Galerians: Ash Walkthrough Copyright Nojo Jojo (N. Jemison) Posted 2/16/03 Version 1 (possibly the only) NOTES: I. This is my first walkthrough. The only reason I'm writing it is because a) this game's so damn hard, b) I'm snowed-in and bored, and c) there aren't many other G:A walkthroughs out there. Therefore it's going to be very bare-bones, and I'm not going to follow the traditional FAQ format (e.g., description of characters, explanation of the controls) because I'm also going to assume that anyone who's reading this guide has purchased the game and therefore has a copy of the instruction manual. Anybody who's renting and didn't get the manual... well, tough. A true Galerians fan would buy! ::strikes cheesy pose:: Anyway, I'm rambling. II. I ramble a lot. Get used to it. III. I'm female. I'm a big fan of manga/anime/doujinshi, particularly shoujo and yaoi, so don't be surprised if I occasionally make comments about how this character or that is a hottie. Got a problem with it? I've got six words for you: "Dead or Alive X-treme Beach Volleyball". If the female gamers of the world have to put up with that, the male gamers of the world can put up with me making the occasional comment about Rion's navel. Whoops, rambling again. IV. This guide is based on the "Normal" version of the game, and the English-language edition. I'm using the default control pad configuration. On with the show. **************** GETTING STARTED Turn on your PS2. =P Watch the opening animation and admire the pictures of psychotic bishounen (pretty boys, in Japanese). Well, except for Spider. Skip to the startup screen and start a new game. Remember, this guide is for the "Normal" version. Some overall gameplay tips to remember: -When you kill enemies in this game, you get one of two things: additional drugs, or upgrades for your stats. Use the R2 button to "lock on" to enemies to get slightly higher upgrades (20 points instead of 12, for example). These add up over time. -Push the right joystick down (as if pushing a button) to see your HP, AP, and currently-equipped drug meters in numbers. -Hit your enemies up close from behind or while they're down to do more damage. Yes, it's a bit dishonorable, but there's a billion of them and only one of you. -D-Felon is almost useless in its Level 1 form, but at Levels 2 and 3 it's very effective against large groups of enemies. -Parano is the hardest boss in the game. Save up recovery items to fight him, both times. -To save Recovery items and Delmetors, use the swirly blue light in the Hyper Sleep Chamber. It's worth it to make extra trips to the chamber to refresh yourself (rather than using items), because you'll really need those items during boss fights. -You *can* get through this game without killing most enemies, but you shouldn't. You need the upgrades and items. Enemies will regenerate for a time while you kill them, but eventually they'll go away and the room will stay "clear" until you leave the building/world. -Rion's AP meter will begin to creep up spontaneously when he's in dangerous situations. The more stressful the situation, the faster the meter will go. If he's calm, however, it won't change at all. This is an improvement on the first Galerians, where Rion's AP grew no matter what, but it still means you have to carefully manage your Delmetor. Get caught without it and it's bye-bye brain. **************** INTRODUCTION Lilia narrates a recap of the events from the last Galerians. While watching the recap, I realized that several key questions from the first game have never been answered: -Why didn't Dr. Steiner pull the plug on Dorothy as soon as he made the virus? Why go through all the rigamarole of operating on Rion and Lilia? -Why are all the Galerians crazy? (Except Rion.) -Why is Cain into leather? =P After the recap, Rion and Lilia stand in the Family Program Room. Isn't it interesting that Rion's voice has broken, even though he still looks like the 14-year-old boy from the last game? (THIS IS probably A CLUE.) Explore the room and find: a) Cain's body. On it is a Rion/Cain-type Galerian file. If you go to the Menu screen and check in "File", you'll find an explanation of some of the basic game concepts. b) A teleporter, which does not work. c) Large capsules stationed around the room have labels describing the type of Galerian who used to be in them. The one with "____" where a name should read is, of course, the capsule that once held Rion. Interestingly, for those who remember the first game, you can't call up images of the capsules' former inhabitants anymore. d) As you approach each capsule, items will appear in the air. Take them; you'll need them. Go through the door that looks like it has Duracell batteries around it. Go up the steps and you'll enter the Dome Area. After the cut scene, run around the room. Enemy critters (Rabbits) will appear; fight them if you want (you don't have to, but you'll get useful items and powerups if you do). Red works better against them than Nalcon. There are four doors in here, each with different-colored lights around them: red, bluish-white, white, and green. Only the red-lighted door is usable, but if Rion approaches any of the others he'll get items (note that items are not visible in this game until you get right up on them, so you have to explore everywhere). If he tries to go through the other doors, he'll be stopped by a mysterious power. Note that Lilia crouches uselessly nearby while you fight. She's a disgrace to women. C'mon, throw a rock or something. You'll be in a strange-looking room. To the right (as you come in the door) is a machine that allows you to change the configuration of Mushroom Tower (remember this from the first game?). Fortunately, you don't have to use it because the configuration is fine. To the left is a Save Point and the elevator's drive unit (which does nothing). Run around a bit and find the items in the room before proceding toward the center door. When you approach this door a quick cut scene will occur and enemies will come out to kill you (those yellow robot-things). Fight them. -Tips on fighting the yellow robots: a) They have square "shields" which protect them against Nalcon single blasts. The blasts will rebound and hit Rion. Try to avoid the shields. b) Hit them up close for *much* more damage. Even better, hit them while they're down, or from behind. Yeah, it's cowardly, but hey---they've got guns, and you've got what? A drug-soaked brain. Trust me, it's fair. c) Watch out for their lasers. They'll target you with a red sight-line before they fire. Wait until they're firing to attack them. Once the yellow guys are dead, another cut scene will occur. Go through the doors (be sure to grab the Recovery Pill to the right of the door!) and up the elevator to the Last Galerian R&D Area. Another cut scene will occur, and then more enemies will attack (the Rabbits). Kill them and explore the room. You'll see machines and a face set into the wall; neither of them is necessary for anything (yet). There's a pink light in the center of the floor. Run to it and stand on top of it. Whoops! Slippery little thing, it moved. Chase it and stand on top of it again. You'll have to do this about eight times. If you don't get to the pink light fast enough, it'll move back to the center of the room and you'll have to start over again. Use Rion's "roll" move if you're not able to run fast enough. Once you've caught the pink light, run back to the machine on one end of the room and unlock the Bridge that leads to Dorothy's chamber. Brief cut-scene. Head through the doors that lead to the bridge. Out on the bridge, ugly critters will attack you. I'm not sure what they're called, but they're the froglike creatures that spit poisonous vomit from the first game (Arabesques? Or was that something else?). I'll call them Vomit Frogs. Like the Rabbits, they're more susceptible to Red than Nalcon. This is good, because you're going to need all your Nalcon soon. Cross the bridge and there will be a Save Point before the doors at the other end. I'd recommend you use it. ************ BOSS BATTLE: DOROTHY Another cut scene and then guess who you get to meet again? That's right, this is the boss battle from the first game all over again. It's a little different this time---the goal isn't to hit the wiggly eyeballs, but Dorothy herself. Nalcon is the only effective weapon against her. Be wary of her attacks, which take several forms: -Lightning. You can't do diddly against this. Her hands will glow white before the lightning strikes. Run back along the bridge and get out of the way; she'll only hit within the platform right in front of her, not along the bridge. -Flame. You