Inuyasha - Juso no Kamen - JP edition Playstation 2 RPG Basic Controls FAQ Sandrock (sandrock@sandrockproductions.com) 0.1 Introduction Just a basic FAQ outlining the menus and controls of the JP release of Inuyasha - Juso no Kamen (Inuyasha - The Cursed Mask) on the PS2, and it's based on the information in the instruction booklet. So far, it's turning out to be a fairly decent RPG, especially for an anime-based title. If anything, it's definitely better than the previous RPG outing on the PS1. The basic premise of the story is simple - you play an original character (your choice of gender) whose family runs the Kururugi Shrine. Returning late from school on an important festival day, the character gets a scolding from his/her parents and is asked to fetch something from an old storehouse on the compound, only to fall through a time-slip in the floor, much like the well Kagome uses to travel between the modern world and Inuyasha's time. He finds himself in a forest in the Warring States era, and after meeting Inuyasha, Kagome, Shippou and Kaede, they set out to find a way to get him/her back to the modern world. 1.1 The Characters These descriptions are only partially translated from the profiles in the game instruction manual. I've added stuff in from the series. Player - A child of the Kururugi Shrine. While helping to prepare for the Sacrificial Dolls Festival (that's what I think it is), the player character was enveloped in a mysterious light as helost consciousness, falling through a time-slip into the Warring States era. He has the power to summon Shikigami. Inuyasha, Kagome and the rest are helping him/her find a way back to the modern world. Inuyasha - A powerful hanyou (half-demon) born of a grand dog youkai (demon) father and a beautiful human mother. His youkai blood gives him superhuman abilities - he possesses enourmous strength, speed and stamina, and is pretty hard to injure. He heals faster than normal humans, and his ears and nose are extremely sensitive, allowing him to sense things humans can't. Once a month, at night, his youkai powers recede and he becomes a normal human - something he tries to keep secret. His initial goal was to seek for the Shikon no Tama (the Sacred Jewel/Jewel of Four Souls), which had the power to turn him into a full youkai, but he was sealed by the priestess Kikyou who guarded the jewel. 50 years after his sealing, Kagome freed him from the spell, and together, they search for the shattered fragments of the Shikon no Tama. Inuyasha's weapon of choice is the Tessaiga, a sword made from one of his dead father's fangs. Note: no matter what the official translation, 'youkai' doesn't accurately translate as demon. Youkai are generic mythological creatures from Japanese lore that probably have more in common with the elves, gnomes,goblins and ogres of Western lore than with 'demons' as is generally understood. Kagome - In her third year of middle school, Kagome is a daughter of the Higurashi Shrine. On her fifteenth birthday, she fell through the Bone-Eater's Well in the shrine, activating a time-slip that let her travel between the modern world and the Warring States era of Japan. She is believed to be the reincarnation of the priestess Kikyou, and the Shikon no Tama was found in her body. Certain circumstances removed the jewel from within her and shattered it into fragments. Having unsealed Inuyasha from the tree, she formed an unlikely alliance with the hanyou to retrieve the scattered shards. Her spiritual powers have grown over time. Shippou - A kitsune youkai (fox demon) child. He lost his father to the Raijuu Kyoudai (Thunder Brothers) and stole some of the shikon fragments from Inuyasha and Kagome. After Inuyasha and Kagome helped Shippou avenge his father, he joined them on their journey to find the remaining shards. Sango - A daughter of a village of youkai exterminators, her main weapon is the deadly Hiraikotsu. Her village was destroyed by Naraku, and her family and friends were killed, except for her younger brother, Kohaku, who was revived by Naraku with a shikon fragment. She joins the team to avenge her village and to save her brother. Miroku - A Buddhist monk seeking to end a curse put on his family by Naraku. The curse created the 'Kazaana' (Wind Tunnel) in his left hand that acts like a black hole - while a useful weapon in the short term, the Kazaana will expand and suck him in eventually. Sesshoumaru - A full youkai, Sesshoumary is Inuyasha's elder half-brother. He considers Inuyasha, tainted with human blood, to be a disgrace and holds him in contempt. Outwardly cold and aloof, he spent