Onimusha II: Samurai's Destiny--Yagyu Sword Game Challenge FAQ (Hard Mode) --By Hyprophant. Hyproempress@yahoo.com --Version 1.01, 10/20/2002 LEGAL DISCLAIMER: This FAQ is for PERSONAL USE only, copyrighted 2002 to me, Hyprophant. You are NOT allowed to post this FAQ on your websites, magazines or any other form of public medias without contacting ME and receiving MY permission. If the permission IS granted, you may use this FAQ for your sites, but you have to leave this FAQ as a .txt file and you will NOT be allowed to change any single word in this FAQ. REMEMBER, I, HYPROPHANT, am the only one who could make any change in this FAQ legally. If you cannot agree those statements above, then the best remedy for you is not to use this FAQ. DO NOT dare to violate this disclaimer. If you did violate this disclaimer anyway and I spot your action, I will pursue the legal rights and make you regret it. NOTE TO WEBMASTERS: Once this FAQ is posted, the new version should be updated every two weeks before the final version is completed. If you are allowed to use this FAQ on your site, it is YOUR duty to check GameFaqs' Onimusha II FAQ board and update the most current version, if you cannot keep this FAQ current, then you may forget about using it. Translating this FAQ into other languages besides English is absolutely forbidden except those following languages: Spanish, Japanese and Chinese, since I cannot read any other language besides these three languages and English. And you must receive my permission first as well. Once you received the permission of translating this FAQ to any foreign language, you must translate this FAQ word by word, and let me view it first before it is posted. Version History: Version 1.0. 10/26/02: The first Yagyu Sword game challenge FAQ was released to public. Version 1.01 11/8/02: The Basic movements section is completed; and I have decided to add strategies of completing Green/purple Phantom Realm to this FAQ as an appendix, and it will be completed in the next version; added few more frequently asked questions. ********************* ************** Table Of Contents How Far Down ********************* ************** I. Preface 1/50 II. Basic movements 2/50 III. General Strategies 3/50 --Explanation of general strategies 4/50 IV. Basic Issen Tips 6/50 V. Yagyu Sword Game Walkthrough 7/50 --Yagyu Village 7/50 --Imasho Town 8/50 --Imasho Gold Mine 9/50 --Ginghamphatts: First Match 10/50 --Imasho Town: Revisited 12/50 --Imasho Gold Mine: Revisited 13/50 --Gifu Castle 14/50 --Gogandantes: First Match 16/50 --Imasho Town: Third Visit 17/50 --Yagyu Village: Revisited 18/50 --Fog Valley 19/50 --Kotaro Helps 20/50 --Red Phantom Realm 20/50 --Blue Phantom Realm 21/50 --Ginghamphatts: Second Match 22/50 --Rocky Caverns 24/50 --Jojodormah 25/50 --Gongandantes: Second Match 27/50 --Oni Palace (Oyu) 28/50 --Oni Palace: Bridge 29/50 --Gifu Castle: Star Tower 31/50 --Gifu Castle (Ekei) 32/50 --Gifu Castle: Revisited 34/50 --Demon Cave: Magoichi 34/50 --Oni Palace: Blood Pond 36/50 --Gogandantes: Final Match 36/50 --Oni No Genbu 38/50 --Gifu Castle: The Finale 39/50 --Demon Base: Jubei's revenge 40/50 --Ginghamphatts: Final Match 40/50 --Oda Nobunaga 41/50 --Golden Evil Statue 46/50 VI. Frequently Asked Questions 48/50 VII. Appendix: Green/Purple Phantom Realm VIII. Credit/Thanks 50/50 WARNING!!! SPOILERS AHEAD I. Preface Again, here is another "challenge" FAQ done by Hyprophant. I developed this Yagyu Sword Game FAQ for those players who are confident about their gaming skill and willing to attempt a Yague Sword Game in order to seek another achievement and the most strategic playing of Onimusha II. A "Yagyu Sword Game" is like the Normal Sword game of the first Onimusha, your should prevent your main character from using any powerful magical sword other than the sword he equipped at the beginning, and guns/arrows will be allowed to use in order to help the main character in this game. However, I am warning the audiences here first: If you don't use your guns/arrows wisely, you will still screw your Yagyu Sword Game up easily. Abusing them is not anywhere close to the solution of a Yagyu Sword Game, advanced strategies and excellent combat skills are highly required. I composed this FAQ as a guide of a Yagyu Sword Game in HARD MODE, ultimate mode off in order to help advanced players who are willing to attempt this challenge. If you think doing a Yagyu Sword Game in hard mode is too difficult for you and you decided to go for the normal mode first, you can still use this guide to help to complete your game and you will find that it is much easier than what this FAQ described. For a quick search for strategies of a specific boss, press Control + F bottom, and input the name of the boss. It will lead you to the information you are looking for quickly. If you wish to contact me, you may use the E-mail address shown above and leave your messages in my e-mail box. In many of my other FAQs, I warned audiences that I won't reply any game playing questions through e-mail, but this game is an exception. You are free to ask me game playing questions through e-mail and I will apply as soon as I see your message. Also, if you find any major error or something you think this FAQ should be improved, you can e-mail me as well. If I accept your ideas, I will post it on the next update and the credit goes to you. But DO NOT criticize this FAQ. Do not tell me that this FAQ is useless. I didn't see you write one. II. Basic movements This section is to help players review the vital movements in a Yague Sword game. I am only going to input Jubei's movements at this point right now. Sub-characters' movements will be updated in the next version. Yagyu Jubei: --Attack: Square bottom. --Defend: L1 bottom. --Dash: Press up twice to dash forward; and press down twice to dash backward. --Side walk/dash: R1 + direction bottom/pressing direction bottom repeatedly. This movement is EXTREMELY vital, you must master this movement in order to finish a Yague Sword game in hard mode. --Turning around: R2 bottom. It allows Jubei change his direction quickly. --Kick: Square bottom + down bottom. IMPORTANT!!! --Upward slash: R1 + up bottom + square bottom. It can knock some enemies down and maybe fairly useful, but I don't use it often. --Rush attack: Up bottom + square bottom. It allows Jubei rush toward to an enemy and knock it down, it also has longer range than other Jubei's attacks. It is an useful movement. Onimusha Transformation: Every time Yagyu Jubei collects five purple orbs, he will transform to Onimusha, which is much more powerful than his human form, and few additional moves are only available in Onimusha form. --Onimusha attack: Press triangle bottom. Jubei will shoot five Oni orbs to all opposing targets. This attack is extremely powerful, but it also reduces Jubei's transformation period. Ekei Ankokuji: --Attack: Square bottom --Defend: L1 bottom. --Side walk/dash: R1 + direction bottom. --Kick: Square bottom + down bottom. --Horizontal Slash: Up bottom + square bottom. It allows Ekei knock the enemies down. --Charm attack: Press L2 bottom for throwing a charm on a single target, and press L2 again and Ekei will blow the charm up. Also note that in order to raise the accuracy of throwing charms, you must press R1 and L2 bottom together or Ekei will miss the targets most of the time. --Stop attack: Ekei's special attack. Press Triangle bottom to use this attack. It deals small damage on all opposing targets with certain range, and stops the enemies. It won't stop red bullhead monsters. Fuma Kotaro: --Attack: Square bottom --Defend: L1 bottom --Side walk/dash: R1+ direction bottom. --Kick: Square bottom + down bottom. Kotaro will not be able to kick any type of enemies down. --Charge attack: Up bottom + square bottom. It allows Kotaro push a single target away and knocks it down. --Shuriken: Press L2 bottom and Kotaro will shoot