Moryo Senki Madara (for NES: fan-translated from Famicom only Japanese language release) Answers to the Questions which people Fumble to Ask. Version 0.60 by "granitor", Kentaro Kandle, Bajan13K Quick Links: blog: http://bajan13k.livejournal.com/ YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/bajan13k Acknowledgements: I ("granitor") would never have done the first versions of this FAQ without DarkstarRipclaw, who actually started a full FAQ first (I incorporated his notes into this, where relevant). This was made esp. with gamefaqs.com in mind, check out the Madara message board if you have any questions.... or, check out the Bajan13K blog, which is often updated, and where you can post comments as you wish. Introduction: This is the beginnings of an FAQ about Madara. However, it is incomplete. I've basically run out of free time to work on this project for now, perhaps I will finish it later, or someone else will be able to finish it (they're at least three other people who have beaten the game that I know of via the discussion boards, but to my knowledge, I'm the first person to write an FAQ this far). I based this entire FAQ on notes which DrakstarRipclaw was nice enough to send to me, and I wouldn't have started this is he hadn't mentioned that he was too busy to do it at the time... little did I know that I, too, would soon become too busy. Anyhow, thanks also to AGTP for translating the game, and of course for Konami for making it in the first place. I'm sure they're lots of errors and incompleteness, but I tried to polish it up as much as I could before releasing it... hope it is helpful. Contents: ============================================================================== History (short history of this file) Bajan13K (just a note) Walkthough (partial) Finding Allies Cheats Links Enemy Stats ( based directly on DarkstarRipclaw's notes) Spell costs ( very incomplete) ============================================================================== History ============================================================================== 04 Dec. 2009: v 0.60 Minor updates, since I had a little free time. Not sure when I'll be able to do more. If anyone has a savefile about here I stopped, please contact me via gamefaqs or the linked sites. Meanwhile, I'll do more whne I find the time but have to retrace from the beginning. 20 Dec. 2006: Having a few weeks' vacation, started to work on beating Madara and writing and FAQ for it. 23 Dec. 2006: More work, still unedited and unreleased though. I foolishly thought I would soon beat the game, since it's "only a NES game". 24 Dec. 2006: DarkstarRipclaw emailed me his notes, and I set about catching up to where they stopped (at the pyramid)... and eventually went past. Also filled in some missing details and noted that he was origionally recording things like EXP for killing monsters, which are in most FAQs but I haven't really found it useful so I wasn't recording that. 01 Jan. 2007: After a few days offline, I return and find a message on the board about the pyramid, and suddenly I realise I have nearly 1,000 likes of unedited log, not including the store stats which are in a seperate file, but the pyramid quest is only 2 lines long or so. Somehow I either lost the info or didn't type it up... but it was hard to find anything in the file so I started a new one, and this is that one, so far. Called this the Version 0.4 Release. 02 Jan. 2007: V 0.41 Made some minor revisions, spelling errors and whatnot (I'm sure they are still more). Probally will make a major revision to the Cheats section, and set up a gmail account for feedback, before the public release. Also awaiting feedback from D.R. about the 0.4 I sent to him yesterday. 04 Jan. 2007: V 0.41wip Very minor revisions, extracted part and posted to Madara message board. Recent influx of RPGs and work means that time may be much more limited, and I'm stuck at the revived tree. 01 Jun. 2007: v. 0.43wip Added in notes which carry you up to the boat town, minor edits, more editing needed. 02 Aug. 2008: v. 0.44wip Very minor edits. 03 Oct. 2008: v. 0.45 Very minor edits. I have lost my latest save data, but have found a savepoint around the time of the Abyss Map, so the next step would be to go through the Pyramid... which is tricky so I might make vids of it. 21 Mar. 2009: v 0.48 Very minor edits. ============================================================================== Bajan13K anti-cult - You too are probally a member ============================================================================== So, I sold all of my worldly posessions and joined the Bajan13K anti-cult. No, I'm just kidding about that... but the best way to contact me, is probally through that blog, since I have some sort of obsession with updating it... also, any gameplay vids that I do, I post links to in that blog, including vids for this game. blog: http://bajan13k.livejournal.com/ Although my nickname on gamefaqs is "granitor", I decided to start using a different online name, when I went to youtube and so on. However, I've never been contacted about this FAQ, so, either nobody uses LiveJournal or YouTube or nobody really has any questions... but whatever, I enjoyed making it so far and if not for a loss of savefile and business with other stuff, I would prob. have finished it a long time ago. ============================================================================== Walking through the game (partial walkthru) ============================================================================== The game opens with some backstory, the puts you into your first crisis: you need White Soma to save the elder, but with the "Moki" (evil monsters) running all over the place (and Garden Point, in particular, where you have to go to get it), you have your first quest. NISO FOREST ( Madara's home-town ) After the opening cutscene, talk to the people in the house to learn that you need to obtain a White Soma from Garden Point. Exit the house, and talk to anybody you wish. Afterwards, head up and enter the house directly north of the grey building. Inside, talk to Shamon, and he will automatically join your party. Leave the building, then head to the right side of town. Over here, you should have a set of four huts in a roughly diamond shape. The bottom one is the Inn (in Hijura, the Inn is free, as opposed to 50 coins or more in subsequent towns, so use it well), the right one is the Weapon Shop, and the top one is the Item Shop. For now, I recommend picking up a Stone Axe for Madara, and a Shield for Kirin. Later trips back should involve picking up a Bow for Kirin, and equipping everybody with Shield, Armor, and Helmet. Afterwards, exit the town. Random encounters start as soon as you leave town, and this RPG is hard: you start with 500 gold, which isn't much since the shop sells Armor at 400 gold, and you'll be doing the first quest with 3 characters. A nice touch is that you get a discount at the shop, [somehow based on Charisma stat, probally. I need to verify that... I made up the other reason to make the game sound more human...] since it's your hometown and everyone likes you (for the same reason, sleeping at the Inn, which restores Health, is free here). OVERWORLD HIJURAN REGION Out here, trek around, staying close to Niso Forest. Until you level up at least once, you should go back to the inn and heal up after every second battle, max. Level up to about Level 5 or so, and remember to fully equip all three of your characters. After you have completely all of the above and picked up some Red Soma from the Item Shop, exit from Niso Forest. Head down into the forest until the area east of you is covered by forest instead of plains, and then head east. Eventually, you should come to the end of the continent. Go south a bit, until you find what looks like a swirling sand whirlpool. Enter the area. GARDEN POINT Coming in, head right, and when the path splits into multiple branches, simply head as far south as you can. Once you hit the bottom of the forest, head right to the end, and then go up. After eavesdropping on the scene that takes place, go up to the stone to talk to the Moku Spirit. Once that is done, open the nearby chest for some WINE. With that done, exit back out onto the overworld. OVERWORLD If you need to, head back to Niso Forest to heal up and prepare for the upcoming fighting. Otherwise, head