see any cut-scene with either of them, not even if you play as Lady. They only seem to show up during the credits. ============================================================================= ============================================================================= 07.) PAST REVISIONS - G0700 ============================================================================= ============================================================================= - Version 1.0, (07th July 2007) # Initial release. There's probably no need for further updates, but we'll see how the situation turns out. For some odd reason, it's almost exactly one year since I released my first FAQ: the Gun Mage Challenge for FF X-2. Not much of a SEGA game that one. ============================================================================= ============================================================================= 08.) THE HONOUR ROLL - G0800 ============================================================================= ============================================================================= This section will feature anyone that helps improve this guide. Right now, it's empty. Take a guess on what that means. Yes, I'm waiting for your contributions and suggestions. ============================================================================= ============================================================================= 09.) CONTACT INFO - G0900 ============================================================================= ============================================================================= If you want to contact me, waste a day or two thinking about it. After that, think some more. Still want to send in something? Are you sure? Then, do read the following guidelines: - The Subject of the e-mail must include "Time Stalkers" or "Dreamcast". - Make sure your e-mail is readable, as in proper English and an actual message. Flaming and other crap will be blocked without a second thought. - Don't ask me to send updates of any guide, because I won't. - Make sure you've read the guide before asking any question. You'll probably find your answer here or in another guide, so please don't waste your time and mine. It's for the best. - And, of course, if you want to provide some help or contribution to improve this guide, you'll be more than welcome to. E-mail/Jabber: justivo@gmail.com Web sites of interest: - //spreadopenmedia.org - //justivo.com - //vorbis.com - //theora.org /* EoF */