can shield against this, but only if you're facing her, and the shield raises your AP pretty fast. Her flame has too much range for you to easily outrun, however, so shielding against it may be your only option. Dorothy will inhale and you'll see flame near her mouth before she breathes fire. -Eyeballs. (Really, who throws an *eye*?) She'll summon them up, but they won't attack immediately. You may have to kill the center one in order to get a clear shot at Dorothy. When the eyeballs do come at you, they'll come one right after the other. The shield is very effective against them. -Lasers. You can shield against them, but they'll still hurt you. Lots. Better to avoid (although they will sometimes come down the bridge too). You'll hear Dorothy's power cycling up before she hits with this. The basic strategy is simple: avoid the obstacles. In between her attacks, charge up Nalcon and hit her (aim for her belly). She'll "flash" when you hit successfully. It takes a total of about 30 hits (5 or 6 charged Nalcon attacks) to trigger her "demise." Why is demise in quotation marks? Because... ************* BACK TO THE INTRODUCTION Huh? Deja vu? You better believe it. Playing through this section works almost exactly the way it did before. There are some *slight* differences---you don't have to fight the yellow guys or the Rabbits again---but that's because this time you have to face Spider. ************ BOSS BATTLE: SPIDER Cut scene. Yap yap yap. For crazy people, these Galerians sure talk a lot. But Spider has cool music. Spider's pretty easy. Things to avoid: -Crawling spiders (black and green). Hard to see, these little parasites will latch onto you and bite you until you Nalcon them off (if you can past the instinct to freak; I hatehatehatehateHATE spiders!!). They're a little hard to see, but otherwise easy to Nalk before they get to you. -Falling flaming spiders. Just don't hold still, and they won't hit you. -Webs. Going through the strands won't hurt you, but note that sometimes the black and green spiders sit in the centers of the webs. Kill the spider and the web burns away. (You don't need to do that, but I found it strangely satisfying.) Basic strategy for Spider: He'll spend a lot of time on the ceiling, but periodically come down to taunt you. Nalk him or Red him, your choice (but Nalcon works better). Don't let him get close to you, or he'll jump on you and do a head-butt, then laugh at you. Little punk... Once he's dead, you'll get a Skip. Use it now or later, on whichever upgrade you want. Personally I chose to upgrade my shield first, but it's up to you. After this, it's same as before---proceed across the Bridge, kill Dorothy, yatta yatta yatta. But then... ********** RION'S NEKKID! Which would be nice if he weren't so skinny, but anyway. Enjoy the Matrix-ripoff elements, and the fact that Rion has now aged physically. He's gotten a new collar, and his bellybutton shows, which is nice... but... but... those pants. Red leather pants?! *That's* the best wardrobe Lilia could find for a guy who's got to go save the world?! What's wrong with her? I thought she was supposed to be smart! Once Rion gets dressed in the idiotic outfit Lilia gives him, you can start exploring the Airport Facility. There are items in the Hyper Sleep room, as well as in the Control Room downstairs (after Major Romero gives his macho spiel). Then... ********** PARANO ATTACKS (Parano? Other Galerians get a cool, descriptive name. Nitro, Rainman, Spider, etc. The rest get normal names like Rita and Cain. What the hell is "parano"? Bad translation of "pirhana"?) Anyhow, you can now begin exploring the facility. Despite the fact that the facility is under attack, everyone acts pretty casual. You'll see the soldiers standing around chatting while you explore. Talk to them if you like. Only a few will have anything interesting to say. -One of the soldiers standing outside Sick Bay will mention that the key to the Emergency Generator has been misplaced. He was sure they had it when they barricaded the door to the West-side underpass... (THIS IS A CLUE.) Some areas of note: ------ 3rd Floor: -SICK BAY (has a red cross on the door). Nobody in here has anything important to say, but there's a Delmetor in here. -TACTICAL OPERATIONS ROOM (very near the stair that leads up to the 4th floor). There's a "Counter-Galerian Manual" sitting on one of the countertops, a Save Point, and a Recovery Pill (near the Save Point). -LABORATORY NO. 1 (turn left coming out of Tactical and go straight down the hall. It's on the right.). Lilia is here. She'll give you a new Beeject, which you'll need for new PPECs that she's developing (she'll give you a file telling you about these). She'll also give you the map device which is connected to Elaine, the supercomputer for the facility. She'll tell you to go to the General Office to access the Hangar where the Galerian is. (...Y'know, maybe it's just me, but... isn't it kind of dangerous to have another super-advanced AI computer in charge of the facility, when the enemy is an even more advanced computer? Kind of like using a 98-pound weakling to guard something, when the enemy is WWE's The Rock...) Anyway. The stairwell to the second floor is the only door that stands open. ------ 2nd Floor: -EMERGENCY GENERATOR ROOM (now that you've got the map, it's easy to find). Nothing useful here... yet. -SAVE POINT. -WAREHOUSE NO. 2: Not much in here, except... a cable? But you can't take it yet. Some items are in here, too. -ARMORY: Some items here, and a door that leads down to the first floor. You can't use it yet, though. Go through the doors in the approximate center of the floor to reach the first floor. ------ 1st Floor: Note that the little meter under the map has a tiny purple section. That's your radioactivity meter. It lets you know there's a "Galerian reaction" nearby, which I assume means that friends of Ash the Nuclear Bishounen have come to visit. More things to note: -FLIGHT CONTROL OFFICE: Not much in here yet. Ignore for now. -DOOR LEADING TO HANGAR NO. 3: Near the end of the west-side long corridor is a boarded-up door, as the soldier mentioned earlier. If you check the boxes here, there's a key... but you can't get it yet. -SYSTEM R&D CENTER: There are several items of note here that you can't use yet. One is the backup computer (shouldn't computers be smaller in the future...?). One is a device to operate the backup computer. -GENERAL OFFICE: Pay dirt! Here you'll find an item, and also a stairwell leading down into the basement level, as Lilia told you. Take the stairs down to... ----- Basement Level: -WEST-SIDE UNDERPASS: Go through the doors and you'll encounter a cut scene and meet another character (Cas). You'll get to see Rion's psychic powers in FMV action, after which he says something incredibly arrogant ("Mere mortals"?!) which perhaps suggests he's starting to resent working for people who despise him. Down here you'll find a save point and some items. I'd recommend saving, because even though the zombie soldiers you're about to encounter (after a cut scene) are easy to handle, the guy who's coming up is not. ********** BOSS FIGHT: PARANO This fight took me like a billion tries. Here's my strategy: You'll start off, after the cut scene, in the center of a room. Near you are two robots; behind you are two more---one in each corner. The solitary ones are the easiest to pick off, so go get 'em. Remember, standing close and whacking 'em with Nalcon is the best way to kill them quickly. As you off the third robot, however, Parano will appear and start to attack. Try to kill the fourth robot anyway, or it'll make your job harder. Parano has only a few basic attacks, but they're whoppers: -Bad voice acting and dialogue. You can ignore this, with an effort. -Lightning slashes: If he gets close to you, he'll come at you like a ninja, basically chopping you to electrified shreds in short order. Bottom line: don't let him get close. -Lightning strike: He stands still, crosses his swordish things, and calls lighting down on you. The lightning hits in three quick stages--- two little "feelers" that don't hurt and then the actual strike, that does (even if you're shielded). I don't know if this can be dodged, because it's also your best opportunity to hit this fast little bastard. As soon as he starts summoning lightning, charge up and flame him (this is easiest to do if you're locked onto him). He'll stop in mid-summon and the lightning won't hit you (though the feelers might, but they're harmless). Hitting him with Red this way nets about 200 - 250 HP at a strike. He has about 2500 total. -Lightning twirl: Once you get Parano's HP down low, he'll