five shurikens at once. --Stealth attack: Kotaro's special attack. Press triangle bottom to use this attack. It crates an illusion on the spot that Kotaro uses stealth attack and draws enemies' attention. You can have the "real" Kotaro attack the enemies while they are confused by the illusion. Saiga Magoichi: --Stab attack: Square bottom --Shot: R1 + square bottom. It is Magoichi's main attack. --Defend: L1 bottom --Side walk/dash: R1 + direction bottom. --Kick: Square bottom + down bottom. --Flash bomb: Use it by pressing L2 bottom, this attack has a very short range, it is only good if Magoichi is surrendered. --Rapid fire: Magoichi's special attack. Press triangle bottom to use this attack. It allows Magoichi shoot constantly with very short reloading time by holding square bottom. Oyu: --Attack: Square bottom. --Defend: L1 bottom. --Side Walk/Dash: R1 + direction bottom --Kick: Square bottom + down bottom. Oyu won't be able to kick most of enemies down unless she has hard boots equipped. --Throwing dagger: L2 bottom. In order to raise the accuracy, you have to use this attack in conjunction with R1 bottom. --Ready Charge: Oyu's special attack. Press triangle bottom to use this attack. It does not increase Oyu's attack power much, but forces your enemies drop soul every time they are damaged by Oyu's ready charge. III. General Strategies Since your magical sword is not allowed to use in a Yague Sword only game, you must plan ahead before you can do anything In order to survive all those tough battles. In Onimusha II, Jubei has four friendly allies, and they have weapons that are much stronger than Yague Sword; they can still use powerful magical attack since a Yague Sword game does not have any limit on them, so pick your best friend carefully and let him/her handle as many battles as possible will be a basic combating method that could apply to many part of this game. However, this concept alone is not going to help you any in your Yague Sword game, in order to complete it in HARD mode, you need more advanced strategies. If I want to beat a Yagyu Sword game with minimal effort, then I have to: --Practice Issen against certain enemies and few bosses. --Save herbs/medicines for the boss fight. --Get one power jewel from each ally. --Get as many medicines/herbs/secret medicines as you can from each ally. --Get as many bullets as possible from allies, it is possible to have 99 bullets. --Raise friendship value with everyone, especially Fuma Kotaro and Saiga Magoichi. --Magoichi MUST BE YOUR BEST FRIEND. --Upgrade Jubei's armors as soon as possible. --Acquire White Necklace from the shop owner in Imasho Town. --Knowing all bosses' attack style and figure out the strategies to avoid their attack. --Avoid combats that are not necessary. --Let your friends handle some boss battles for you. --Once you save at the magic mirror, quit the game and reset it immediately, and the enemies around the magic lamp area will be gone. --Kicking enemies down and stabbing them on the floor rock sometimes if you use this tip at the right place. +-----------------------------------+ + Explanation of general strategies + +-----------------------------------+ --Practice Issen against certain enemies and few bosses: Issen is the most powerful move that Jubei could perform, and it can be performed with any type of weapon. If you issen an enemy, it will drop more souls and at least one YELLOW SOUL and you will be able to recover Jubei's vitality without using herbs/medicines. Against bosses, issen attack is a good way to reduce enemies' vitality quickly, especially against Gogandantes and Nobunaga. For more details about issen move, refer to section III for more advanced strategies; and you can find out how to issen bosses in Section IV. Don't get me wrong at this point though, issen is NOT REQUIRED to complete a Yagyu Sword game in hard mode. All enemies can be defeated without issen if your dodging skill is good enough. Strategic playing is the key, and issen could be a great help if you know how to perform it properly. --Save Herbs/Medicines for bosses fight: You are not allowed to use more than three medicines besides boss fights, especially if you are playing hard mode, which is this FAQ about. Any time you feel Jubei's vitality is too low and you cannot issen some easy enemies anywhere to recover his vitality, reset the game. --Get one power jewel from each ally: It will help you extend Jubei's maximum vitality. You have to give each ally their favorite items in order to acquire power jewels from them. Ankokuji Ekei: His favorite things are drink and food. SO if you give those items to him like Vodka, he may give you a power jewel as return. Also, some funny stuff like Tangu Mask could please him very well, too. Fuma Kotaro: He likes rare stuff, and that is it. Although he told you that he likes simple stuff as well, but except some specific items, rare items/imported items still works much better on him. Saiga Magoichi: He likes to read, so giving him books should be one of the best choice as your gifts to him, however, he still likes some other things like Pipe and Dice. Personally, I would recommend giving him Dice and reload the game over and over 'till he gives you a power jewel. Oyu: She likes girly thing, it should be obvious for you to tell. Also, if you give Rouge to her, she will give you Magoichi's best armor-Private Custom. Note: The item "Pair Ring" is a top rank item for anyone, you may use this item for exchanging a power jewel, and the one receives this item will most likely to be your best friend. You MUST give this item to Magoichi. More detailed about gift exchanging will be listed in section IV. --Get as many herb/medicines/ secret medicines as possible from the allies: You will need them for BOSS FIGHTS, and you must NOT use them in any other case, but sometimes maybe you are allowed to use one or two medicines/herb if Jubei is really close to death, but try to consider using herbs/medicines as your last option, since you can always issen enemies or using white necklace to recover Jubei's vitality. You can acquire Secret medicines from each ally if you give them their best armors (not sold in shop). Also, if you meet Kotaro before you enter the Gold Mine and you give him a globe, he will give you a secret medicine for return. You can acquire medicines from your allies by giving them their favorite items: As I stated before, giving your allies' favorite items may give you a power jewel, but it may also give you a magic jewel, a medicine or some normal bullets. The odd is completely random. Also, remember that you can only receive one power jewel and one magic jewel from each character, but you may receive as many medicines as you want, as long as you have items in the inventory. Also there is a chance that you will receive normal bullets. I recommend save before you giving away gifts, if you think that you got too many bullets and only few medicines, reset your game. **Raise friendship value with everyone, especially Fuma Kotaro and Sagai Magoichi: You may need those two characters to carry you through certain tough part of this game, their movements look cool, too! **Magoichi must be your best friend: Yes, you have to admit it. He is the strongest among all four allies because of his attack range and speed. Also, you will need him to carry you through the Demon Cave part. Are you planning on fighting two bullhead monsters and one Bullhead King with Yague Sword? Unless your issen skill is really top to none and you really want a challenge so bad. Remember: Enemies in hard mode are MUCH HARDER to be issened. **Upgrade Jubei's Armor as soon as possible: It is a common sense that you will have higher chance to be damaged by your enemies in a Yague Sword game, since it may take you longer time to kill an enemy, so upgrade Jubei's armor in the early part of the game will help you a lot. Jubei equips three types of armor