straight north from Garden Point until you reach the upper arm of the continent. You will quickly find the castle that Bosho Lobu was talking about [he called it a "fort", I think]. Enter. From the start of the castle, head left and up. Ignore the cell door for now, and instead continue on until you get to the chest. Open it up for a WOLF KEY, then head back to the cell door and head through it (the door will unlock automatically). Head back to the start of the castle. Head right this time, and go through the previously locked door and head up along the hallway. Heal up, and then loop around and confront the pig to fight Bosho Lobu, assisted by three Wolfpacks. The actual battle should be reasonably easy so long as you're at a comfortable level for everybody (4-5 for Madara and Kirin, 5-6 for Shamon). After the battle is over, go and pick up a Blue Soma from the chest. Leave the castle and head back onto the overworld map. Go down to Garden Point. BOSS FIGHT: ( First Major Boss ) ============================================================================== Bosho Lobu, Wolfpack (x3) Bosho Lobu is the first of the eight Generals. As the game explains, you get back a piece of yourself every time you defeat them. Incidentially, the story makes no sense because Madara's parts were removed when he was under two years old, and now he's old enough to go about slaying demons. More importantly, he's much bigger. Younger parts won't really fit, will they? But, you know, no-one seems to mention it so I guess I'll ignore it, too.... Head back to GARDEN POINT, to the position where the petrified Moku spirit first stood, and talk to the creature that now stands there to obtain the WHITE SOMA. Exit the forest again, and back on the overworld map, make your way back to your hometown (NISO FOREST), in the West. Back in here, first go to the Item Shop. Sell all of Shamon's equipment, and give the rest of the items to Kirin and Madara. This is to prevent Shamon from draining the team of valuable resources, when he leaves the party. Head off to your own house, and inside, go see Tatara. Talk to the doctor to get the White Soma administered. Afterwards, Shamon will leave the party, [ aren't you glad you stripped him bare, first?] and Tatara will direct you to the southwest. Exit the hut. Heal up at the Inn if you need to, replenish Red Soma stocks where required, then go out onto the overworld once more. From NISO FOREST, head as far west as you can until you hit the coast. From there, head as far south as you can 'til you hit the coast again. Next, go a bit further west, and you should see what looks like a pile of sand on the beach. Enter the area. In order to obtain the KUSANAGI BLADE, you have to do something you should be familiar with by now: stand up atop the chest and press "search". (The priest doesn't realise when you've taken it, he says the same thing reguardless...). Equip the blade now before you forget (I forgot, but I had unlimited health so it didn't matter as much). Immediately after entering the town, go to the inn and heal up. You will see why quickly; random battles now occur in Niso Forest! Head to the old man's hut, and inside the building, (making sure to save at the tree first) go to the left side. You should notice an exit going out at the upper end of the building, so take it, and head around and into the underground tunnel system. Continue along the path until you get to Tatara. Talk to him to get a situation update, then head left. Talk to the various villagers if you wish, and grab 300 Coins from the chest. Head up along the pathway, then go upstairs. Inside the temple, face Bosho Roga, whom like his earlier subordinate is accompanied by three Wolfpacks. As long as you are at a comfortable level (5-6), you should be able to dispatch them without any problem. BOSS FIGHT: ( Second Major Boss ) ============================================================================== Bosho Roga, Wolfpack (x3) After you win the battle, ignore the ominous foreshadowing, and head off to see Tatara back at home. Talk to him to learn an inkling of the situation, and he will join your party for a bit (Yes, he IS overpowered, and yes, he will leave shortly). After a little boss battle, exit South through the now-open door to the now-peaceful town (the Moki minions flee after you defeat the boss). It is nice to be able to walk without random battles, again. Talk to the people in town and find out that there's a Moki castle town to the North (it was probally there all the time, but the magic barrier was preventing you from crossing the bridge). "A castle where Moki live lies north of the Rain Tree! Come on! Take Care of them too!" says the blood-thirsty girl in town. Heal up, and leave Niso Forest. Out on the overworld, simply head up to go into the next area. RAIN TREE Head up and then left. After a scene with some good plot details (and where Madara dispels the mute hero status), Tatara will leave the party. Spoiler: While dispelling the barrier, Jato runs up to Tatara and literally stabs him in the back, then disappears before the trio have a chance to react! In his final words, Tatara emplores Madara to defeat the eight generals and retrieve his power. Jato (speaking from a distance) nicely spells out where to go next. Get the Battle Gadgets and Sazanami from the two chests. The Rain Tree can be used to Save (save points are hard to come by in this game), or "fortell", which for now says: "I sense that Shamon is in Rasen Castle". However, you won't actually come to Rasen Castle for a long time. Afterwards, head out the northern end. Once on the overworld again, head right a short way, and then up into: CASTLE OF KAJURA (Short notes) 2F: The second floor (up one flight of stairs from ground) Spiral maze with chests in the center, Three Chests: Red Soma, Ear Key, Sahau Helmet. Locked gate behind which is a chest and a person. The Ear Key opens the locked gate/door in the SW, so after getting it, backtrack to the stairs, go up down a level, then take the S stairs to come out adjacent to the gate. The Pink Swordsman (my name for the guy whose sword, even, is pink) gives you a message and vanishes into thin air, leaving you to search the Chest and find the Bat Key. Since you still have a locked gate on the W wing of L2, head back there. Pass the "Bat Gate", there's a Chest with an old book, which teaches Kirin the Iceball spell. At this point, (or just before it) it's a good idea to make sure you're equipped, fully healed, and so on, because soon up is... BOSS FIGHT: ( First General-class Boss ) ============================================================================== Kajara Behold! An impressive (for NES) cut scene with a lot of bats flying around and then the boss appearing in the midst of them. The Iceball spell takes off a good amount, about 75, I think, so it might be worth using (Kirin/Shaman/Iceball). DR's tactical advice: "This will be your first challenging, REAL boss fight. I recommend you enter the battle at a minimum of Level 7. Set Madara to attacking Kajura, while you should have Kirin attack him with Iceball. Considering this should be your first time using a Shaman spell, you will have to manually enter the command to execute Iceball again every time Kirin uses it. Keep track of Madara's HP and make sure it does not fall below 200 (if it does, use a Red Soma), and when Kirin runs out of MP necessary to use Iceball, heal it up with a Blue Soma and continue fighting. Eventually, Kajura will fall." After the fight, Madara gets back his real ears. Head up to the north side of the room to open a chest, and read the letter. Once you are done, exit the castle by going straight up ((N) (without walls, you can leave the castle from this room). Before continuing on in the journey, head back to Niso Forest. Restock up on items, and heal yourself. Now head back to the second continent, and go to the rock bridge on the northwestern end of the continent. Here, you will face another Moki boss, Kosho Banpa, with two Moken allies. BOSS FIGHT: ( Second General-class Boss ) ============================================================================== Kosho Banpa, Moken x2 However, with careful fighting and use of the Iceball spell, he, too should fall. -Go northwest to town -Powerlevel -Head back southeast to dungeon north of the bridge (looks like a cave opening on