start flying at you in a sparkly spinning maneuver. Switch to Nalcon and hit R2 to lock onto him. Shields work against the twirl, but it might be easier just to dodge using Rion's roll, or simply step aside. He twirls in a sort of circle or arc, so just hold still and he won't hit you. Start charging Nalcon when he begins the third spin, because he stops after that. Let it loose when he stops. Do this 10 times (faster if you catch him when he's either just finishing the twirl, or when he's raising his swords to strike you) and he's toast. He drops a Skip as he leaves. ********** THE FACILITY IS UNDER ATTACK! Save if you like, either in the Underpass or on the 2nd or 3rd floor, but then go all the way back up to the 4th floor. (Rion gets his exercise in this game. Good thing, too, 'cos he could use a little muscle.) After Romero bitches and Cas congratulates you, the Galerians will attack at multiple points. Before you go down to greet them, head to the Hyper Sleep chamber and use that glowing blue swirly thing to restore your HP and clear your AP. Then head down to the first floor. Explore anything you like along the way; nothing will have changed except the fact that access is a little more difficult. You can now get down to the first floor in one of two ways: -Through the Armory (2nd floor). The door that was closed before is open now, and you can go down to the General Office from this door. -Through the central doors (which you used to get to the first floor before). Go through these and you'll end up in the Lobby. Either way you'll come out surrounded by enemies. For the sake of an accurate walkthrough, let's say you take the stair through the Armory. You can go to one of three locations at this point--- the General Office, the Flight Control Office, and the System R&D Office. Whichever one you go to first, you'll see a short cut-scene. Note: these are movies 16, 17, and 18, in the Movie Viewer. I'm not sure which is which, but here they are: a) General Office: Cas fighting some zombie soldiers (after which you fight them). b) System R&D: Some random redshirt gets overwhelmed by super-Rabbits and zombified, and you have to kill them and him. c) Flight Control Office: Romero stands there doing nothing while some of his men are being tortured and zombified behind a shuttered door. Then the dumbass opens the door. Naturally you have to clean up his mess. You can only see *one* of these movies, by the way. If you see one and then go into one of the other offices, you'll just see the enemies that have been unleashed. After this, somebody (Cas or Romero) will tell you to go back up to the 4th floor. C'mon, stair climbing is good exercise. On the 4th floor, talk to Cas and Romero, who tell you that because the Airport Terminal facility can't be defended forever, they need to strike at the Uranium Plant where Ash is. Romero scoffs at the idea. If you head down to Lilia's office to talk to her, she'll tell you that it's possible to reach the Uranium Plant by air, if you can get to the hangar where a working Air Beagle (think big flying metal bug) is located, with a pilot. Cas will confirm this and warn that you'll have to fight your way there. Lilia will unlock a door for you (it will be in the northeast section of the map) that leads down to Laboratory 2. (Just so fans of f/f don't feel left out, contemplate the yuri possibilities between Cas and Lilia. Cas does seem *awfully* protective of somebody who's basically just another egghead scientist, doesn't she? ^_-) Before you leave the Lab, talk to the technician up on the platform near the "new PPEC" machine. He's finished one of them and will give it to you: Bustanor. In Lab 2, you'll find some items, and another door leading down to Warehouse 1. In Warehouse 1, you'll find some items, and a locked door which leads to the hangar. The door can't be opened until you turn on the power, however. Inspect the door, the panel beside it, and the power station next to it (you have to do this), then head out via the shuttered door at the other end of the Warehouse, which you can now unlock using the switch beside it. Go out into the main lobby, which is full of yellow robot-things. Remember that key you found in the West long corridor, sitting on some crates? Well, the crates are now guarded by yellow robots, but you need that key. Time to try your new PPEC, don't you think? (Or Nalcon, if you want to save your Bustanor.) Once you've got the key, head to the Emergency Generator room on the 2nd Floor. The central stairway is closed, so you can go through Warehouse 1 to get back there. Careful! There's zombies in there now. Take the stairs up to Lab 2, then up to the 3rd Floor, then go to the stairs that lead down to the 2nd floor from here. The Emergency Generator room is to the right. In the E.G. room, use the key to activate the generator. When it starts, you might notice a panel near the generator controls, which seems to be sparking... Looks like you need that cable from Warehouse 2. Get the cable, bring it back. In a gratuitous waste of time, you'll have to shut the generator off, install the cable, and then turn it back on again. Fortunately this doesn't take long. Now head to the central stairwell for this floor. The soldier will let you through, with some bitching. On the first floor in the main lobby, run to the entrance for Warehouse 1. Go in, kill the zombies again, then operate the shutters for the door. This leads into the East Side Underpass. As you run down the corridor from the door, you'll see a door to your right---ignore it for now. You need a key to open it. To your left will be zombies. Beyond them is a Save point, and a turn which leads to another door. Kill the zombies or not, save or not, but head for that other door. This leads to Hangar 2, where the Air Beagle (plane) sits waiting for you to board. Once on the Air Beagle, you'll meet the thoroughly annoying Pat, then fly to the Uranium Plant. (I think it's interesting that Rion seems to be growing more and more alienated from the humans. By the end of the first game, he was barely able to acknowledge that he was a Galerian. Now he not only accepts it, but he seems to look down a bit on the ordinary humans. Not that I blame him, given the way most of them treat him. Pat's little "By the way, I'll leave you stranded here if things get too dangerous" speech is a case in point. Anyway, I'm rambling.) ********** URANIUM PLANT As soon as you step off the Beagle, watch out! There will be two great big WTFs (What Tha F---?!) there who will try their best to make paste out of you. Each has something like 1200 HP. I found it helpful to just use shields to make myself short, kill them, then Delmetor myself, but your mileage may vary. Take the only functional door (there's a Save Point near it) which is an elevator, down to the Security Floor. (Note---there's a "refresh" point in the Air Beagle, like the one in the Hyper Sleep Chamber back at the Airport Terminal. Pat implies that it's limited, but I've never seen it run out.) It should be obvious that the doors guarded by fire are the ones that actually lead to something. Using the compass on the map, the doors consist of... -North Door: Leads to General Sick Bay. Lots of Rabbits will attack you here. D-Felon them to death. Not much else is here, except... notice the sickbed that has a sort of reddish light over it? Inspect it, and get a Blank Key Card. There are two other doors here. One leads to Enriched Uranium Storage; you can't go in without special protective clothing. The other is the Saturn Door (see below). -West Door: Unguarded because it's useless for the moment. Can't be opened from this side. -East Door: The Mars Door. You can't do anything with this until you have the Mars Keycard. -South Door: Leads to the Control Office. You'll be attacked by some big... I dunno what the hell they are, but they're ugly. (Ash sure has a thing for *big* monsters. Size really matters to him. Maybe he's trying to overcompensate for something...?) Avoid their water-blasts and use Red on them. Don't get too close or they'll spike you with their tails. Three hits each (two if Red is Level 2) should do it. They'll regenerate a few times and then finally leave you alone. Other useful things in this room include a Save Point, and (up on one of the platforms) a Solar System Memo, which gives you a clue to the puzzle of the planetary doors. The Jupiter door is here, along with a door to the Control Computer Room. Assuming you went through the North Door first and got the Blank Key Card, now proceed through the South Door, to the Control Computer Room. WARNING: The room will be empty at first, but then when you inspect the main computer Ash will talk to you. As soon as he shuts up, a regenerating succession of Big Whatchamacallits will attack you here, and they're *tough.