at the beginning of the game-Yague Armor that presents the major defense power of Jubei; Foot armor that increases the power of kicking, and I assume it increase Jubei's backward dashing speed; and arm armors that increases the speed and the power of charging weapons. Since you cannot charge Yague Sword, so arm armor is the least important among all three kinds of armor. You have to upgrade other two first. If you are playing hard mode, before you go to Gifu Castle from the Gold Mine, you have to have Yague Armor level two (max will be ideal), arm armor level one or two and foot armor MAX. A powerful foot armor will allow Jubei to kick almost any kind of enemies down to the floor, and you will have to use this technique to pass few unavoidable fights in Gifu castle, guaranteed. **Acquire White Necklace from the shop owner in Imasho Town: This item allows Jubei restore his vitality automatically when he is standing still, not useful during the combat but it is useful BEFORE the combat. In order to acquire this item, you have to buy all the goods in the shop then talk to the owner twice. ** Knowing all bosses' attack styles and figure out the strategies to avoid their attack: See Section IV. You will find extremely detailed bosses strategies there. **Avoid combats that are not necessary: You only need souls that are enough to upgrade all armors to the maximum level, after that, any combat is not necessary except boss battles or some battles you cannot escape. **Let your friends handle some bosses battle for you: This tip will apply well to the battle against Ginghamphatts and Jujudormah. More details will be displayed in section IV. **Once you save at the magic mirror, quit the game and reset it immediately, and the enemies around the magic lamp area will be gone: Around certain magic mirrors you will encounter large group of enemies, and you could avoid the fight by saving the game first, then reset the game. Once you are back into the game again, all the enemies around the magic mirror will be gone and you can avoid major lose of vitality. ** Kicking enemies down and stabbing them on the floor rock sometimes if you use this tip at the right place: It is good against fighting FEW large monsters at once. With foot armor level max, you can keep kicking them down and stabbing them on the floor. NOTE: This trick takes you a long time to perform and should not be used while there are more than two enemies in front of you. IV. Basic Issen Tips. First of all, you have to keep this in mind that Issen is not the key of completing this challenge. Since the issen timing is more critical in hard mode, you will have trouble issening many larger enemies like bone warriors or blue/yellow guardians. All bosses can be defeated without issen if the strategies are used properly. However, issen does play an important rule in a Yague Sword game, especially in hard mode. By issening enemies, you can always absorb yellow souls to recover Jubei's vitality. It will definitely reduce the using of herbs and medicines. I will only list few enemies that you should know how to issen, for other enemies, I highly recommend running away from them unless the walkthrough section instructs. Also, this section does not provide any tip of Hajiki Issen. If you want to learn more about issen attack, please refer to Red777777's Issen FAQ for more valid and detailed information. The enemies you must learn how to issen are listed below: --Blue Oda soldiers: Press square bottom after the raise their sword above their heads. You can also issen them be pressing square bottom while they are rushing toward to Jubei. --Red Oda Soldiers: Press square bottom after they attack and about to hit Jubei. You may need some practice if you are not used to issen enemies, since the issen timing in hard mode is more critical. --Oda archers: Move close to them and they will use their sword instead of bows. The rest is then same as blue Oda soldiers. --Lizard soldiers: ONLY issen them when they after they inhale and press square bottom right before they perform stab attack. The timing is vary depends on what kind of lizard soldier is. --Spiky Demons: Issen them when they are using rolling attack and very close to Jubei. --Core insects: Sometimes they will fly slowly toward to Jubei, if they do so, press square bottom when they are getting close to Jubei. The timing of issening core insects is very loose and easy to control. That's about all you need. V. Yague Sword Game Walkthrough. NOTE: As I said it before, and I say it here again. This walkthrough is based on a Yague Sword game in HARD mode, ultimate mode OFF. If you are playing as normal mode, you can still follow this FAQ and it will make your game even easier. I am not going to describe ANYTHING that is not directly related to a Yague Sword game, like the locations of Art Work/History books or something like them. This section is purely and solely for strategic discussions how to complete a Yague Sword game. If you are really interested in all those side quests, then you are reading the wrong FAQ. Let's get it started. +---------------+ + Yague Village + +---------------+ --Jubei starts at Yague Village, save the game first. He will after a cut scene, he will encounter three blue Oda soldiers, issen them quickly. --IN the next area you Jubei will encounter several blue Oda soldiers and one archer, the archer will make this fight tough. Ignore all the enemies and process to the next area, don not worry about the treasure box, Jubei will come back here later. --When you reach the pond, there is a treasure box with a herb inside, don't miss it. --Go deep inside the cave and acquire a Charity Orb and a Play Instruction and pick up the treasure inside the treasure box. --Issen all the enemies on the way Jubei out of the cave, remember it is dangerous to fight more than three soldiers at the same time, especially if you are playing hard mode. --Don't forget to absorb the souls inside the status at the entrance of the cave. --Get Buraitou outside the cave. +-------------+ + Imasho Town + +-------------+ NOTE: You DO NOT have to give away all the items right now, just be sure to give them before Jubei meet Jujudormah at the third visit of Imasho Town. And I do recommend get power Jewel as soon as possible, if you want to use the limited items to get three power jewels from Kotaro, Ekei and Magoichi before you enter Gold Mine, you may have to reset the game a lot. Remember they will only give you a power jewel for return if you give them their favorite item. --Shop and gift tips: Egg: 50 Gold. Do not give it to anyone yet. Grilled Fish: 150 Gold. Give it to Ekei. Salt: 50 Gold. Give it to anyone you want. I would prefer Ekei. Vodka: 300 Gold. Give it to Ekei. Conch Shell: 300 Gold. Give it to Magoichi. Magnetic Compass: 300 Gold. Give it to Kotaro. Plant Book: 200 Gold. Give it to Magoichi History Book 5: 100 Gold. Give it to Magoichi. Blue Parrot: 500 Gold. Give it to Magoichi. Wonder Flower: 200 Gold. Give it to anyone you want. Art Work # 16: 100 Gold. This is just for your collection. --After some events, talk to everyone in the town and check every treasure box. You should find a Tangu Mask (for Ekei), a Globe (for Kotaro), a pipe (for Magoichi) and an Ancient Document. --Enter the building that is close to the exit of Imasho Town and pick up a bow and cloth there. --Save your game and head to Imasho Gold Mine, you will counter some Oda's soldiers (blue and red), issen all of them and absorb their souls. Here is a good chance to practice your issen skill, and you will find a treasure box that contains a telescope inside. (for Kotaro) --When Jubei reached Gold Mine, a mean looking guy prevent him from entering the mine because Jubei does not have the permit. Go back to Imasho Town, issen all the enemies on your way. --You will meet Ekei and Magoichi in Imasho Town. After the events, talk to two guys outside the building