the map screen, is a small dungeon with white walls and pinkish floor) -Rescue Hakutaku from this dungeon, beat another boss. -- There's a Chest in the dungeon containing: Poison Fang (Shaman technique) WIND PALACE: TOWN Anyhow, following the lead that Hakutaku gives you, go Northwards but towards the West coast, until you find a town (it you hit mountains, you're not west enough... you know, the mountains could contain monster colonies for levelling up and so on). Behind the town, there seems to be a castle, but it seems you have to go thru the town to reach it. Which is hard because, as the person you meet as soon as you enter says, the people there are crazy. To be more precise, the people in the streets bark like dogs, and the dogs are "Moken"s and attack you when you approach them. Fortunately, the Inn keeper (lower-right or SE corner) isn't so affected, so you can spend 50 coins and recharge your party. This town's shops all seem to function as well, but to get the NPCs "un-possessed", and talking trivia rather than growling at you, you need to approach the Moken-s and defeat them. WIND PALACE: CASTLE Enter the wind palace, it's the giant door to the North of the town. There's not much you can do here. The area is sanatized (no random battles) but a skeptical chick is blocking the path. Talk to her twice for some witty dialogue. Back outside, you meet up with Hakutaku again. He joins your party and convinces you to go back in. The gate that was locked before is no more, so head to the cracked tile in the room on the right (E) as you enter the Wind Palace again. You fall through! With a nice sound effect! Drama ensues, then a nifty cut scene. Boss Fight ============================================================================== Madara, Kirin, Hakuta v. Onkai Gyoma x1 ! 300 Exp, 60 coins. Madara gets back his real eyes. Chest: Tornado (Shaman) Chest: Kekkaju (Special: upgrades Jusanagi) The Kekkaju fuses with the Kusanagi, giving birth to the Light Kusanagi. Nifty! (Remember to Equip it, though: Menu/Item/Belt/Light Kusanagi/Equip). At this point, you can backtrack a bit to the Wind Tree and save then head NE of Wind Palace/Town to discover: SEIRIN (Town of Kaos) Go into the second house from the bottom-left (SW) corner of the town, a bar of some sorts (no drinks seem to be serving), where an arrogant punk kid, Loki, is preparing to take on the Shadow Warriors of Shumi, Moki (or related villians) who killed his older brother. Step back out, and lo and behold, the infamous pink bunny, and killer of Tatara, has returned. However, he doesn't want to actually face you mano-a-mano, so instead: A fight against "Shadow" x1 ensues. Kaos is now found in the SW corner tent. He looks sorta badass for a 16x16 NES sprite. Love the cape and white hair, esp. for a kid. Must have done some serious drugs or something. Kaos can join the party, making four (for the first time!). [I'm not sure if it's possible to continue the story without Kaos joining, but I plan to try that later]. I'm reproducing Kaos' initial stats, on the theory that they may vary in accordance with where Madara and Kirin's stats are, since Kaos later becomes a Playable Character (Ally) and those characters level up roughly in sync with the main party, even if they're not in the group [I haven't determined the exact rates or anything yet]. Kaos's Initial Stats: Lv13, Male Fighter HP: 900 / 900, MP: 550/550 Weapon: Kasumi Blade Shield: Karida Sheild Helmet: Armor: Kubira Armor 8680 Exp to next level-up Str Agi Chm Wis Atk Def 51 47 45 39 659 682 Kaos also has the Chants Shaolong and Shanglong. Btw, you can save in the centre of Seirin town, at the small Wind Tree which is surrounded by a partial moat. Since the town has no item shops, you might want to backtrack to a town that does and restock, requip, and even level up some more... or you could use the unlimited HP or other cheats (see the Cheats section), which is what I did my first time thru. Once you're sure that you don't need anything else, and are ready to face a dungeon again, then you can return to Seirin, save at the Wind Tree, and then proceed to head N trhough the centre of the town, until you reach a group of wannabe Jamira followers, gathered by the gate to her stronghold. The guy by the gate explains that Jamira, is hiring all and sundry, all you need is interest... and with that, you're inside: Jamira Stronghold (A simple dungeon... which you can't easily exit once you enter) In the Chest, you'll find a key and a letter from Jamira to Kaos. They're just a few things to note for this dungeon: 1F: You can go up the stairs on the SE but the only thing up there is a dead-end and a Chest with a "Kasumi Blade" it... which is vastly inferior to the Light Kusanagi that Madara has, and Kaos has a Kasumi Blade already. You could still get it, and either sell it or hold it on someone other than Kaos' inventory until someone else joins who can appreciate it. 2F: I didn't make detailed notes on my first passthrough because this is sort of straighforward... you will have to beat Shadow bosses as you go, but eventually you come to: 3F: after beating the Shadow's one by one on each floor, and getting the red key right before the obvious red door (perhaps they were planning to make this level a lot bigger), you get to confront the pink pig who nobody likes, Jira. Apparently, he knows Kaos... As usual, Jira flees, leaving you to fight yet another Shadow. After the fight, there's more drama, Kaos leave the party, Loki joins. Loki's initial stats: ============================================================================== Lv9, Male Fighter. Max.Hp: 690, Max.MP: 230 Weapon: Sword Sheild: Helmet: Armor: Armor Str Ag Ch Wis Atk Def 40 35 32 29 341 268 Equipped with the Kasumi Blade instead: Str + 496 = 536 So it's a no-brainer that this kid needs a proper weapon. Some sort of Sheild and Armor would be nice, too, of course. If you don't have the Kasumi Blade, you can still get it, but climing the East stairs on the 1F. You actually have a choice as to what to do next: the Timetravel in Noah's Ark quest, or the Kingdom of Soma Chunnel Opening quest. I did the latter first, according to his notes, DarkstarRipclaw did the former first. The first frees Nayuta, but she doesn't join immediately... the latter gives you want you need to open the Gateway in the Sand Wall which stops you from going any further North. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hidden Shrine: ============================================================================== Learn Shaolong (optional/secret) There's a shrine (it looks like a mount of dirt on the overworld map, it's North of the mountain range near the East coast... about 6 steps E of the N entrance to the pass thru the range that leads to Ikaruga) where this guy ("It's very rare for me to have visitors.") can teach the Chant "Shaolong" to Madara, Kirin. Shaolong is a Chant, and uses a projectile attack against enemies (looks like a fireball). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kingdom of Soma: Chunnel Opening quest ============================================================================== Horai: Kuon's quest (Former Temple of Horai) Go N from Seirin, hugging the coast, and get to a place that "long ago...was a Temple of Horai.". I don't know if I'd call it a town, it is technically but it's rather small. Go to investigate the temple, and you'll fight: Shadow x2 Then you meet a lady by the name of Kuon, who is the temple's caretaker. "For now, go to the village of Ikaruga." says the townsman... but doesn't really specify where that is... but I will: Go direct East to the coast, then South, through the break in the mountain range, and you'll eventually find what looks like a tent on the right/east, and a town on the left/west, a little to the North of the South-East corner of the continent (the East coast is very near). This is the ledgendary town, Ikaruga! Ikarugu Trainers appear in this town. They offer various services, which I'll list in a seperate section. D.R.'s notes say they appear in Spring, but I found they appear in Autumn/fall, just before Winter... but the game doesn't name the seasons so maybe we mean the same thing. Anyhow, I didn't yet map out the trainers' patterns properly, and I missed them on the first pass thru this town. The Trainers have huts that appear grey rather than brown, in