* I found it most helpful to just induce a short (using Apollinar or shielding until you short), spend a while in that state so that I killed the Whatchamacallits as they regenerated, and only use Delmetor when they stopped regenerating. You don't have to do this---they're fairly slow so it's just as easy to move around them and do your business. It's good to kill them, though, because if you do, you get a Skip. Kill them all once and they won't bother you again. Note that the Earth door is in here. In the Control Computer Room is a passcode device, which you can use to input the passcode for each of the planetary doors on the Blank Key Card. Insert the Blank Key Card, and then jiggle the letters to get various words---the names of the planets in Latin. The number of letters will tell you which code to try for. Use the Solar System Memo (last page) to give you a clue if you don't want to use spoilers (and skip down to the Boss section if you want to figure it out for yourself). The first one is "Saturnus", for the Saturn door. After getting the card coded, proceed back to the Security Floor and through the North Door. In the General Sick Bay, go to the Saturn door and use the key on the panel at its side. This leads to the Reprocessing Facility, where dozens of little bubble-spitting, laser-shooting munchkinlike creatures will attack you. D-Felon works well against them as long as you get them all---leave one out and it'll shoot you from behind before you can drop the others. Fortunately, I shorted at this point, and just spent a while exploding the little bastards. That was fun. In here is another passcode device. Insert the Saturnus card and re-code it with "Jupiter" (there will be a space before or after it). Head now back to the Security Floor, and through the South Door. The Jupiter Door is in the Control Office. Insert the passkey and head into the Refining Line Area. Amazingly, nothing attacks you here... at first. As you explore, however, Spider will menace you with... Leo, his pet spider? Well, also with some black-and-green spiders, but those are easy to kill. After this, Spider will go away. There's a Save Point and another passcode device in here. This time the code is "Mars." Head back up to the Security Floor and proceed to the Mars (East) door. This door leads to the System Control Room. More of the Big Bubble-Spitters are here; fry them. The Venus door is here as well, along with another door that leads to Enriched Uranium Storage (the door you couldn't get through, in Sick Bay). And look who's here! It's our old friends, the Big Whatchamacallits. You *have* to fight them this time. Bustanor is helpful, or shorting. There's another passcode device here. This time the code is "Tellus"---Latin for "Earth". (Who says you can't learn anything from video games?) Now you can unlock the door to General Sick Bay. Using either this route or the one you came in by, return to the Security Floor and go through the South Door, then the Control Office, then the Computer Control Room. The Earth door is in here, so use the Tellus card to open it. Beyond is the Management Office, and a bunch of Rabbits. D-Felon them, and then use the passcode device in here to code your card "Venus". You can also unlock the door that leads to the West Door of the Security Floor, and go through it to get back there. Head back through the East/Mars Door down to the System Control Room, where the Venus Door is. Use the card to open the door. Take the lift down---but get ready, because another of those big creatures that attacked you near the Air Beagle will come at you now, and you have to kill it. I'd recommend Bustanor. Fortunately, you'll get a Skip when it's all over, and then the lift will stop. Wander a bit before you go through the big door in front of you, and you'll find Recovery Capsules and Pills, as well as a Save Point. Hmm... smells like a boss battle a-brewin'. Go into the Waste Uranium Chamber. You'll get blasted with some kind of gas in the entryway, and for a moment Rion will seem to black out, but it passes. A scare tactic on Ash's part? But whoa, that radiation meter is going off the chart---maybe that should scare you more. Beyond the multiple doors is a vast chamber full of what else? Waste uranium. Notice the sun-spot at the center of the chamber. Go up the steps to the platform, and run around it collecting items and activating the three Energy Control units. When they're active, they'll send out a beam of energy to activate the sun-spot at the center of the room. Run to the spot and get ready for... ********** BOSS BATTLE: ASH After a cut scene (watching Ash eat that stuff just sent a shiver down my spine), the battle begins. Keep in mind that Ash is a walking nuclear reactor; he'll start by sending out little beams of white light that don't do much damage (although sometimes they'll chain-hit you and you won't have time to recover in between), but DON'T GET TOO CLOSE TO HIM! Stay as close to the edges of the room as you can, because when Ash stops sending out the little beams, he's about to go critical. The strategy here is simple: try to survive. You can't kill Ash at this point, but you have to hurt him to stop him from hurting you. =P Bustanor is best, because it allows you to strike from a relative distance. If you don't have that (or if you want to save it), Nalcon works too (though not as well, and you have to get closer to use it). Shield yourself against the little white beams. Your best chance to hit him is a slight pause before and after he sends out the white beams. Hit him once, then shield while he sends out the white beams, then hit him one more time, then run. Once you've done enough damage, there will be another cut scene. The yaoi fan in me was delighted by this scene until I remembered that Ash JUST ATE URANIUM. Yuck---wonder what *his* breath tastes like. Afterward, Rion will wake up in the entry chamber again, wondering what just hit him. He'll also wonder how he ended up there---did Ash drag him out of the chamber, thus saving his life instead of killing him? Weird... You can't go back into the Waste Chamber at this point; there's too much radioactivity. Might as well go back out to the lift. ********* BACK TO BASE As if it's not bad enough that your character is probably running around with Ash's silver lipstick smeared on, now you've got to fight monsters again, even in the rooms you've cleared. There's really nothing else to do in the Uranium Plant, so you can either screw around and kill things or head back up to the surface to the Air Beagle, and return to the Airport Terminal. There'll be a brief cut scene in which we see how the other Galerians react to Ash's decision not to kill Rion. Maybe this is why Ash didn't kill him---given the personalities of the henchpeople he's got to put up with, Rion would be a good replacement for any of 'em. But while you were gone, the defense of the base hasn't gone well. The place has been overrun with Rabbits and other critters. Pat will warn you that the enemy has penetrated through the 2nd Floor, and Rion will respond that he's heading for the 3rd Floor. So hop to it! But be careful, because every floor and room now contains various enemies. Once you reach the first floor, you'll be in Warehouse 1 again. Use D-Felon (level 2) to kill the super-Rabbits here. Both doors are locked, but one of them has a manual control to the right. Try to use it and you'll trigger a brief cut scene during which Pat will open the door for you. You can then proceed to the second floor by whatever means you want. If you go straight to the door that leads up to the 3rd floor, however, you'll find it shuttered, and the humans won't let you in. They can hear the enemies moving around down there and they think you're one of them, so you're going to have to kill off some of the enemies on the 2nd floor before they'll let you in. Go back and check the door after you've done so. You may have to check the door 2 or 3 times, but eventually Cas will hear you and let you in. The humans are appropriately glad to see you ("Wow, I never thought you'd make it back..."), except Major Romero, as usual. One of the soldiers tells you that Lilia is in Lab 1, so that's where you should go. Rion tells Lilia that he wants to access the Family Program again, which means he wants her to send him back into the data world. She'll leave and head up to the Hyper Sleep Chamber. Join her there whenever you like, and she'll then send you back into the place you escaped from at the