Jubei got bow from, then go back to the second floor of the restaurant where Magoichi and Ekei are and you will meet Kotaro. Save your game and start to give them some gifts. For all items you could possibly have right now, it is pretty hard to get a power jewel from Magoichi, pipe works sometimes. You MAY get power jewel from Ekei by giving him Vodka or Grilled Fish; power jewel from Kotaro by giving him a Magnetic Compass. If you are so deemed to get power jewels before the Imasho Gold Mine, you may have to reset your game over and over. Giving Globe to Kotaro and you will receive a secret medicine from him, but this method only applies to Kotaro if you meet him before Jubei enters the Imasho Gold Mine. Also, try to use pipe to get Rouge from Magoichi if you want, it will become Magoichi's best armor later; but if you don't do it right now, you can still do it later with other items, every Magoichi's favorite item could lead you to Rouge. The last thing I recommend here is to give all the books you have to Magoichi and hold other items, do not give them away too quickly so you can ensure that Magoichi will be your partner in Imasho Gold Mine. Having Magoichi in Imasho Goldmine is completely optional, but it is the best choice, I must say. --Talk to the guy lying on the second floor three times and you will receive a History Book #9 from him. --Go back and forth between Imasho town and Gold Mine and issen Oda soldiers to absorb their souls. You should level Yague Armor to at least level two, and foot armor to the maximum. --It is better if you have more than 10,000 Gold in your account right now. --Once everything is prepared, save your game, spend 100 Gold to buy a Mountain Permit and head to Imasho Gold mine. +-------------------+ + Imasho Gold Mine + +-------------------+ --Pick up History Book #4 at the entrance of the mine and other treasures as well, then save your game. --Go to the right path and go deep inside, you will encounter some alligator soldiers, use issen to kill all of them quickly, here is a good chance to absorb some extra souls. --You will enter a narrow path and you will find out that the entrance and the exit are sealed by some strange red light. You will have to defeat all the lizard soldiers in order to process forward. FIGHT: Green Lizard Soldiers They are just many, but not powerful. You should not have trouble in this part. Since they are likely gathered in a small area, an issen could take three or four of them at the same time. If you really cannot issen them easily, Magoichi should be here to help, so you can just stay away from the enemies and have Magoichi take care of everything for you. --Process deeper inside and get Hyoujin-Yari. --Go to the place that is locked by a white seal, you should see a cut scene with Ekei and Magoichi there. Use Hyoujin-Yari there. --Save at the magic lamp in the next area. Don't forget to grab the medicine inside the treasure box. --If Jubei's vitality is too low, you can go back to the previous room and issen some Lizard Soldiers there to recover Jubei's vitality, this is entirely optional. **************************************************************************** BOSS: Ginghamphatts-First Match **************************************************************************** Ginghamphatts' is a violent monster with for legs and a huge axe as his weapon, you may have an easy fight here before, but in a Yagyu Sword only game, you will have a lot of trouble in this battle, even if you have received three Power Jewels from Kotaro, Ekei and Magoichi, he could still process a major threat in this game, don't underestimate him just because he is the first boss. Ginghamphatt has two forms: In his first form, his major attacks are: Axe stab, vertical slash, horizontal slash, upward attack, cross slash, breath attack, jump attack and charge attack. Ginghamphatt's Axe stab deals medium amount damage on Jubei; his horizontal slash deals about the same amount of damage as his axe stab attack, but it has longer range. His vertical slash deals HEAVY damage on Jubei, and it will knock Jubei on the floor if Jubei failed to defend and allow Ginghamphatt have another chance to attack while Jubei is lying on the floor. If you are hit by this attack, the best thing you could do is to smash t-pod and have Jubei rolling around on the floor to avoid Ginghamphatt's next attack. Ginghamphatt's upward attack can be blocked, but this attack is very quick, if you are too close to him, you won't have time to react when you spot that Ginghamphatt is going to use upward attack. This attack deals medium amount of damage and will blow Jubei away to a certain distance from Ginghamphatt. Ginghamphatt's cross slash is one of his most deadly attack-it is a combination of horizontal slash and vertical slash. This attack hits Jubei twice in a row and Jubei will NOT be able to block the second wave of this attack if he defended the first wave in close range. If Jubei is out of Ginghamphatt's attack range, Ginghamphatt sometimes uses breath attack to suck Jubei from afar to close to him, and followed by a vertical slash. All you have to do is to defend his vertical slash, this attack just looks scary, but it won't really harm you if you know what you are doing. Ginghamphatt's charge attack is on of the most annoying attack. It could hit Jubei twice in a row in a close range, which means you can not defend this attack if Jubei is too close to Ginghamphatt. Ginghamphatt needs less than half second to use this attack, so it is very hard to predict if he is going to charge or not, in order to spot and avoid his charge attack, some practice may be required. You can avoid this attack by using R1 + direction bottom properly. Ginghamphatt rarely uses jump attack in his first form, but if he does use this attack, it is hard to avoid sometimes because he does not aim for the exact spot that Jubei is located. There is no guarantee that you could avoid this attack if you move away from the place you are currently standing, and Ginghamphatt's jump attack deals heavy damage on Jubei, too. Remember: I am talking about HARD mode. Ginghamphatt transform to the second form every time Jubei (and his ally) deals enough damage on him, hits him enough times or Jubei survives certain amount of time. Ginghamphatt will look much bigger than what he originally was. He mainly uses jump attack in his second form, and every time he jumps, there will be some falling rocks because of the impact from his jumping attack. Those rocks cannot deal too much damage on Jubei, but they are quite annoying. Ginghamaphatt rarely uses upward attack and slashes in his second form. He will return to his first form if Jubei (and his ally) deals enough damage on him or survive certain amount of time. Since you are playing a Yagyu Sword game, this battle requires good combat skill and some luck, you will die many times, so be patient and don't smash your controller like I did. Ginghamphatt always starts this battle by using a vertical slash at the beginning and it won't hurt Jubei. Use Yagyu Sword slash him twice and dash back away from him. After that try to run toward to him, and dash back immediately when he is attacking, then move forward again and slash him two to three times right after he finish an attack-it is a common sense of most of action games-your enemies' weakest moment is right after they finish a move. Do not attempt to hit him more than three times because it will take Jubei a long time and he won't be able to pull away from Ginghamphatt if he uses a cross slash-as I stated before, in close range, you won't be able to defend the second wave attack of the cross slash. Ginghamphatt may still attempt Jubei with vertical slash while Jubei is not close enough to him. If you see Ginghamphatt attacks from afar and he is most likely to reach Jubei, you must block immediately and pull away from him as soon as possible. Jubei will be