this city, but the shape of their huts is always different from the norm no matter what city they are in. As an asside, it's surprising so much work went into this RPG... yet it never came out (not even its graphically amazing Super Famicom sequel) in English. Asside from the intense difficulty, I can't see it not being liked... plus there's a whole franchise with the magna, anime, etc. (the magna is not translated and sold by dc comics, it seem... I'll add a link when/if I confirm that). Asside from the Trainers, the twon featues a Wind Tree (save point), Weapon Shop, Inn, and Healer. The inn charges 50 coins, the Weapon Shop has the following inventory: --------------------Cost (in coins) Rubikon Helmet 100 Karida Sheild 400 Spear 600 Sword 1,000 Big Bow 1,200 Big Armor 1,500 The Healer is the same wherever he appears, he cures status ailments and curses, for a price. I developed cheats that do the same. Btw, "dead" is a status ailment, so he can effectively raise the dead, although the PC will have to leave the party and join back at an inn (see Finding Allies section) When you're ready, head into the cave, which you should know by now is the way to the Kingdom of Soma, once you break the seal and re-open the underground channel ("chunnel", I call it, after the real-life underground tunnel of the same nickname), so head out and do that... I had to fight : Murashoki x1, Ectroplasm x 3. On the way through, but I can't remember if this was really a boss fight. I do know that the Murashoki can poison you, but for that, you can get Yellow Soma. When you emerge, you are now on a different land-mass, the island-nation of Soma, which features a the cave you just exited from, a second cave to the far west, and closer, a town icon representing: The Kingdom of Soma This little town is a Kingdom? Well, anyhow... Go all the way N into the castle. The King and Queen explain that Jamira is actually they're daughter, and heir apparent to the throne... but she was accidentally sealed outside of the kingdom by the same seal that you just destroyed in your quest for the last Orb. She feels that her exclusion wad an intentional, cruel banishment, rather than a simple mistake, and thus, is waging war WITH the Moki rather than against them. Now, walk behind the throne and talk to Nami, Jamira's younger sister and the only remaining princess in this Kingdom. Before you can say hello properly, she's off to get the Orb for you -- Suddendely, a scream is heard (from the cave West of the castle-town), and Nami's been kidnapped by Moki (yes, the same Moki who were previously a non-presence in the Kingdom... hmmm, maybe you should have resealed the cave as you passed through? Luckily, no-one blames you for causing massive damage to the delicate, sheltered ecosystem that is the Kingdom of Soma). The Royalty now implore you to get Nami back, no matter what the cost. The magical barrier (aka arbiraty plot-based action restraining device) is now gone from the Western Cave near Soma's Castle, so get in there and kick some butt. Western Cave, The (a multi-level, but simple and straighforward dungeon) My notes say this is simple so I don't have any details. My memory confirms that I beat it rather easily. However, if you need more detail, I'll put it in the next revision. At some point, you fight The sub-boss: Shadow x2 Rima gives you the Orochi Orb ( a Key/Event Item, so it shows up in "Item" and not in "Belt"), and back to the castle you go. Now, the "Wall of Sand" refers the giant wall North of the "town" where you met Kuon ( the "Former Temple of Horai"). Now that you have the Orb, the Gateway in the Sand Will will open... however, there's the other quest to do (if you haven't already done it): ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Noah's Ark (Ruins): Timetravel quest ============================================================================== The Wall of Sand has three places in South of it: the Horai place to the West, near the coast, and near the Gateway in the middle, it has a conical shaped item (well, that's how it looks on the map-- like a brown conical sea- shell), which is really the ruins of Noah's Ark. East of that is Capsule Castle. You can go into any of the three, the first was covered above in the Kingdom of Soma quest, the third isn't useful yet but you can talk to the caretaker there to help flesh out the backstory. You can enter Noah's Ark at any time and find the "Silence" technique in one of the Chests, which might be useful before you do the Kingdom of Soma quest as it stops opponents from using magic (including magic which poisons, I think). Noah's Ark (Ruins) is also a dungeon, so it has random battles... but it's a bit small (most places are blocked by debris) so soon you come to a place in the East where you fight a boss and get transported to the past (you can exit or level more if you want, before travelling... just say "no" when asked and come back when you're ready). Boss Battle: Lamina, 2x Kiganseki I got 690 EXP, 143 Coins for the battle. Back to the Past: Noah's Ark (intact) Step on the hexagram-like symbol, and do the time travelling thing. Talk to everyone, including the people in the rooms (whom include a younger version of Tatara!). You find out that the ruins are of Noah's Ark, a giant airship made by the people of Agartha to escape from the flooding caused by the tidal effects of the gravity of a passing "star" (must be more of an asteroid or comet). The Mission to find Garuman On Noah's Ark, in the West-most room, find a salior who begs you to climb a rope down to the city, find Garuman, and tell Lady Nuyana to rest in a capsule so that she can recover. (All thise could have been prevented if they'd just had cell phones or something... then again, perhaps they'd mess up the airship's navigation, or the towers are already flooded out). There's an Inn and Tailors' shop in the town, and nothing else of note (why would there be... an evacuation is on, after all.. but I guess selling good looking clothes that just happen to cost a fortune and absorb Damage Points is so lucrative that you and pay for a ride back across River Stix. Similary for the Inn, although why anyone would want to stay at an Inn during an EVACUATION is beyond me), so rest up if you need to, and then leave town and head North to the: Capsule Castle: Past Version Garunan, it seems, is a scheming devil. He puts the gold statue that he wants in the capsule, and leaves with it, telling you to "wait here, this requires a special touch". Meanwhile, the princess is left in the other capsule (which, you'll remember, is still there in the present day). Go back to town, and to the S part, where the Ark is now docked (without a rope, even - convienet plot device redux). Head into the Ark. Drama unfolds on the Ark. Garuman is "cursed" to guard the capsule of Lady Nayuta until she is revived, but "Without the Silver Staff, Lady Nayuta will never awaken.", saith the Captain (you know he's the captain, because he has red, rather than white, pants). Obtained Key Item: Silver Staff You have to choose to accept the staff, or the Captain will keep moaning about you being the only ones, etc. What would he have done if time travellers didn't just show up? Who made the time machine? These questions seem not to be answered here, but maybe in the magna... Anyhow, it's time to go: Back to the Present / Future of the Past Exit the Noah's Ark Ruins Dungeon, and head East to the Capsule Castle. Approach the capsule, and it automatically revives Lady Nayuta. Apparently, she's been sleeping for ... 3,500 Years! (the Silver Staff now removes itself from you Item list, since the event it was created for its gone). I guess 3 and a half millenia is a long time to sleep. Must be one potent crogenic chamber. Furthermore, she doesn't seem to be ill anymore, so somehow, she must have been healing during that time rather than just in stasis. Of course, this means that either -Tatara is over 3,505 years old (since there's a younger one on the past ark) or: Tatara's name was passed down thru generations To live that long, only to get stabbed in the back by a pink bunny, must have been quite annoying for Tatara. I find it most ironic. Anyhow, Nayuta decided to be antisocial, and without so much as a "thanks, how can I pay you back for awakening me?", goes off by herself to find out what happened to the people of Agartha. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Flame Corridors: ============================================================================== Thru the Sand Wall (requires Orochi Orb) A dungeon of a few bosses The first time you enter the palace, someone explains that it was once beautiful, but is now inhabited by Moki... unfortunately, I didn't make note of it and they don't say it again, so pay attention when it happens to you, and let me know if "Flame Corridors" is really what they refered to this dungeon as, I also have "Firewalk Gateway" in my notes as a possibility, but perhaps I made that one up. Here are some short notes on the dungeon: I got poisioned a lot, so Yellow Soma (Antidote) may be recommended. 1F: [TODO: check on wheter this is the first time thru or the second] Rahyoho (a visible enemy) speaks to you when you encounter him in the SE corner of the maze. However, instead of fighting you himself, he leaves you to fight: Shadow x3. 2F: (need to go up to 3F and come back down) of maze, E section with large grey gargoyle-like statue: Boss Fight: Seizanpa Nae Madara gets back his real hand. ... Boss Fight: Seizanpa Sobi Madara now has gotten back both of his hands, and lost his Battle Gadgets. 3F:(?) Jato runs his usual talk, and leaves you to fight the Shadow Warriors of Shumi. Boss Fight: Shadow x4 Then down, left, up (S, E, N) to find Jato and Kaos standing up waiting for you. After some drama, Kaos leaves to join the rebel army and avenge his sister's death. You can leave North and now explore the Northern part of the Overworld map. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kugutsu ============================================================================== Almost directly North of the Gateway in the Sand Wall is Kugutsu, which is a relatively big town with some unique features: - It's enclosed by a wall (for the most part) - It has a rebel base - The Inn lets you find Allies. - It costs twice as much (100 coins vs. 50) to stay at the inn here! The Inn, and the half-backed Ally System [It just occured to me that if you do the Noah's Ark quest before the Orb obtaining quest, you might be able to use Nayata in the latter, if you find her in the right town... but I don't know it it's possible, just an unproven theory based on the Hatori people suggesting that you go and find allies first. Perhaps they ment Hakatu, though.] I've devoted a seperate section to Finding Allies; if you want to, you can now use Inn/Find Ally to get Nayuta to join you, but either Loki or Hakuta must leave it, and they take their "Belt" items with them, so try to preserve their Equippable and Consumable belt-items before you do this. [ TODO: transcribe map and details of Kugutsu here] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mitamu ============================================================================== To the far East of Kugutsu is Mitamu, a town which is dry due to the acts of some Miko in the pyramid in the centre of the desert. The guy in purple clothes in the middle of the South section of the town will give you the *Key Item: Abyss Map which you need to find this Pyramid. Due to the lack of water, the Wind Tree here has perished, and you cannot save the game here. The Kanraihu spell will take you back to the last town that you saved at, and only works on the Overworld map (Menu:/Spell/[PC]/ Kanraihu), but at this point in the game, I don't think it's possible to acquire it, yet. The "Abyss Map", unfortunately, is just another item in the Key Item list, it doesn't actually tell you were the pyramid is. But I will! It's North of the two towns (Mitamamu and Kugutsu) but sort of in the middle of them. It was easier for me to find by walking West from Mitamanu. Before going to the Pyramid, you could visit Kasen Castle, which is on an arppegio(?),i.e. a small island connected by a land-bridge to the mainland, which is off the NE section of the Overworld map. However, you can't get in since it's the rebel headquarters, and as bad as you think you are, they know you're no rebel (they mentioned something about the Mark of Cain in Kugutsu, it'll be explained later). You can also visit a castle which is slight S and a bit East of the pyriamid, but there's a gate there for which you don't have the key (this is the Desert Castle, and you need the Desert Key, but you can't get that yet) so all you can do is have random battles and possibly get poisioned by Linra or something. So, on to: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pyramid, The Middle of the Desert ============================================================================== Remember: N Up W E Left Right S Down And the cross-corners: NW NE * SW SE With "*" being the centre. The Pyramid is a marvel in non-physical torture techniques. However, with this guide, you'll flow through it like a knife through butter! *Straight to the Boss : Invading Hamararyuki's Pyramid! 1F: There's only one way in and up, taking you to a stairs up to 2F. 2F: You arrive in space with four half-kneeling statues. You can go short N, then E or W, or far N, then the screen scrolls up. If you go far N, then be aware that E is a dead end, and W [2F/NW] leads you to 3F/NE (and, closer to the boss, see below). If you go short N, then W, then the twisty passages lead to two sets of stairs (you can also go S, then W to reach them): one set to [1F/W] (Zio Coin), the stairs going down and to the S of the map, and the other set, more N, which are stairs leading up to [3F/E]. However, ignore these if you want the boss, and go far N (until you hit a wall at the top of a "T" junction), then W, to [3F/NE] (see below). If you go short N, then E, then that is another dead end. If you go S, then E, there's only one set of stairs (after pointless step-consuming twists), leading down to [1F/E]. 3F/NE: Passage to Teleportor Room This has no items, and one exit (besides the entrance back to 2F/NW). That exit, all the way South, leads to the 4F super-maze (4F/SE). 4F/SE: The Teleportor (or Spatial Shift Stairs) Room This is the lower-right (SE) corner of a weird maze. Nothing here corresponds to anything on the other floors. Must be a form of Agarthan teleportation or spatial twisting. Anyhow, this entrance will eventually lead you out of the maze and to the boss, but it's rather tedious. I might have sat mumbling to myself in a corner for nearly two weeks because of this maze, but it didn't kill me so I must be a stronger person. Or maybe I'm exaggerating. Slightly. If you want to learn Thunder, follow the maze, then take the East branches to the Chest, and Search to find the Thunder spell within. From the East branches, you could continue on to one of the stairs, but they're both effective dead-ends anyhow: they lead to the OF, but not to a place that you can reach the boss from (but you can see him, if you want). So, head to the right (West), and all the way around to the centre of the map, sort of: There's a space in the middle, four chest, one at each cross-corner, and walls almost bisecting the whole thing twice (I guess that would be "quartering" ;-) ). The lower-left (SW) of the CROSS-CORNER STAIRS takes you to (OF) the boss, the rest are effective dead ends. Yes, even the far SW corner stair is dead end. Not shortcut or a secret treasure trove, but a freaking hard-to-access dead end. The designer of this level is truly evil. OF: outer face of the pyramid (a pseudo-overhead-exterior view) You're on grooved path on the middle (you can go neighter right nor left, only up or down), going straight to Hamararyuki. Go up there and beat him. You might want to save state just before it so you can indulge you compulsive fantasy of beating him over and over and --- um, what, you don't have such neurotic tendancies? Oh, well, I don't either of course, I was just checking to see if you do. After you beat him, you can just go N and fall off the Pyramid to the Overworld map. Quick Exit without Zio Coin! Yah! The next section is optional stuff you can do within the pyramid. It will probally help you to level up and gain new spells, but I didn't bother on my first time though (but, you know, I was using cheats). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Other places within the Pyramid ============================================================================== 1F/E: (optional) Black Mist (Shaman technique), Red Soma (HP restorative). Accessed from 2F. You can only head N at first, following the maze... at the top of the map, E is a dead-end so go W and find two chests: The one on the right (E) containes "Black Mist", a Shaman technique. The one on the left (W) contains "Red Soma", the HP-restorative consumable item. Going left(W) beyond the second chest is just a dead end, so don't bother, just retreat back up the stairs to 2F... . 1F/W: Zio Coin diversion, The Accessed from 2F. You arrive just W of the 1F passageway with the pillars that you walked through earlier (the roof occuled the view in that pass, but it's gone now). There's a jagged but balconied edge to the E, and to the N is a Chest, containing the Zio Coin. The wonderful thing about "Zio Coin": using this item within a dungeon takes you back to the overworld map at its entrance. It's a "quick exit". It cuts short the tedium of long an confusing mazes. You might want to save it for after this dungeon, because unlike many of the dungeons, you don't need to backtrack after you beat the boss of the Pyramid. 3F/E: (optional) Senri You access this from the 2F section, see above. You need to walk all around to get the the chest. No shortcuts for Madara like jumping across the balcony tile. The Chest contains Senri in the form of an old charm (I already knew it by this point). ============================================================================== After the Pyramid, head back to Mitamamu. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Mark of Cain: Becoming a Rebel ============================================================================== When you enter Mitamamu, talk to the girl in the green clothes with the matching bandana. She'll give you the "Mark of Cain" Key Item, and tell you to report to Kugustu. (It took me a lot of aimless wandering before I happened upon her. Don't be like me, talk to everyone in the town... seems obvious especially as I'd just done the Pyramid quest for the sake of saving this town, but I must have missed her the first time through.) Back in Kugustu, the people have new and exciting things to say, like about Agia(f) and giants and so forth. (The giants are the golems which Kaos commans, called Soen and Gofu. They're based on ancient Agatharan technology, and have grown from the statues they were when you last met them, to several-story-tall, town-destroying giants.) Go to the hut in the NE that I've already mapped out as the Rebel Hideout, and you'll find the guard lets you approach, and there's no longer an event barrier preventing you from getting within 2 steps of it. The commander's in a bind, since some of his men are trapped in the basement of Choryo Bakko's castle (C.B.'s one of the Eight Devils of Kimone -- um, sorry, this isn't Ninja Scroll... he's one of the "eight generals" whom Madara has to defeat to get back his origional body). Gee, obvious sub-quest, right? Agia seems to want to do it alone, though. The castle where C.B. lives is actually the desert castle with the locked gate which I earlier said to ignore; leave the Rebel Hideout (which is bigger on the inside than the hut on the outside makes it appear) and talk to everyone in town, esp. a guy standing roughly to the mid-south of the town, below the water which feeds to Wind Tree, and you'll get the Desert Key, which is a key item necessary to open the gate in C.B.'s castle. As to why a random guy is walking around with such a potent item, I don't know... but it seems to be the norm in this world. Still in the south of the village of Kugustu, just outside the East wall, is a friendly Moki playing with some kids. ** This a good place to save, and better than Mitamamu, even though the latter is closer to the desert castle. The desert castle of Choryo Bakko is to the North and slightly West of Mitamamu. To find it you can go N from Mitamu then West following the water stream. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Desert Castle: Insurgence against Choryo Bakko (with the Desert Key item-item) ============================================================================== Now that you have the Desert Key, you can actually get past the gate and go exploring the Desert Castle. In the desert castle, walk up to and thru the gate, and the Desert Key gives a "pling" sound as it disappears from your Key Items list. Proceed into this dungeon to face your fate! These short notes should help get you through it a bit easier, although it is not really as frustrating as the Pyramid was: 1F: Right wing: NE corner has chest with 210 coins in it. SE is a dead end so asside for the coins, just head left. West/left wing: SW chest contains "Hypnotize" spell (well, an old book that teaches it to those who can learn Shaman magic). SE contains Yellow Soma and the all-important stairs to 2F. 2F: Chest contains Green Soma. Stairs SW lead up to isolate chest with Yellow Soma. (all the Yellow soma helps, it's a poision antidote and alot of enemies in here poision you) Chest along S border contains Blue Soma. NE corner stairs lead to the 3F outer area, it seems. (you arive in NE corner) East side "T" formation had 2 Chests, Jokahu learnt by Hakutaku from the one on the Right, and Fudaraku Armor (it seems that Equipping said armor causes you to be Cursed, and then you can't unequip it!) found in the one to the Left (W). Stairs lead down to 1F, but that's a dead end so don't bother with it. There's a section that your reach S, E, N, avoid the dead end stairs down, take the stairs up and you're now at the inner part of the 2F. 3F: (from outer area) Chest in NE corner, Hakutaku learns Kanraihu. E,S is a dead end. (inner area) do S to the fork, and if you want it, there's a Big Bow in the West corner in a chest. Head East instead, or afterwards, then an inverted "U" all the way over to the stairs on the water (yes, for some reason, you can walk on water in this area: it's probally just shallow decorative water, not deep ominous scary water). 4F: NE Stairs lead up, to a dead end (small room with a bed). SE stairs are cumbling and unusable, so you can try you luck at the SW stairs: up is a dead end (go here if you want to level, I guess), down takes you (eventually) down to an otherwise inaccessible room where you find two rebels, locked in the basement or something. Talk to one of them, and they'll arrogantly say they didn't need help... and give you the "lock spell" to get into the general's chamber. Return to the SE stairs up, which were unusable and crumbling, and you chant Agia's spell and ascend on a staircase of light (you have to imagine it, they didn't bother to tax the NES with the visual rendering). However, before doing that (or after, but before the fight), go to the NW stairs leading up, which is a treasure room four chests: Zio Coin, Cobra Fang, Flame Wall (Shaman), 330 Coins, in normal English-reading order (Noth to South(West to East)). Anyhow, back to the glowing stairs of light, and the drama... Sheshinja is squaring off against Choroku Bakko. Brave, but... Sheshinja pulls that famous Moki teleport trick that Jato uses persistantly, and... you could waste time searching for him like me, or use a Zio Coin to "escape the maze" to the overworld map, then Kanraihu - "The Last Tree" (Menu:/spell/hakuta/Kanraihu) to return to that save that you made in Kugustu. The Wind Tree, and the town in general, is half-dead due... well, talk to the survivors and find out. The Wind Tree will also fortell that Seishinja is in town, Kasen is -still- in Rasen Castle, and so forth. [ TODO: give Seishinja's initial stats and discuss wheter it's worth it to have him ] Head trough the SE exit, and talk to Acepack ("grandpa Miko", the kids called him). Acepack, is nice enough to fill you in on the plot, then battle you. *Sub-boss Fight: Acepack 300 EXP, 140 coins. He has about 900-1,100 HP, which isn't much considering Fire Wall alone does 500 HP-damage and some attack items do over 1,000 by now. I think I did a one-hit kill on him once. Anyhow, you're asked to go to the Rebel HQ, Kasen Castle. When I went there, people were there in red tents, not sure if I was lucky the season was right... but anyhow, talking to people gives you a good idea of where to go. They're no random battles so enjoy exploring. Oh, things worthy of mention: 2F of castle: talk to the guy lying in bed, for a humous dialogue. Take SE stairs up for a treasure chest room, with