beginning of the game---the electronic simulation of the Mushroom Tower. (Why is it that everything Rion does seems to hurt like hell? Poor kid...) ********** MUSHROOM TOWER PT. 2 When you get there, you'll see that Ash has already begun transferring Dorothy's backup out of the data world and into the real world. Not good. The ultimate goal of this section is to find out more information about Ash---including possible ways to defeat him---by accessing the 3 hidden computers somewhere in the Mushroom Tower. You must access the first of these 3 computers now, then return to the real world for a side-mission, then come back to access the other two. Use the computer to Rion's left to unlock the door out of Dorothy's chamber. This will connect the bridge to "Last Galerian R&D Area III." Fight your way across the bridge and into Area 3, but be careful---two of the big bull-like creatures will be in here waiting for you. You won't be able to go through the door that leads to the elevator (directly across from the door that led from Dorothy's chamber). Instead you'll have to go left, which will lead you through a corridor (kill the wab-biiiits...) and into General System Area Alpha. You're in luck; the first of the three computers is here, as well as a device which will allow you to rotate the dome areas. But the General System Areas are all boobytrapped, so you'll have to first figure out how to get to the computer. This first room is easy; there's an energy maze that surrounds the computer. You can either navigate the maze (which is easy) or simply cross the energy walls, which won't hurt you much if you only do it once or twice. Have Rion scan the computer; he'll need to transfer data about the computer to Lilia, who'll be able to analyze it and give him the code he needs to unlock it. She'll tell him to come back to the real world. You can wander and explore the Mushroom Tower if you want, but the story won't progress until you go back and see her. You can get back to the real world by doing the following: 1) The bridge to Dorothy's chamber disappeared once you left the R&D area III, so the door to get back there is locked. Use the floor rotation device in System Area Alpha to rotate the floors and line up Security Area S with R&D Area III. 2) Go back to III and take the elevator down to S. Kill the monsters here. Use the Floor Rotation device in S to try and connect Security Area N (the only one already open, if you remember from the beginning of the game) with one of the other R&D Areas. I don't think it matters which one at this point. 2) SAVE. That's because once you unlock the door that leads out of S into the Dome Area, you're about to face... ********** BOSS BATTLE: NITRO Nitro is one messed-up chick... and a tough boss to defeat. All you need is Nalcon or Bustanor, but the trick is finding an opportunity to hit her with it because she attacks almost constantly. You'll need lots of Delmetor for this battle, because she'll force you to shield frequently. Her four main attacks consist of: -The fire-snake. She'll do a weird kind of cartwheel just before she unleashes one of these, so roll out of the way, then immediately shield because the snake will turn back and hit you. Then it'll start circling you. This won't hurt you, so after the first strike you can let your shield down and start hitting Nitro (if you can). -The Pirouette of Doom. Nitro likes to dance. When she starts, you've got maybe one chance to hit her before she gets up to speed and starts flinging out little bits of fire everywhere. Shield; there's nothing else you can do. -The flame-wall. Periodically, Nitro will send a wall of flame in your direction. You can shield against it or dodge it. I'd recommend dodging; that'll save your shield/AP a little. -The strafing run. Nitro will leap up into the air. I've found it best to lock onto her. She'll glide around trying to get over Rion, and wherever she flies a trail of fire will run behind her. Just keep backing up/away from her and the trail will never hit you. You can attack her with Bustanor at this time, if you have any, but it's best just to wait out her attack because before she comes down, she'll gather six or seven big fireballs and send them down at you one after the other. When she stops moving around in the air, get ready to shield; you can't outrun the fireballs (or at least I couldn't). She'll come back down to earth after this and do nothing for a few seconds, during which you can hit her. Do enough damage and she'll stop attacking and disappear. You'll get a Skip after this. ********** GETTING BACK TO THE REAL WORLD After the battle with Nitro, you might understandably be a little confused as far as which direction to go. Just remember the color of the lights: N = Red E = White S = Blue W = Green You just came from S, and you want to go into N. Head there now. ...Oops, but you can't get through to the elevator because the security measure from the beginning of the game is still in place, and this time you don't have Lilia to help you get past the sentry. The problem is that although the sentry can tell you're a Galerian, it still knows you're Rion. You're going to have to find a way to make yourself seem more like a Galerian who still has access rights. Hmm... let's see. Who looks like you, has similar enough DNA/retinas to pass, and was still probably on Dorothy's "good boy" list before you offed him? That's right, your old buddy Cain. Head to the Family Program Room (careful, the Dome Area is now swarming with Super-Rabbits) and scan the tube where he was developed. Your eyes will get that lovely Cain glow. Now go back to N and the sentry will let you through. Hurry; Cain's retina ID only lasts for a short time. (Yes, you have to go see the sentry *before* you scan Cain's tube. There are no shortcuts in this game.) NOTE: While you're in the Family Program Room, you might want to look around. If you scan the other tubes twice, you'll be able to see the images of the dead Galerians from the first game (and yourself). Also, if you scan the glowing well in the center of the chamber, you'll get a slightly different message this time. "The center of the light is like a mirror..." (THIS IS A CLUE... for later.) Once you get to the R&D Area, use the unlocking device to connect to Dorothy's chamber. Go there and scan the small round device right in front of Dorothy, and that'll take you back to the real world. ********** ACTIVATE THE BACKUP COMPUTER Lilia will tell you that the data you got from the Alpha computer was so massive that she can't analyze it with just the base's main computer Elaine. She needs extra processing power from the backup computer. After she says this, Elaine will warn of a Galerian attack. The backup computer is on the first floor, in the System R&D Center. Only... you won't be able to get in from the first floor; Elaine's locked the doors as a security measure. You'll need to find a back way in. Fortunately, there's one in the Armory on the 2nd Floor. Go there and you'll see that a door in the Armory has been damaged. Rion can use his natural psychic abilities to force the door open wide enough to go down. You'll emerge in the General Office on the first floor, which is connected to the System R&D Center. There are monsters in both rooms, so be careful. Examine the backup computer and it will say there's no power. Also examine one of the computers nearby and it'll say "you see a space for a startup key." If you examine the computer that displays the service log (near the door you used to enter this room), it'll say an Air Beagle pilot was the last person to use the backup computer. YOU MUST DO ALL OF THESE THINGS TO ADVANCE THE STORY. I spent hours wandering around trying to figure out what to do next because I didn't check the service log; hopefully this will save you the same degree of frustration. Air Beagle pilot, huh? Well, you saw one in the Sick Bay on the 3rd Floor, so go talk to him now. He'll tell you he left the Backup Computer Key in Air Beagle 67. Idiot. He'll give you the key to Hangar 1, though, so you can go fetch the key. TIP: Before you head down to Hangar 1, check back with the techs in Lab 1. They have a new PPEC ready for you by now. Head to Warehouse 1 on the first floor to reach the East-side underpass that leads to Hangar 1. Use the pilot's key to unlock the door. More of the bubble-creatures will be inside, along with a nifty blue Air Beagle. But wait---if you go into this Air Beagle, there's no key. Ah, but remember, the pilot told you the key was in Air Beagle *67*. This is the wrong ship. Head back out of the ship and over to the control panel along the side of the hangar. This will switch