stunned for a short moment every time he successfully defend an attack, and it leaves you no time to rush toward to Ginghamphatt, slash him twice and pull back. If you insist to do it, then prepare to have some taste of his cross slash. If Ginghamphatt uses vertical slash while Jubei is close to him, that is your best chance to attack-Issen dance works prefect in this case. Use R1+ direction bottom to move around him quickly so you can avoid this attack, then hit square bottom just when his axe almost reaches the ground and you will issen him. Even if you failed, don't worry, Ginghamphatt has to spend a long time to charge his next attack after his vertical slash, it leaves you a chance to slash him more than four times, still sounds good to me. You should have Jubei defend when Ginghamphatt uses breath attack because it is always followed by a vertical slash and it will hit Jubei for sure. Pull away from him when you block his attack. Ginphamphatt's jump attack in his first form is hard to avoid sometimes, but you may still be able to avoid this attack by looking at his shadow carefully, all you have to do is to pull Jubei away from his shadow. Also, pray that he does not use charge attack too often in this battle because it is a deadly attack. If he abuses it, you are probably going to lose anyway since this attack is too fast, and too powerful, especially in hard mode. During Ginghamphatt's second form, he most likely abuses jump attack- the safest spot is standing between his legs. That's where the falling rocks cannot reach. If he jumps, simply move forward/R1 + direction bottom to get away from his shadow, either way is fine. And run back between his legs to avoid the falling rocks and slash him. Block if he uses his axe to attack Jubei. Sometimes Ginghamphatt's tires to "trick" you-he jumps upside down in the same spot, if you use the tactic listed above: Moving forward/R1+ direction bottom, you will be hit either way. You must dash back if he just simply jumps upside down at the same place. You must try to deal as much damage as you could before your ally is here to help you. Basically, when Jubei is close to death/getting hit certain times, Jubei's friend will show up. Once your alliance is here, let him handle the main battle and try to move Jubei to behind Ginghamphatt and start a pincer attack. If you are not confident about your skill, you can just stay away from the boss and let your friend take care of everything, but here is an important thing you MUST REMEMBER here (as well as other boss fights later): You can let your friends damage bosses, but they CAN NOT kill the bosses. Jubei must be the one that launches the finish blow. If a boss has an empty life bar, your friends' attack won't be able to deal any damage on him/her. I have tested this many times and I am positive about it. I have never seen that any of my allies killed any boss. You should not use any herb/medicine in this battle, keep trying, it is possible!!! --After this tedious battle, go back to the magic mirror, save your game and uses souls to strengthen your armors. --Process further and you will see a guy sitting on the ground. Ignore him and pick up the treasure and gold deeper inside the next area, then come back and save him. +------------------------+ + Imasho Town: Revisited + +------------------------+ --After save the worker in Imasho Mine, Jubei will receive a Red Ring. Save your game. --There are new people in Imasho town now, talk to every of them three times, you should receive a history book #2 from a woman with yellow robe. --Check out the variety store, you can purchase new items right now. Lemon: 200 Gold. Give it to Tokaro. Hair ornament: 30 Gold. Give it to Oyu later. Fairy tale book: 200 Gold. Giving it to Kotaro is the best choice, but it might let Jubei's friendship value with Kotaro excesses with Magoichi. You can give it to Oyu instead, if you do so, the reward will be worse. History book #5:100 Gold. Give it to Magoichi. Silver Armor: 800 Gold. Oyu only. Keimyo Hachimaki: 800 Gold. Kotaro only. Western Boots: 800 Gold. Magoichi only. Fudo Leg Guard: 800 Gold. Ekei only. Red Parrot: 500 Gold. You can give it to anyone. Love Potion: 500 Gold. Give it to Oyu. Artwork #17: 100 Gold. Just for your collection. --If you did not get all three Power Jewels from three allies, you can still try it right now. --Besides the armors sold in shop, everyone has a special armor that can only be acquired from gift exchanging. You will receive a secret medicines from each character by giving them their special armors. If you are not lucky enough to get all four of them, at least try to get the Pirate Costume for Magoichi. By giving Magoichi his favorite items (Pipe, Dice, Documents...etc) you MAY receive Rouge from him. Give Rouge to Oyu later and you will receive the Pirate Costume for Magoichi. Also, if you are really worry about the battle against Nobunaga at the end of the game, I highly recommend looking for all four special armors and acquiring four secret medicines from allies. You may have to reload your game over and over in order to do this though. --There is a guy selling the map of Imasho Gold Mine that indicates the locations of potassium nitrate, you need 200 Gold for that map and you MUST but it. --When you think you are ready, head to Imasho Gold Mine. +-----------------------------+ + Imasho Gold Mine: Revisited + +-----------------------------+ --Ignore all ninjas before you reach the mine. --There is a worker walking around the magic lamp at the entrance of Imasho Mine. Talk to him twice and he will give you a dice. --Save your game. You will see Magoichi in the next area, if you still did not get a power jewel from him, give him the dice you have and you may get one. If not, reload the game over and over 'till he give s you one. --Process further and you will see a bone warrior is squeezing Kotaro. Attack the monster and save Kotaro, and let him handle all the monsters in that area for you. --Take a look at the map that shows the location of potassium nitrate, turn right first and walk to the deepest place, you can find one potassium nitrate around this area. --Now follow the map and find another two potassium nitrates. One of them is located close to the magic lamp (and you will see Kotaro over there). Save your game. You may want to ignore all the enemies on your way. --If you are lacking of vitality or you want more souls to upgrade armors, here is a good place: The previous section before the magic lamp you just saved your game has a lot of rolling spiky demons there. They are very easy to issen. Go to that area over and over issen tons of them 'till Jubei's vitality is completely recovered. This part is entirely optional. --In the next section after the magic lamp, you will find many rolling spiky demons and one bullhead monster there, and the exit is block by a white absorber. FIGHT: White Absorber, Bullhead monster and Spiky demons. Magoichi will be here to help you, so stay away from the White Absorber and let Magoichi take care of everything. You can have Jubei issen some spiky demons if they are using rolling attack toward to Jubei. After Magoichi finish all monsters, take the white absorber down. --You will see a big seal in the next area and you can use the Red Ring there. Don't do it right now. Process to the next room and get the third potassium nitrate. --Go back to the magic lamp and save your game. --Go back to the seal and use the Red Ring there. Jubei will be brought to a mysterious area and the gate is sealed. FIGHT: Blue Guardian x 2 This battle could be tough since it is VERY HARD to issen them in hard mode. However, if you have foot armor with maximal level, you should be fine here. The first blue guardian appears close to the gate, kick him down first and stab him on the ground. Repeat kicking and stabbing and you may be able to kill him eventually before the second blue guardian