this bounty: Shutenhu, 480 coins, 20 coinds, Gold Bettle The Trainers were in town when I got here, so they were They're two General Shops, a Tailor's shop, Str and Wis Trainers, arena, a bard (who tells the tale of the True King), and lots of fun dialogue. [TODO: put a ascii version of the MAP sketch and details of the shops] Jamira's Hospital Cell is 2 flights of stairs up. Go to 3F and talke to Jofuku again, and he explains that if you can get into the giants, you can go down their limbs and into their palms. I took the right giant, right all the way, then up instead of down the black path to the arms, and found C.B. He gives a dramatic speech before the boss battle. BOSS: ============================================================================== Choryo Bakko Afterwards, a cut scene! Madara gets back his real legs. Chests: long spear, white soma, 180 coins, Sukyura Shield. Return to town, Jamira is missing! Talk to Jofuku, walk about a bit, go to the SE tower, and find the letter "on" the desk (I don't see anything but when you approach from N and hit cancel/B, you get the letter's text). Go back to Jofuku, and he'll tell you: ...If you want to head north past the river, a new bridge has just been built. Soon after this I took a break to write up my notes properly. I didn't expect it to be over 50K of text and over 1,000 lines, but I guess I was doing more work that I thought. I will continue from here, and flesh out the town info- mation, in my next revision. short notes on what comes next: - Head across the N bridge, onto another map - Find Xifang to the N and W. Note the haunted house in the SE corner of the town, talk to everyone, save. You can chose from any ally here, they're all in this town. This is the new base of operations, unless you want to backtrack for some reason. - Find Buro / Gauro far N (of burnt tree), near the mountain range - Find Shinra, N of the burnt tree, towards the E. coast (but the tree isn't burnt at first...) Heading into the forest, to the big tree, causes a cut scene whereing Madara explodes in a rage of Chi and destorys the forest, etc. In order to revive it, you need Blessed Salt and Crystal Powder (according to the Chief of Shinra). - The mother of Chifun will give you Blessed Salt for finding him - Head into the Haunted House in Shinra. Push N thru the hole to fall thru to a dungeon, the Crystal Caverns (I guess) - go W, S, W to meet the missing couple. - from there, backtrack E, go S, far E then up into the wide nook, finding "Crystal Powder". (it's invisible) - backtrack to N-S passage, head S, taking the W branch before the end of the passage, go all the way to the end where it turns S, and then ultimately exit S to the Burnt Tree. Burnt Tree Exit: backtrack E slightly to the N-S passage, then S almost to the bottom where it turns E, but take the last W brach instead. Go all the way, then S, for the exit to the Burnt Tree. (you can walk through crystals for minor damage, but rocks appear to poision you so avoid that). - Find the Crystal Powder in the NE wing (about 4 spaces wide) to reach it from tree entrance, go up the NS corridoe and take the second W branch, when you reach a space that looks empty you'll automatically get the "Found Crystal Powder" message as you walk. In othr words, enter from tree, follow cavern W, turn N, take first W turn, into wider space, automatically find crystal powder. - Head straight N to Buro/Gauro. - I had to wait until Spring to get the guy mentioned below to appear. Actually, I didn't wait, I used Hakuta's Shaman spell Shuntenhu to advance the season. Otherwise, the guy in white didn't appear. Perhaps romance only happens in Spring or something. - Talk to the guy in white standing in the S near teh border of Buro and Gauro (on the Buro side). He gives you the Pond Key to open the gate in the hut S of the pond. - Obvious, go into the hut, thru the gate. Down 3 or 4 flights of stairs. - Fight Shadow x1, talk to the couple. Chest: Mahni Flame (wtf is this?) - Leave the couple (obviously they need to "talk" alone), and Jato appears, and sets Shadow x3 upon you! - Talk to the townspeople, and get updated on the fact that the villages united to form "Uro", and stuff. -Talk to the father in the hut E of the pond to get "Blessed Salt" Since you now have both key items which the Chief of Shinra mentioned, go there and talk to him about reviving the tree. Or not... he's still saying the same thing, although the townspeople are up to date. - Shinra is just W of Bodai (Bodai's on the E. coast, a boat town...) The Burnt tree is slightly S, and about a screen W of Shinra. - Walk up to the burnt tree's stump, and the Blessed Salt & ... are used to revive the tree instantly. Walk towards it, and it's a climb-the beanstalk type game (start with the leftmost vine). Eventually you come to a town (yes, on top of a beanstalk!)... but all the chests are empty. From the left side, there's a chest thru a treehold with "Gedatsu" (Shaman/Inishe tech) in it. *** TODO: Fix up the last part, below, based on my notes from last playthru. Here's what to do: go to each tower, and open the empty chests (by standing on them and searching, i.e. press "B"). When you come back from the last of the four towers, they'll be stairs in the center of the "town" where there wasn't any before. Climb it and then go inside the thing looking like a giant telescope-based observatory. There's an old man who talks to you, he's from Ugayan or something and let's you raid his chest to get Tao Braid. Anyhow, he triggers the next part of the story: go North through the waterfall in the mountains to find an ally, a mysterious young man with great power or something. * Town of Bodai, the city of boats: In order to go thru the waterfall, you need a boat. To verify this, head N to the mountain range, then all the way E. You can barely see the waterfall, but the game doesn't let you go any further NE. So head S along the E coast, and you come to a town, which is Bodai. The very first person you meet boast that the town is all about boats, whis is fortunate as this is exactly what you need. Wadatsumi is found in the eastmost of the three dock-offices. His boat needed the Tao Braid to move, so he's happy you have it and compells you to go this his hometown, Ryosan, which is where you wanted to go anyways. ** TODO: I'm not sure what happens if you go with the other two, anyone care to try and let me know? "Only the truly wise are able to pass. This is as far as I can guide you." Well, whatever. There's a maze-like puzzle in that you can go inside caves, back out, and so on, but I went thru on my first try so it must not be too difficult. Perhaps they're hidden treasures but I didn't see any on the staight and narrow path I took. ===> Ryosan Village Here, you find madara, eventually, in the NE hut that belongs to the elder. You also find some backstory on some of the characters, such as the chief of this village being Tartara's brother (and twin in looks). Also, the princess of the village is a shaman-magic-capable who wants to settle down and enjoy Madara's company, so she's sorta glad that Madara has lost his fighting spirit. After chasing him around a while, the chief tells you of this Dark Kusanagi (?) which will restore M's fighting spirit, also some guy will pay anything for it, and you meet Wadatsumi's finacee. The next step is to go N thru the waterfall. Anyhow, if you walk around the left side, just outside the town walls, from the entrance, to the N then E, then you'll find a mound in the ground which leads to an undergrown series of caverns. You meat "Kadeo Madara" there, with the Dark K... but he teleports away. Exit that area and you meet with the real Madara (you have the option to fight him, but I declined. What happens if you do?). Everyone's turned to Moki, but ignore that and go to the elder's place (fighting the moki doens't help anything). Talk to the cheif, go upstairs, fight a boss, get back madara's real heart. Back downstairs, talk to chief, he tells you to go South to... err, I don't remember, but the fate of the world rests in my hands and all that. There's a maze-ish castle south, with teleportor pads and new enemies. Enjoy, I stopped there... but I'll update this FAQ when I get further. ============================================================================== Finding Allies ============================================================================== The Party in this game is limited to four(4) characters, but it is possible to trade in one or more of them for someone else, once you reach the point in the game that Madara has enough Allies (Playable Characters who aren't necessarily in the Party currently) to do so. At the Inns, the option to "Find Ally" will be available from the start,but it doesn't actually do anything until at least Nayuta's rescue. One reason why is that Allies seem to go to a particular town, and if you're in another, you can't reach them. So you can't reach Shamon until you get access to Rasen Castle, which is the Rebel Headquarters, and quite far into the story, even though the Wind Tree will tell you where he is. While away from the Party, NPAs gain levels and experience. However, they are a few quirks to it: - If you swap a member at an Inn, then immediately afterwards, that member leaves the town totally. To find them again, go to the nearest Wind Tree, and choose "Foretell" until the tree gives their location. You might have to leave town and come back in first, or the Inn will insist that they're not there. - Non-Party Allies (NPAs) tend to gain levels and experience, but lose their best Equipment. I don't know why, since Equipment is durable in this game (i.e. doesn't wear out with use); perhaps they're robbed or sell it to get restorative items or something. In any case, it's best to unequip them before they leave the Party. - There's no way to tell the relative strengths of the NPA and the current Party Members / Party Player Characters (PMs), without savestates or the patience to juggle inventory, go outside town and back, and switch, re- switch, and keep offline notes to help you compare stats, it would be impossible to make a decision; this is a flaw in the origional game design and would be non-trivial to fix in the ROM (one way would involve creating whole new Comparison menus, and the ROM is fairly full already, I gather). Did I say quirks? That last part makes the Find Ally system fatally flawed, although savestates and manual note-taking can help as a work-around, Konami really dropped the ball on that critical customer-oriented (UI) issue. Anyhow, here's Nayuta's stats initially: (found in Kugutsu on the first visit): Lv.19, Female, Inishe. Max. HP: 835, MP: 1054 W Knife S H A Noble Cloth EXP: 136330 accumulated, 6170 to next level. Str Ag Ch Wis Atk Def 46 53 68 67 343 630 Additional: Goriki, Enkai, Ashura, Senri, Jokahu, Shaolong. The savestate experiment: ============================================================================ Where I checked to see if NPAs really do level up (they claimed to have gotten stronger sometimes when I was switching to them, but I thought that might be idle talk). I had a save state just before I switched Loki out of the Party and H. in, now I did the reverse. He's Loki's new stats: Lv.23 Male Fighter Max HP 1,575 MP 844 W Kamaitachi Axe S Shield H Helmet A Big Armor Exp: 178,51, next level at 18,453 Str Ag Ch Wis Atk Def 82 61 63 56 940 768 Additional: Shaolong. Going back to my save sate, he was: Lv:21, Max HP, MP: 1404, 732 W Kasumi Blade S Karida Shield H Rubikon Helmet A Meio Suit Exp: 147,334 to next: 9,886. Str Ag Ch Wis Atk Def 77 58 60 53 937 1708 Additonal: Shaolong So, although this is only one data point (a good scientist takes at least five before trying to say that a rule has been verified), it seems he really did improve, by two levels... but lost some of his gear, including the best defeensive gear which affects his stats more than his levels (it seems). After all this, I left the town and came back, and Hakuta was waiting at the Inn. ============================================================================== Cheats ============================================================================== Generally, stats are stored in one or two-byte variables. I used FCE Ultra's Cheat menu and the Poke Memory facility of its debugger to experiment and find/enter the appropriate values to cheat to my liking. Offsets are in hexadecimal. Offset, meaning 06A0, Lo byte of Cash of party 06A1, Hi byte of Cash of party 0638, Lo byte of Madara (or First Party Member's) HP 0639, Hi 063A, Lo byte of 2nd Party Member's HP 063B, Hi 063C, 063D, Hi byte of 3rd Party Member's HP 063E - 063F: 4PM's HP 0610 Status byte for Party Member 1 0611 "Cursed" flags for item slot for Party Member 1 0612 Status, PM2 0613 Cursed, PM2 0614 Status, PM3 0615 Cursed, PM3 0616 Status, PM4 0617 Cursed, PM4 Status: Bit 76543210 St: XDBMIPLN X: Dead (Unconscious), can be revived with White Soma or by the Healer, or by clearing bit 7 (xor with 128) D: Doze (Asleep) B: Blind M: Mute (cannot cast) I: Ill(???) P: Poison (slowly loses health with each battle-turn or map-step) L: Lure (similar to Confused for most JRPGs, attacks own party members rather than the Enemy teams) N: Numb Curses: Each PM has a Item-Belt which holds up to 8 items. We can say that each Belt has eight(8) item Slots. These slots map to the 8 bits in the Curses register, and are numbered 0 through 7, mapping to 1 through 8 for the natural way of numbering, starting at the top and going down as they are (usually) listed on screen. If an item is cursed, it seems that it cannot be removed once Equipped. [are Consumable items cursable?]. If you remove or displace (Trade, Discard) items above in the list, then even though the position on-screen shifts, all that happens is that the empty spaces aren't rendered, the item slot number for the cursed item, and thus its flag, remain the same. The easy way to clear curses is just to set the Curses register to zero. e.g. POKE $0611, 0 ============================================================================== Links: ============================================================================== Gamefaqs, where I first started discussing this game on the Madara Senki Madara (NES) board: http://www.gamefaqs.com/ AGTP, who translated the game from Japanese, and wrote their own mini-manual which is recommended reading: http://agtp.romhack.net/madara.html The Bajan13K blog (which I update regularly): http://bajan13k.livejournal.com/ The Bajan-13 Group - LJ Community (which is sorta dead, for now): http://bajan13.livejournal.com/ SevenLoad channel (various gameplay videos, not currently updated): http://en.sevenload.com/users/Qu8/videos YouTube Channel (I get most of my feedback via comments, pms from this channel): http://www.youtube.com/user/bajan13k ============================================================================== Enemy Stats (mostly by DarkstarRipclaw) ============================================================================== Format: Enemy (monster) name, Experience gained in dispatching, Where usually found. Hikenba 90 EXP Castle of Kajura Hito-uka 60 EXP Hijuran Region, Castle of Kajura Kasatsuki 30 EXP Garden Point, Castle Kujin 60 EXP Hijuran Region Mugra Hijuran Region, Garden Point, Castle of Kajura Wolfpack 30 EXP Garden Point Worm 30 EXP Hijuran Region, Region 2 [ Where exactly is Region 2? ] Yodakeokina 60 EXP Garden Point, Castle, Castle of Kajura ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Spell Costs ============================================================================== I started tabulating how much it costs to cast spells, but this list is very incomplete. The cost is constant but the damage varies with level and whatnot. Shaman MP Cost,Name ,Description ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Soma Arts restore HP to an ally (or self) 100 Hypnotize 150 Iceball projectile attack 200 Tornado projectile attack 300 Flame Wall engulf single enemy in flame 250 Thunder strike single enemy with lightning bolt Chants 50 Shaolong projectile attack ============================================================================== TODO (maybe) ============================================================================== This which could be done, which I haven't sechduled yet: - Complete the spell table and other stats, adding things like damage - work out the damage system: exactly how are Damage Points calculated? - work out the rate of EXP gains by NPAs. - dump the maps from the ROM. Although I'd find that very interesting work, I might never do it. - Finish the game (lost my savefile, so, that will take a lot of time). EOM: That's the end of meaningful information, for now.