a lot of time seeking out Tessaiga, only to discover that it had been left to Inuyasha by their father. After numerous failed attempts at taking the sword away from his hanyou brother (and losing an arm in the process), he seems to have set his sights elsewhere. Naraku - Formed by a merging of the thief Onigumo and lots of youkai, the evil hanyou Naraku was responsible for tricking Inuyasha and Kikyou into attacking each other 50 years ago, in an attempt to corrupt the Shikon no Tama. He was also responsible for creating Miroku's Kazaana and destroying Sango's village. Utsugi - An original game character. A person who wears a mask and whose true nature is unknown. Does he know the truth behind the player's activation of the time-slip? 2.1 Using the Controller Left Analog Stick (or directional pad): for selecting/choosing items, moving the player character (running) Circle button: talking (in villages), searching (villages, dungeons) Triangle button: opens the main menu (in villages and dungeons), opens the save menu (on the world map) Square button: Hold down while using the directional control or analog stick to make the character walk Cross button: cancel Start button: starting the game 3.1 Game Start After the opening animation, the title page will appear. There are three options (you'll need Japanese text support to see the Japanese characters). 3.2 さいしょから　- New Game Start a new game. You'll have to choose the gender of your player character and name him/her. After the prologue movie, the game will begin. 3.3 つぎきから - Continue Continue from the last point you saved. You'll need the 8MB PS2 Memory Card inserted in slot 1 to save game data. 3.4 おまけ - Extras 画像閲覧モード - Picture Gallery Mode 動画再生：　Movie Playback Gallery for movies (anime sequences) that you've encountered in the game so far. 静止画閲覧：　Still Picture Gallery Gallery for still pictures (from in-game events) that you've encountered in the game. 脚本再現モード - Scenario Playback Mode インターバルイベント - Interval Events Lets you playback cleared interval events. 不思議な畑イベント　- Mysterious Garden Events Lets you playback cleared Mysterious Garden events. 4.1 World Map 4.2 World Map View The crescent-moon shaped icons on the world map represent destinations you can travel to, while the dotted white lines represent roads that have been opened to you. When an exclamation mark (!) appears over your character at a destination point, it means there's a Main Event at that location. If a question mark (?) appears, it indicates an optional event not crucial to the main storyline. (Note: I'm not 100% sure, but it seems that if more than one ? mark appears at the same time, you can only choose one event) 4.3 Save Mode Pressing the Triangle button on the World Map brings up the Save menu. You can also save in dungeons if you encounter an "Oboeneko" - a memory cat save point. You can have up to 30 different saves. 5.1 Tools To use items and tools, open the main menu by pressing the Triangle button in a village/dungeon and select the first option (道具) on the left. Scroll through and use items accordingly. 6.1 Equipping Accessories All characters can equip accessories to increase their stats. To equip accessories, open the main menu by pressing the Triangle button in a village or dungeon and select the third option (装飾) from the left. Each character has three slots as shown in the top left corner, and the effects of accessories is shown in the top right (each stat is explained later in the FAQ). The list of available accessories appear below the three slots. NOTE: Not all characters can equip the same accessories. Some accessories can only be equipped by male characters and some by female characters. I haven't encountered any yet, but I'm presuming some items can only be equipped by humans and some only by youkai. 7.1 Dungeon/Village Map Views 7.2 Your character is represented on the map, naturally, and is followed by one of the characters in your party (the default is Inuyasha). You can change the character who follows you by accessing the Main Menu and choosing the fourth option (隊列) from the left. Using the Circle button, the character with the talisman-like symbol over their head is the character who appears on the map view with you. 7.3 Youki (youkai/demon energy) Youki appears in dungeons as little purple clouds floating about. If you touch one of these clouds, the chances of an enemy encounter increases. However, you can still encounter enemies outside a youki cloud, but the encounter rate is much lower. 