out the Air Beagles and put 67 (a green ship) into place. Go inside and you'll find the key on the dashboard. (You can skip going into the blue ship altogether, if you like, and just switch them to get the green ship if you want.) Head back out to the underpass---and I'd suggest saving here. That's because, when you go back up to the first floor and leave Warehouse 1, you're going to see an old friend again... ********** BOSS BATTLE: PARANO 2.0 Yes, it's the boy with the dental hygiene---and personality---of a shark, Parano. As before, he sets robots on you at first. These are a little tougher than the last because they have bazookas, but if you got Breakaron from the Lab 1 techs, they'll be toast in no time. Parano won't attack you until all four are dead. His attacks are much the same as in the first battle---just a little faster. The only real change is when he begins his spinning move; he'll jig to the left at the end of each turn. Roll to avoid this and lock onto him again. He'll spin around you and jig three times; after the third one you should start powering up Nalcon or whatever you're going to use against him. When he stops, he'll hold still for about a half-second, during which he's shielded. Hold your shot until he moves for maximum damage. Once you defeat Parano, he'll bitch a little and then disappear. Whew. ********** Now head back upstairs to the Armory, and back down to General Office and then to the System R&D Center. Insert the Backup Computer Key into the computer terminal at the far end of the office, and this will start the backup computer. To make sure the Galerians won't be able to get to it, Lilia seals the room in some kind of gel. Rion then must return to the 4th floor and speak to Lilia. She's now had time to analyze the data, and will have the password you need to unlock the Alpha computer in the data world. After this, she'll send you back into the data world. No rest for the psychic. While you're in transit, we'll get a cut-scene which reveals how Ash handles discipline among the ranks. ********** BACK IN THE DATA AGAIN When you reappear in front of Dorothy, use the computer to your left to unlock the bridge, which will take you back to Area III. Once again you must kill creatures in every room. I can't really explain how to navigate the Mushroom Tower because there's more than one way to do it. The ultimate goal is to try and get the three Security Areas (N, S, W, and E) to line up with the three R&D areas (I, II, and III) in order to access the computers in the three hidden System Areas (Alpha, Beta, and Gamma). In order to find all three computers, you'll need to do the following for each one, in whatever order works best for you: -Get passwords from Lilia to unlock the System Area computers. Unlocking each will give you information about Ash, and will also unlock one of the Security Areas (one of which is already unlocked, as you might recall from the beginning of the game). -Use the floor rotation devices in the Security Areas to line up the areas with the R&D Areas. -Use the floor rotation devices in the R&D areas to access Dorothy's chamber, which is the hub for all three areas. In a gratutious waste of time built in by the game's designers, you'll probably have to go in and out of Dorothy's chamber several times to access each R&D area (her chamber will always rotate to a different R&D area than the one you came from). -Solve puzzles or defeat enemies in the R&D areas to open up the System Areas. I'll tell you how I did it, which isn't necessarily the fastest or most efficient way, but it works. 1) From Area III, head left to reach System Area Alpha again. Scan the Alpha computer once more. This time Lilia has given Rion the password, so he'll receive a brief cut-scene about Ash, and then the computer will unlock one of the closed Security Areas (W in this case). Note that the computer has also turned off the booby trap for this room. (Note something else that's important to the plot, and which I believe is a poor translation. Rion gets an image of Ash as pure data and says, "So, Ash was created here." What's relevant is that Ash was created AS DATA. Please see my Plot Analysis, also posted on Game FAQs, for a further examination of this.) 2) Go to the floor rotation device in this room and rotate the floors so you can leave Area III. 3) Go back to Area III and take the elevator down to Security Area S. Use the floor rotation device to rotate once to the left. You need to align the newly-opened Area W with Area II. 4) Go to Area W (green lights). Might want to save here. Take the elevator to Area II, which is surprisingly free of enemies... or is it? Of course not. =P ********** BOSS BATTLE: SPIDER 2.0 This is exactly like the first time you fought Spider, except for the fact that Spider now can fire energy bolts. He doesn't do it often, however, so this battle shouldn't be too difficult. Afterward, Spider will warn you that Ash is not what he seems. You'll also get a Skip, and the pedestal-like thingie in the corner will light up to give you the Crested Key. ********* If you try to use the key in the strange-looking door on the side of the room, the game will tell you that the key is an exact mirror image of the design on the wall. Hmm... mirror... Ah-ha. You have to go back to the Family Program Room, where the well of light is "like a mirror". Resuming the steps from before the Spider battle: 5) Go back to the elevator where you came up, down to Security Area W. Proceed from there to the Family Program Room and toss the Crested Key into the well of light. You'll get back the Inverted Key. 6) Go back to Area W and up to Area II. Use the Inverted Key on the funky wall-design. 7) Go through the corridor to System Area Beta, where you've found another of Ash's computers. The booby trap here is easy to navigate. Keep moving so the red targeting beams won't settle on you, but stop behind the large square objects in the room whenever one of the energy waves comes at you. Or shield. 8) When you get to the computer, scan it and Rion will again send data to Lilia. Here the mission to find Ash's computers will be interrupted *again* when Lilia frantically asks you to return to the real world to stop a huge incursion by the Galerians. 9) Go back to Area II and use the device at the far end of the room to connect to Dorothy's chamber again. Go to Dorothy's chamber and back to the real world from there. ********** HERE WE GO AGAIN (How strange... there was a flare of white blankness just before Rion materialized...) Oddly enough, Lilia tells Rion that they've already managed to repel the incursion, so Rion came back for nothing. She advises him to get some rest, however. This basically means you have to wander about on Floors 3 and 4 and talk to people for a while. As you do, you might notice some strange things, such as... -Camera angles in some rooms have changed. -Major Romero and the other humans suddenly like and respect Rion. -The injured guy in Sick Bay is in a different bed, and his nurse is working to the right, not the left, of his bed. -The radiation meter indicates that the radiation level is high enough to kill a human... on the third floor. But nobody seems upset about it. Hmm. Eventually you should get to the Sick Bay, where Cas will ask you to go get more ammunition from the Armory on the 2nd floor. Sounds like an easy enough job, so go do it. ...But when you bring the ammo back to Cas, she says its not enough and sends you to Hangar 3 for more. ::sigh:: But wait---how are you going to get to Hangar 3, when the door that led down to the basement from the General Office (first floor) has been destroyed? Go down to the General Office through the Armory, and you'll find that the door, amazingly, has been repaired and you can go down to the West-side underpass. Fight your way through the underpass to Hangar 3. When you go in the doors will close behind you---it's a trap! But a pretty lame one... just four super-Rabbits. Once you defeat them, Lilia will contact you and ask you to start up the reserve computer in the System R&D Center. But... didn't you just do that...?? She tells you that the key can be found in Lab 2. So head back up to the 2nd floor. Go through Warehouse 1 to save time; the map shows that it's unlocked now. In Lab 2, kill the robots, and pick up the key from one of the computer terminals. Then head back to the first floor where the System R&D Center is supposed to be filled with gel... but it's not. Insert the key into the control panel and start up the computer again. For a cheap chill, examine the service log on your way out. No, Toto, you're definitely not in Kansas anymore. Head back toward the 