reaches Jubei. Use the same tactic to finish the second blue guardian. NOTE: If you don't have foot armor strong enough, you won't be able to kick those two guardians down and this battle will be very tough. --After you defeat two blue guardians, the seal will be broken. There is a crystal orb inside the red treasure box, don't miss it. Also, there is a blue box that can only be opened by Ekei, you may be able to get it later. --Climb upstairs and you will see a Bone Warrior is guarding the exit. Since the stairs is too narrow, you can't ignore this combat. FIGHT: Bone Warrior Kick him down and stab him on the ground. Repeat this tactic over and over 'till he is dead, simple and easy. +-------------+ + Gifu Castle + +-------------+ --There is no enemy in the castle square. You will have a cut scene with Magoichi instead. --Enter the Castle Keep and ignore all the archers there. Rush to the small room at the left side and solve the puzzle. You will receive a piece of a Bronze Mask. --Process to the next area and Ekei should be there to help you. FIGHT: White Absorber & Ninjas Every time Ekei is absorbed and trapped by White Absorber, he will cry for help. Just ignore him and stay away from the absorber, he will be fine. Let him handle most part of this fight and have Jubei attack the ninjas if he has a chance, defending a lot is a wise choice as well. --Solve the trick treasure box in the next area and acquire the POWER JEWEL inside. --Keep going and you will find a magic lamp, but there are also several silver Oda soldiers there and one archer. If you want to fight them you could be killed easily there because that archer is VERY annoying. The best way to pass this part is to rush to the magic lamp, save your game, then reset the game. The enemies will disappear this way. --There will be some spiky demons in the next area, either issening them or slashing them to death is fine. They are few and weak anyway. --There is a small room beside the area you fought spiky demons, enter the room and you will see a person is asking Jubei an item called "Purify Charm" --Climb upstairs and you will be forced to fight many ninjas. FIGHT: Ninja x 10 Ekei will be here to help Jubei, so stay in corner and defend while Ekei is taking care of everything for you. This battle should not be tough. --Process further 'till the room with a yellow seal in there and you will find a Purify Charm there. A ninja will appear right after Jubei took the Purify Charm. Simply slash him to death. --Go outside and you will find three lizard archers are on the third floor and Magoichi is helping you on the first floor. You can either knock them down quickly or defend while Magoichi is taking care of those lizard archers for you. But remember, there are also few ninjas on the first floor that will draw Magoichi's attention, so I recommend fighting lizard archers here. Jubei should kill each one with four to five slashes. When you hear the sound of arrows, block immediately. --After clearing this area, process further and you will see four red lizard soldiers here-DO NOT fight them, rush to the stairs and leave this area as soon as possible. --Give Purify Charm to the person that was asking for this item and you will receive another piece of the Bronze Mask. --Save at the magic lamp and use two pieces of Bronze Mask on the sealed door in the same area where the magic lamp is located. --Go inside and you will find Oyu and Tokichiro there. After a cut scene, Jubei will encounter two bone warriors. FIGHT: Bone Warriors x 2 This battle is like a semi-boss battle. It is very hard to issen them in hard mode. If you really want to issen them for a quick kill, you may have to reset your game over and over in order to get a lucky issen. My favorite method of defeating them to kick one of them down and slash another one twice, then kick down the one I was attacking and slash another twice again...repeating those step and you will kill one of them eventually, and you when there is one of them left, you can kick him down and stab him on the floor. It is easy to say, but it takes you some time to practice actually. If you lose more than half of your vitality then you have to reset the game. --After defeating them, pick up a medicine in this area and go outside and save again. --Return to the place you fought two bone warriors and process further to the net area. **************************************************************************** BOSS: Gogandantes-First Match **************************************************************************** The first thing you have to know is: You cannot actually win this match. You have to force him to block/lock swords certain times in order to trigger the event that Oyu rescues Jubei. Gogandantes does not have very powerful attacks, but he is quite agile. He can move around Jubei and dodge his attack quickly. It increases the difficulty of this battle. Since the condition of ending this battle is to let him block/lock sword certain times, this battle is very similar to a regular game. The only difference is that you should NOT use any herb/medicine here. If you feel that you need them, it warrants a reset of your game. Gogadantes uses single slash and double slash. Both of them deals minimal amount of damage on Jubei, also he uses charge attack that will turn his sword into bloody red and stab Jubei from afar. This attack has quite good range and medium power, and cannot be blocked. If you slash him directly, you will receive strong counter attacks. As I said before, Gogandantes is not powerful, but he is AGILE. He can do slash combos and attack three or four times in a row on Jubei. Also, most of time you attack him, he will dash back to avoid the attacks. The best way to pass this battle is to attack right after Gogandantes's slash attacks. Use regular attack to slash Gogandantes twice right after Gogandantes uses single slash, if the timing is correct, you will force him to block twice. Use rush attack on Gogandantes right after he uses double slash-it has a very high chance to lock swords with him this way. In order to win, smash t- pod and square bottom like crazy and Jubei will push Gogandantes away. After around eight to ten sword locking, this battle will be over. In order to let Gogandantes use slash attack, you have to move Jubei back and forth as a decoy-move forward to Gogandantes and he will perform slash attack, dash back to avid his attack and slash him/use rush attack right after he finished his move. When you see Gogandantes is charging his sword to red and ready to attack, use R1 + direction bottom to dodge his charge attack. This attack should be very easy to avoid. He is able to attack one more time after he uses charge attack, so after you dodge it, pull away from him!!! --Once the winning condition is met, Oyu will help Jubei escape from the battle arena. Jubei will acquire a faith orb from her. Place it on the big steel ball, Jubei and Oyu will ride a steel horse back to Imasho Town. +----------------------------+ + Imasho Town: Third Visit + +----------------------------+ Shop: Black Pill: 100 Gold. Give it to Kotaro. Pocket Watch: 300 Gold. Give it to Kotaro. Pandora's Box: 700 Gold. Give it to Kotaro. Calligraphy Kit: 300 Gold. Give it to Magoichi. History Book # 8: 100 Gold. Give it to Magoichi. Naughty Novel: 500 Gold. Give it to Magoichi or Kotaro. Phirangi: 1000 Gold. Give it to Oyu. Gabishi: 1000 Gold. Give it to Kotaro. Goraishinki: 1000 Gold. Give it to Magoichi. Houtengeki: 1000 Gold. Give it to Ekei. Pair Ring: 3000 Gold. Give it to Magoichi!!! Art Work #18: Just for your collection. --Be sure to purchase every kind of stuff here. --After you purchase everything, talk to shop owner twice and he will give Jubei a White Necklace. Remember to equip it. It will gradually recover Jubei's vitality if he is standing still. --Give all the gifts you have to your friends. Many gifts you have right now are