7.4 Walking If you don't feel like running (default action by moving the control stick), hold down the Square button to walk. 7.5 The Circle button The Circle button is your friend in the Dungeon/Village View. Use it to talk to characters, to study signboards, and to pick up items (represented by a sparkling icon). 7.6 Resting You can usually rest at villages to regain your strength (HP). In most cases, you may need to pay a sum of money to rest. 7.7 Shops Each village has at least one shop, which sells healing items and accessories. 8.1 Battle Mode The battle mode is fairly simple. In the top right, you'll see a circular grid representing the order in which the characters move. When a character's icon reaches the front of the circle, it's his or her turn to move. After his/her turn, the character must complete another circle around the grid before his/her next move. How long it takes a character to complete a circle is dependent on his/her Agility stat (characters with higher agility complete the circle faster, so it's not uncommon to have Shippou overtaking Kagome, for example) At the bottom of the screen are your character stats, represented by a circular gauge surrounding a character portrait. The coloured bar taking up the left side of the portrait is your character's hit points (HP). You can't see the specific numbers (you need to press and hold the R1 button to bring up their numerical values), so it appears as though they all have the same HP. You'll only note the difference when a character gets hit (a smaller section of the gauge turns red when Inuyasha, who has more HP, gets hit, than if the original character gets hit, for example). In the bottom right corner of the portrait, you start off with three gem-like icons. Those represent your character's energy gauge (used for strong special attacks). Each gem represents 100 energy points, and it starts off empty. You build up a character's energy points during battle. A symbol will occasionally appear in the bottom left corner of the portrait (疲). This is the 'exhaustion' gauge. More on this later. If your character is afflicted with a status ailment, a symbol representing that ailment will appear in the top right corner of the portrait. You'll either need to use an item to cure it, or you can tough it out until the end of the battle (when most status ailments disappear) 8.2 Status Ailments: 毒： Poison. Character suffers HP damage after each turn. 睡眠： Sleep. Character falls asleep. 暗闇： Darkness. Affects attack accuracy. 混乱： Confusion. Lose control of a character for a period of time. 封印： Seal. Skills command cannot be used. 8.3 Battle Commands These are the commands found in the top left corner of the battle screen. 戦う： 1st option. Attack. Character performs a basic attack. 技： 2nd option. Skills. Characters can use various skills. Your characters start out with no skills, but they can be learned along the way. There are three types of skills. 通常技：　Regular Skills. These skills aren't very powerful, but they don't require energy points (気力) to be performed. You can use them as long as your character isn't fatigued. Watch for the 疲 symbol in the bottom left corner of your character portrait. Each time you use a regular skill, the symbol appears and slowly disappears. When it disappears, you can use regular skills again. The more you use a regular skill, the longer it takes the symbol to disappear. Regular skills that you get early on include Inuyasha's "sankon tessou"/iron reaver (散魂鉄爪）　and "hijin kessou" /claws of blood (飛刃血爪) attacks. Some attacks affect one target, and some affect all targets. Some are healing or defensive skills. 必殺技: Deathblow Skills. These are much more powerful skills. These skills use energy points, and most basic skills start off by using 100 energy points (one gem icon will vanish from the gauge). Inuyasha's first Deathblow Skill is the 'kaze no kizu'/ wind scar (風の傷） attack. Some attacks affect one target, and some affect all targets. 連携技：　Cooperative Skills. Two or more characters can combine attacks to form more powerful ones. Both characters will use up energy points for this attack. 8.3 Learning Skills Skills can be learned in two ways. Regular and Deathblow Skills are learned by gaining experience points and leveling up in battles. Cooperative Skills, however, can only be learned by cultivating good relationships between your characters (through event sequences). Characters who form friendships can use combination attacks. 道具： 3rd option. Items. Use to select healing or defensive items from your Tools menu. 守る： 4th option. Defend. Use to reduce damage to your character. 逃げる： 5th option. Escape. Attempt to escape from battle. 