3rd floor to give Cas the ammo she asked for; you'll have to go through the General Office and up to the Armory. But as you're passing through the Armory, you'll see an interesting little scene. If Cas is dead, then who...?? The 2nd floor corridor is eerily free of enemies when you go out. Even worse, the 3rd floor seems to suddenly be empty of humans as well. Cas isn't in Sick Bay; no one is. Freaky, huh? Note that Rion's tension-meter is still running. Just a suggestion: go to the Tactical Operations Room, which is also deserted, and save. Then head up to see Lilia, who's acting strangely. Maybe that's because she's really... ********** BOSS BATTLE: NITRO 2.0 (Ever notice Nitro's wearing the same lipstick as Ash? Wish Ash had given her some tips on that hairstyle...) Nitro's pretty much the same this time as before, except she moves faster (and afterward, she messes more with your mind). Use the same strategy as before to defeat her. ********** After the battle, Rion will need to return to the real world to try and make sure it actually *is* the real world. He's understandably suspicious of Lilia this time, and a little cold toward her when he tells her to send him back. He's even more disturbed when she tells him there's a traitor in the human ranks. Looks like the Galerians are succeeding in alienating Rion from humankind. Could this be Ash's intention? Anyway, after returning to the data world, you find that Nitro's tricks have cost valuable time; Dorothy's transfer has progressed a lot while you were gone. Better hurry and finish your business here in the Mushroom Tower. Resuming the steps from before... 10) Use the computer to the left to unlock the bridge, and return to Area III. Kill the bad guys. In Area III, take a left and go back to Area Alpha, where the floor rotation device is located. 11) You now have the password for the Beta computer, so you need to get back to Area II. Rotate the floors to align Area S with Area III (this is the only option you're given). 12) Head back to Area III and take the elevator down to Area S. There, kill the bad guys and use the floor rotation device to align one of the open security areas (N, S, W---*not* E) with Area II. It doesn't matter which. I rotated right once, to align Area W (green lights) with Area II. 13) Go to the Security Area you lined up with II. Take the elevator up to II. 14) In Area II, head through the doorway you opened with the Inverted Key and down the corridor to reach Area Beta. Avoid the booby trap attacks and go to the computer. Scan it and this time Rion will use the password, thus unlocking the computer and getting another scene about Ash. This time we'll see Ash's... "childhood"... and get a better idea for why he's so messed-up. 15) Unlocking the Beta computer unlocks Security Area E, and also shuts off the booby trap in this room. Explore the room to find an item or two, then head back to Area II. Don't mess with the floor rotation device here; it's the one downstairs you'll need to use. 16) Head down stairs and use the floor rotation device to align area E with Area I. I right-rotated once. 17) Head over to Area E (white lights). Before you go inside, brace yourself and get lots of D-Felon, etc., ready. Area E contains a *huge* number of Rabbits who will continually respawn---although not indefinitely. If you're patient and kill them all (takes maybe 15 minutes), you'll get a Skip at the end. This is also a great chance for you to upgrade your stats and stock up on items. Remember to "lock on" to the Rabbits for slightly higher upgrades. NOTE: No matter how great the temptation might be to just short and kill things that way, you should be aware that the upgrades you receive will be slightly lower than normal if you do this. More D-Felon will appear as you use it up, so... crunch all you want, they'll make more. =P 18) Once you've finished killing things, head on upstairs to Area I and walk over the circle in the floor. The Gamma computer has been right under your feet all this time. Scan it, transmit the data to Lilia, and she'll give you the password right away. Access it and input the password---but you won't get any info about Ash. That's because ha ha! This isn't the real Gamma computer. Instead the face-statue on the far side of the room will open to reveal a new doorway. This will lead you to the actual computer that developed Ash... and it will activate the boobytrap of this floor, which is dozens of those little obnoxious critters you first met in the Uranium Plant. Kill them or not as you please. (If you have Red at Level 3, and they give you a chance, you can hit a bunch of them at once. Two swipes with lv. 3 Red will do it.) 19) Head through the face-door and down the corridor; there are more bubble-monsters here. Head into the "Last Galerian (LG) Programming Room", which is where Ash's development was completed. Lots of good items here. Scan the computer here and prepare yourself for another meeting with nuke-boy. Don't worry, though; it's not a boss-fight. You'll just get a chance to talk to him, and he'll explain to you his *real* plan at last. Wow, for a pretty boy, he sure looks scary here. (Note: This also confirms that Ash is a bodiless AI... and Rion will realize that all of his "meetings" with Ash have taken place in cyberspace. This raises the question: which is the real world, and which is the world of data? How can Rion know the difference? Also, did you notice the passwords needed to unlock Ash's computer? ANGER, SADNESS, and HATE. Pretty big clue as to what's motivating Ash.) Once Ash finishes his little psychotic tirade, you'll be zapped back into your "data body". This completes the mission of the whole Mushroom Tower sequence, so head back to Area I, use the bridge-unlocking computer there to connect to Dorothy's chamber (where Dorothy is gone, having been zapped into Ash's little cage), and through there head back out to the real world. ********** OH, CRAP. But Lilia is gone, despite her little speech about never leaving Rion again. Not good. Examine the room and you'll find no clues, but there are a few new items in here to collect. Try to leave the room and Pat will warn you that enemies are all over the building. Watch it because there's one in the Hyper Sleep chamber behind you, now. NOTE: After this, you will no longer be able to use the recharge spot in this chamber. Head downstairs and you'll begin to see why. The Galerians have clearly broken through the humans' defenses on every floor; there's been some heavy fighting and damage everywhere. You'll find no humans left alive (except Pat), and critters everywhere. The soldiers on the 4th floor have been turned into zombies. Situation very bad. What could have happened, and why didn't Lilia have a chance to warn you? As you head down to the 3rd Floor, Romero calls you and asks for help. He says he's in the Flight Control Office (1st floor). Head down to the first floor. As you approach the Flight Control Office, however, Pat will warn you that Romero has "taken" Lilia, and is in Hangar 2. Head there. Easiest way to go is through Warehouse 1. When you get to Hangar 2, you'll be attacked by some Super Rabbits. Before you go into the Air Beagle, head up to the balcony and pick up lots of good items. You're going to need them, because you're about to go back to... ********** URANIUM PLANT 2.0: FIND ROMERO Rion and Pat have an interesting little conversation. It seems that Rion has come to a new understanding about himself... but what does this mean? You'll start off outside the Air Beagle. TIP: If you go back into the Air Beagle, there's a recharge spot you can use. Head into the elevator and down to the Security Floor. Here begins another PITA (pain in the ass) mission: you've got to find Romero and Lilia. You're supposed to just wander around and fight things until you find them, which takes a long time, but you're in luck, because I've laid out everything here. ^_- 1) Rion gave us the first clue: Romero will head straight to Ash. So take the East/Mars door down to the System Control Room, which leads to the giant lift that heads down to the Waste Uranium Chamber. Approach the door that leads to the lift and you'll see a cut-scene. Romero will drag Lilia back out through the door you just came in by. 2) Follow him through that door and there'll be another brief cut-scene on the Security Level. He'll go through the South door. 3) Follow him through that door to the Control office, where you'll see the Jupiter door closing. 4) Head through the Jupiter Door into the Refining Line area. Head right, in the direction of the save spot, but instead of turning left after the platform to go to the save spot, turn right. Walk a few steps and you'll see another cut-scene. 