from treasure boxes in Gifu castle or gift exchanging. For my own sake, I am not going to tell you that which item should you give to whom here. As long as you follow the shop guide in this FAQ so far, you are on the right track. You can make your own judgments that which item is the best for which person. It is not that hard. --Here is the last chance you can acquire power jewels from Jubei's friends. You should be able to get one from Oyu VERY easily. And if you did not get three power jewels from three guys, save your game and give them all the gifts you have and see if you can get all the power jewels. If not, reset the game over and over 'till you get them!!! --The egg in your inventory should become a Chicken and a brown egg now. Give the chicken to Kotaro and the brown egg to Magoichi. --There is a guy standing besides shop's backdoor. Buy black beer from him and give it to Magoichi. --Remember the potassium nitrate you got in Imasho Gold mine? Give them to magoichi and you will get some burst bullets!!! (Sometimes you will get herb instead). --You can try to give Magoichi all the history books-three of them are from Ekei, Kotaro and Oyu. You may acquire them if you give them a rank C or lower items, and it takes you some luck. If you did gather all then history books and gave them to Magoichi, you will receive a Talisman as your reward. It will be a great help in your game. But remember, you should not use Talisman anywhere besides battle against Nobunaga. Any time Talisman is used, you must reset your game. --Once you settle everything, go to the market place and you will meet Jujudormah there. +-------------------------+ + Yague Village Revisited + +-------------------------+ --Save your game first. --You will encounter two blue guards and few lizard soldiers first. Magoichi should be here to help you. Stay behind him and let him take care of everything. Pick up the map in the treasure box now if you did not get it before. --Go across the pond and inside the cave. You will encounter some green core insects and one Blue Guard at the end of the path. Ignore green core insects and rush to the blue guard, kick him down and stab him on the ground four times you should be able to kill him before those green core insects find you. --After the cut scene, pick up the Tokajo Ring on the ground. --On your way back, you will encounter some green core insects again, use the tactic listed in the Issen Tips section to kill all of them and recover Jubei's vitality. --Talk to Magoichi besides the pond and he will give you a Saiga bomb. Use it on the rocky wall next to the Dragon Temple and you will find a Green Necklace inside. Equip it and you will fins a secret medicine right in front of you. And with this Necklace, you will find more valuable items later. --Ignore bone warriors in the next area. --Now you will encounter many silver Oda Soldiers and two archers. Fighting them is not a smart idea because of the archers. The best way to pass this part is using the cheap trick-rush to the save point, save your game, then reset the game. --Go inside the house. There are many silver Oda soldiers there waiting for you. If you want to combat them inside the house, you may not be able to issen them because the combat area inside the house is too small for Jubei to dodge. The best way to defeat them is to lure them out to the wilder area between the door and the main building (the entrance area), you will be able to issen them easily there. Keep luring them out and issen them over and over until you are sure that the entire house is cleaned, then enter. Pick up the treasure on your way. The most important item is a POWER JEWEL, which is inside a trick treasure box. --Use the Tokajo ring in front of the orange chest and place Seiryu on the right side; Suzaku on the bottom side; Genbu on the top and Byakko on the left and the ladder will appear. There are some treasures in the room behind the chest, you can choose to get them or not depends on Jubei's current vitality. Also, you can always equip White Necklace to recover Jubei's vitality to full, but you need to be patient. --Cut the ropes in the next area and you will trigger the trap. Dash back to the pitfall and hang Jubei there 'till the blade passed Jubei. Then climb up and go forward. +------------+ + Fog Valley + +------------+ --Save your game first and use souls to strengthen your armors. --There are many red lizard soldiers here, issen them. It is not that hard. --After you clean out the monsters, climb up stairs. You shall encounter a bone warrior and several lizard soldiers. Ignore them and climb upstairs instead. There is a green seal in this area, and you cannot break it now, you have to come back later. --You will encounter three yellow guardians here. Magoichi will appear if Jubei walks to the half way of the bridge. Jubei should be pincer attacked by now, one is from the back and two are from the front. Kick the one in your back down and stab him on the ground, you should be able to kill him with three or four stabs, while Magoichi will block the rest two for you. --Process to the next area, pick up the treasure box and rush to the magic lamp, save your game. --Reload the game and the monsters around magic lamp will disappear. Touch the green dragon and you will receive a Senpomaru. --Go back to the place you saw the green seal. When you are trying to across the bridge, you will see a yellow guardian and one archer behind him and back him up. If you are so deemed to kill them all, unless you are VERY GOOD at issen (and since it is hard mode... you may have a very hard time to issen them). You may not be able to win this fight. Just kick the yellow guardian down and rush through the ladder and get out of this area. --Use the Senpomaru you just got and break the green seal. You shall receive a "Nobunaga's Knowledge". --Go back and Oyu should help you when you are trying to across the bridge again. Kick your enemies down and let Oyu handle the rest for you. After the fight, talk to Oyu and you will receive a herb from her. You may do some gift exchange here if you want. --Dash to the magic lamp and save your game. Then reset the game to make the enemies around the magic lamp disappear. --Go inside the forest and ignore all the enemies. If you followed this walkthrough so far, Jubei should get lost in the forest and Kotaro will help Jubei. +--------------+ + Kotaro Helps + +--------------+ Having Kotaro help Jubei in this part is definitely an advantage in your Yague Sword game. Without Kotaro's help, you may have a very hard time in the forest. But it does not mean that you should be careless while play as Kotaro. You MUST try to avoid using herbs or medicines in this part and save it for Jubei. In a regular game you can blow your medicines and herbs like crazy at this point, but not in a Yague Sword game. Anytime you use herb or medicines more than three times warrants a reset of your game. --Save your game at the beginning of course. --Pick up the treasures in blue boxes. Kotaro should receive a Red Wedge and a Blue Bracelet. --Issen the lizard soldiers on your way and ignore the bone warriors. --When Kotaro is close to the bridge, you should see a small area with red light coming out, use Red Wedge in the red circle area and Kotaro will be able to go inside the "Red Phantom Realm". +--------------------+ + Red Phantom Realm + +--------------------+ LEVEL ONE: Green Lizard Soldiers --Issen them whey they inhale. Since they are usually gathered around in a small area, hopefully each time you issen, you could kill two or three of them at the same time, if Kotaro is surrendered, use charge attack to push one of them away and run away from them. LEVEL TWO: White Ninjas --If you are not careful in this level, you may waste a herb here since those Ninjas have agility as high as Kotaro, and you are outnumbered. At the beginning of the battle, there are three Ninjas in