9.1 Interval Mode During your journey, you'll come across occasions where there will be a brief interval period. During these intervals, your characters take a short break, and you can use this opportunity to let your characters have conversations with each other, which is crucial to building up their relationships, so that they can learn Cooperative Skills. Characters with sufficient relationship points can learn to use Cooperative Skills. Among the possible combinations you can try: Original Character + Inuyasha: The original character's Shikigami powers can help strengthen Inuyasha's sword, Tessaiga. A blue light envelops Tessaiga, helping it to crush enemies with even more ease. Inuyasha + Kagome: Inuyasha's "kaze no kizu" and Kagome's "hama no ya" (spiritual arrows) combine into a powerful attack that strikes their enemies. Miroku + Sango: Miroku's "affection" (the original word used is 'raburabu action', or love-love action. I think we know what this is ^_^) enrages Sango and increases her attack power, making Hiraikotsu even more powerful. 10.1 The Mysterious Garden During your journey, you'll find mysterious seeds and fertilisers that can be used in the Mysterious Garden (located in Kaede's village - the screen with the plantation). These items can be grown into items you can use. The item varies, depending on the seed and fertiliser used. Examples are: 空色の種　＋　獣の牙　＝　薬草 Sky-blue Seed + Animal Fang = Medicinal Herb (restores HP) 漆色の種　＋　獣の牙　＝　ユキノシタ Purple Seed + Animal Fang = Yuki no Shita (strawberry geranium) 紅色の種　＋　桜の枝　＝　おいしい実 Red Seed + Sakura Branch = Tasty Fruit 11.1 Main Menu I've already covered the Tools and Accessories menu, plus how to change the order of characters earlier on in the FAQ, but there are a few other things in the main menu. At the top left is the name of the place you're currently at. Next to it is: 11.2 The Destiny Gauge (運気) Can't think up a better name for this. It appears in the top middle part of the main menu, and it changes as the game progresses as conditions are fulfilled, and based on your battle results. Some of the titles appear based on Buddhist concepts. Among the possible statuses: 極楽浄土：　Pure Paradise. Your characters have good luck - they'll have a lot of preemptive strikes in battle and will have lots of critical hits when they attack. In this state, there's also a higher evasion rate for encounters. 他力本願： Translates roughly as "Relying on the faith of others (and Buddha) to be saved". Your characters will have more critical attacks (not as many as in Pure Paradise), and have a higher chance of evading enemy attacks. There's also a high chance of random preemptive attacks in your party's favour. 平々凡々: Nothing Out Of the Ordinary. No special advantages or disadvantages. 波乱万丈：　A Lot of Ups and Downs. Before each battle, the Destiny Gauge will randomly reset itself temporarily to either Pure Paradise (above) or 難行苦行 (explained below). 難行苦行: Penance. Your characters have bad luck - surprise attacks against them will go up, hit rate and evasion rate go down. Below the Destiny Gauge is the amount of money you currently have, and the time you've spent playing the game. 11.3 Characters In the middle of the Main Menu are your characters, plus their HP and energy meters. Below them are the four menu options, explained above, except for the Status option, explained below. 11.4 Status (状態) The status option gives detailed information about the stats of your characters. To make the game fairer, the characters have been balanced out somewhat, so Inuyasha seems a lot weaker than he is in the series (though his stats are generally still far above the others), while Shippou appears somewhat stronger. 段位　- Level - Your character's current level. 経験値 - EXP Needed - How many experience points the character needs to reach the next level. 体力 - HP(hit points) - Determines how strong your character's body is. 気力 - Energy Points - Build this up to use Deathblow Skills. 攻撃力 - Attack- Determines how hard your character physically hits. 防御力 - Defense - Determines how tough your character is against attacks. 行動力 - Agility - Determines how fast your character moves. 集中力 - Concentration - Determines evasion of enemy attacks. 精神力 - Mental - Determines the power of spiritual attacks. 装備 - Accessories - Lists the accessories currently equipped. 12. END That's it. ^_^ comments and questions to sandrock@sandrockproductions.com This FAQ may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. Inuyasha (c) 2000 Rumiko Takahashi, Shougakukan, Yoimuri Television, Sunrise Inuyasha: Juso no Kamen (c) 2004 Bandai All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. This FAQ is unofficial.