5) Leave the Refining Line area and return to the Control office... where you'll lose Romero. He's gone through the door at the far end of the room, which leads to the Control Computer room. Go that way. 6) The big ugly thingies are here again. There's no point in killing them because you won't get a Skip this time, but if you want to kill them anyway, Breakaron does it in one blow. 7) Go through the planet door to reach the Management office, where you'll see another cut scene. Kill the wabbits, then head through the door Romero took back up to the Security Level. Once again you've lost him... 8) ...or you would have, if you weren't reading this FAQ. =P The North door is the only one you haven't been through yet, so go there. A little surprise Romero has left for you lets you know you're on the right track. More wabbits here. 9) Head through the door that leads to Enriched Uranium Storage. Poor Lilia should be practically glowing by now. You'll hear the door on the other end of the Enriched Uranium chamber close, so you know that's where you should go. 10) You'll end up back in the System Control Room. Try the door that leads to the lift-room, and it should open. If it doesn't (and you get a message saying Romero hasn't come this way yet), you've done something wrong and you're going to have to go find him. Take the lift down to the Storage Area elevator. As it stops you should hear the faint sound of one of the multiple doors in the Waste Uranium Chamber closing. Might want to use the save spot here before you go in, because you're about to face not one but *two* bosses... ********** BOSS BATTLE: ROBO-ROMERO After some discussion, Romero will attack you. He's pretty easy, and the battle will go in stages. 1) He'll shoot at you with his machine gun. Run around and hit him with Nalcon between shots. Don't get too close, or he'll pistol-whip you. TIP: Lock onto him and Nalk him once. He's slow to get up, so you'll have a chance to charge up and hit him again before he can get to his feet and attack you. Careful, though---he'll toss out little grenades from time to time. Roll to avoid them (keeping your lock on him). 2) Damage him enough and he'll suddenly morph into a Borg. Now he's got a shield, a lot more speed, a big power-blast, and two lasery things following him around. Lock onto him and circle him, rolling as needed to avoid the lasers and power-blasts. Take out the lasery things first (I think that's the only thing you can lock onto at first). 3) Once the lasery things are gone, Romero will begin attacking you physically. He alternates between simply punching you and a spinning sort of attack that will remind you unpleasantly of the second Parano fight. Roll to avoid his first attack, then (as you did with Parano) lock onto him, charging up Nalcon in the meantime. When he comes straight at you, let it loose. It won't take many hits to kill him. After the battle, Romero will confess why he did it... and he'll also explain that Lilia's only hope of surviving the radiation exposure she's suffered will be to be Borged by Ash. ********** After Romero's dead, there's a tender scene between Rion and Lilia. ::sniffle:: He'll call Pat to come and get Lilia (how, I wonder?) but then Ash will open the gateway to his secret chamber. Looks like Rion's earned his way to the final battle. Be sure to grab the Skip before you head down (and use it to level up your shield to 3, if you haven't already). You'll be permitted to save on your way down the steps, which is handy. ********** FINAL BATTLE: ASH 2.0 Here you enter the DT-Type Fusion Reactor and see Ash's only real "body" (the computer at the heart of the reactor). Scan the computer and Ash will tell you to bring it on. (Just to clarify---Rion has by now realized that all Galerians, himself included, are AIs. Some happen to have bodies, like he does; Ash is the only one who's never had a body. In choosing to discard his body, Rion has made the fateful decision to become a pure AI, like Ash.) Ash first asks Rion to join him; Rion naturally refuses. So now the battle commences. Like Romero, it will come in stages. Hope you've got a lot of Delmetor and your Shield up to Level 3; you're going to need both. Ash has a whole smorgasbord of basic attacks: -The "noise gun", which looks like black smoke. Shield against this; there's nothing else you can do. -The head-shot. Ash will shoot twin small lasers at you and set your head on fire. (I'm tempted to call this the "Michael Jackson", but that would be a cheap shot.) -The spinning slicey things. These little whirlygigs are pretty, but deadly. Shield against them; trying to dodge is risky. -The flat-beams. Ash precedes this one by spreading his arms out from side to side. Roll to the side so that you're not directly in front of him. Four or five beams will appear and slowly scissor together from above and below, slicing apart anything in their path. You can shield against it if caught, but this is also your best opportunity to hit him, so try not to get caught. -The corkscrew. Ash will send a corkscrewing beam at you. It's really fast; dodge it or shield against it if you can. Stage 1: Ash will use all of the above attacks against you, with a slight delay between each (most of the time). Lock onto him so you can see his gestures, which precede each attack. Power up and Nalk him between each one. I found that a pattern helped: Nalk him, roll, Nalk again, roll, and so on. When he sends the spinning red things at you, shield. When he fires the flat beams, roll to the side and hit him while he's vulnerable. Your shield will block any of his attacks. Stage 2: After a cut-scene in which we discover that there was only one Last Galerian after all (and just how crazy Ash really is), Ash will suck power from Dorothy in an effort to pull his mind back together. Then he'll start the *really* rough stuff. The strategy remains the same, but his attacks now will be faster, and will include all of the above attacks plus: -Kung Fu AI Style: Ash will teleport over to you and ball his hands into fists. That means you've got about a second to get your shield up before he starts a 6-hit combo attack that can beat you down to near 0 HP. -Sideways flat-beams. Same as the top-bottom flat beams, but side-to-side instead. -Negative world: Ash will turn the environment a different color, making it hard to see attacks (and his warning gestures). Nothing else will change, however, so fight and defend yourself as usual. -Nuke. Even though Ash doesn't really have a body, he still has the ability to unleash mini-nukes. But this time there's nowhere to run, so all you can do is shield against it. -Multiple head-shots. Same as before, except now he'll teleport around and shoot you from four directions. Dodge or shield. Also, Ash will float up and down relative to you. You can't hit him unless he's on your level or above you, so save your attacks when he's below you. He'll also combine attacks sometimes---whip out the kung fu attack while the red spinning things are still nearby, or shoot the corkscrew at you during the noise gun. Best strategy: patience. In spite of everything, Ash doesn't have anywhere near as many HP as Parano 2.0, so it doesn't take many direct hits to defeat him. Avoid or shield against his attacks, use Delmetor to take down your AP, and hit him only when you see a clear chance. It'll take a while with Nalcon (you can use Bustanor too, but you probably won't have enough), but eventually he'll die. ********* After a substantial beating, Ash will give up and tell Rion he's won. Rion will then reveal *his* true nature to Ash---not just a Galerian with a human mind, but an AI who has actually *become* the virus that can destroy Dorothy and her children. Cool. The lengthy scene that follows is the end of the game. (Fellow yaoi fans, thrill to the second kiss! =P ) After the credits, you'll get a summary of how you did. I don't know what the various rankings mean, sorry; I've gotten "C" rank both times that I played the game. If you played on Normal or Hard mode, you will also get a kind of "coda" scene after the credits in which we get to see Pat again, who grew up cute. =P And that's it. Hope you enjoyed Galerians: Ash, and hope this FAQ was helpful to you. I'm not going to revise this, so hopefully there are no glaring errors in it; please don't email me additional tips or anything like that. Hopefully someone else will write an FAQ that covers all that. If you're still confused about the story, I've also written a "Plot Analysis FAQ" here on GameFAQs which will hopefully answer some of your questions. =) Until Galerians 3!