the second level. Have Kotaro throw Shurikens to knock them down, then stab them on the ground one by one. Once you finish these three ninjas, other ninjas will appear one after another, and Kotaro won't be forced to fight three at the same time, so things should be easy now. LEVEL THREE: Red Lizard Soldiers --The tactic of passing this level with minimum amount of losing of vitality is about the same as the tactic of the first level, but remember to block often, and avoid being surrendered. LEVEL FOUR: Skeleton Warrior x 3 & Lizard Soldiers --This level is annoying. You may want to have Kotaro move around the combat area and keep those Skeleton warriors away from him, and issen the Lizard Soldiers if he has a chance. The best way to kill the skeleton warriors is to issen lizard soldiers when they inhale and are close to a skeleton warrior. If you issen the lizard soldier, you can also issen the skeleton warrior if he is close enough to the lizard soldier. If you really have a hard time here, use Kotaro's special attack once and attack skeleton warriors from their back. LEVEL FIVE: Skeleton Warrior + Ninjas --Throw Shurikens to knock Ninjas down first and see if you could finish the skeleton warrior while the ninjas were still lying on the ground. After clearing all five levels, Kotaro should acquire a red pole and a Blue Wedge at the bottom of the Red Phantom Realm, other treasure Kotaro should receive in the Red Phantom Realm are herb, medicine, and Kotaro's best weapon-Rega Kunai. You really should not use any herb or medicine here, but if you only used one herb in Red Phantom Realm, I think you should be fine. --After leaving the Red Phantom Realm, ignore the enemies on the bridge and process to the next area. --You will encounter several white ninja there, with Kotaro's best weapon, killing them should not be difficult. Save at the magic lamp after the fight. --Jump up the cliff and keep going forward, ignore all the fish enemies on your way. Don't forget to pick up Kotaro's Armor-Stealth Costume. And always remember: Armor is very useless unless you equip it. --Fight the lizard soldiers after the river. Issening them is not hard. After the fight, process to the next section and you should see a magic lamp. Save your game. --Head on through the pond besides the magic lamp. Do not fight any fish enemies. You should see a small area with blue light coming out, use the Blue Wedge there and go inside the Blue Phantom Realm. +--------------------+ + Blue Phantom Realm + +--------------------+ Blue Phantom is MUCH HARDER than Red Phantom Realm, and you are not allowed to waste too many recovery items in Blue Phantom Realm since you have to save them for Jubei. Basically, you should use no more than one herb and one medicine in there. Also, if you received a Talisman from Magoichi at Imasho Town, any time Kotaro is killed and the Talisman is used warrants a reset of the game. LEVEL ONE: Spiky Demons & Soul Suckers --Issen Spiky Demons when they are rolling toward to Kotaro, simple as that. Do not let your attention be removed by those soul suckers. LEVEL TWO: Green Core Insects --Move area the combat area and keep them away from Kotaro. If you see any of them is using the slow charge attack, issen them when it charges close enough to Kotaro. An easy level, too. LEVEL THREE: Blue Guardian x 3 & Green Core Insects --This level sure is tough. Use Kotaro's special attack at the beginning of the battle and attack the blue guardians from behind, with Kotaro's powerful weapon, hopefully you can defeat two blue guardians before Kotaro's invincibility expired. The rest should be easy because those Green core insects are godly easy to issen. LEVEL FOUR: Bullhead Monster x 2 & Spiky Demons --Try to stay away from Bullhead monsters and issen Spiky Demons if Kotaro has a chance. Fight bullhead monsters after you clear all the spiky demons in this area. Use R1+ direction bottom to move around bullhead monsters to dodge their axes, and attack if you get any chance. With Kotaro's agility, it should not be that tough. LEVEL FIVE: Bullhead Monster & Red Bullhead monster --At the beginning, there is only a bullhead monster in this level. Walk forward a little bit and the Red Bullhead monster will appear. Dash back away from them to far as possible, and throw all the Shuriken you have. After you are out of Shurikens, use Kotaro's special attack at the middle of the combat area (so there will be more room behind those two bullhead monsters). Attack them from behind while they are attacking Kotaro's illusion. You will need to use another Kotaro's special attack to finish the Red Bullhead monster. He can take more than 20 hits from Kotaro's weapon, TOUGH FIGHT!!! You should acquire a Blue Pole at the bottom of the Blue Phantom Realm. Leave the Phantom Realm and go back to the magic lamp and save your game. With Blue Pole and Red Pole in your hand, you can unseal the forest. --Go inside the forest and Kotaro will face some spiky demons and one bullhead monster. Issen spiky demons first. Then ignore the bullhead monster and process to the next section. --A cut scene that Kotaro saves Jubei. Jubei's vitality will be fully recovered here. --GO BACK TO THE MAGIC LAMP AND SAVE. Do not process any further before you do so because you will run into the boss in the next section. With the souls that Kotaro gave to Jubei, you should have Max Yague Armor, Max Foot Armor and Arm Armor level two. --GO inside the forest again and you will encounter... *********************************************************************** BOSS: Ginghamphatts-Second Match *********************************************************************** This battle could be easier than the first one, but you have to know exactly what you are doing. Ginghamphatts does not use the annoying cross slash anymore in this battle, and he rarely uses charge attack, either. Ginghamphatts' major attacks in this battle are vertical slash and rush attack. His vertical attack allows Jubei have chance to attack, simply use R1 + direction bottom to dodge his vertical slash then attack, experienced players should be able to issen Ginghamphatts while he is doing vertical slash. In order to issen, dodge his vertical slash and press square bottom when his big hammer is about to hit the ground. Also, this attack is defendable. Ginghamphatts' Rush attack could be very annoying and the major reason that you are killed over and over in this battle. Every time that Jubei (and his ally) deals enough damage on Ginghamphatts or Jubei survives certain amount of time, Ginghamphatts will jump into the forest and rush back and forth. It is very hard to dodge this attack all the time. His rush attack is defendable only if it is not a direct charge-it is a direct charge, Ginghamphatts will trample on Jubei three times, Jubei could defend the first one, and the other two will hit Jubei. How do you dodge this attack? In order to test the best method, I have fought him over and over more than twenty times, I figured out that Ginghamphatts has few "blind spots" when he is using his rush attack. There ARE certain spots that he is not able to rush directly. The best two spots are besides the two trees in the middle of the combat area on both sides. One tree's root is shown on the screen, and one is not. To know if you are exactly on the safe spot or not, if you do, Jubei MUST FACE THE SCREEN and there is a tree in his left hand side (right hand side in your view), and Jubei has to defend. If you followed exactly what this FAQ is telling you to do here, Ginghamphatt's rush attack will never be able to rush Jubei directly, maybe barely touch Jubei once sometimes, and Jubei will be able to defend it. Every time Jubei successfully defended Ginghamphatts's rush attack, he will be pushed out of the safe spots, and you have to go back to the spot and defend before Ginghamphatts attacks again. Ginghamphatts' frequency of using rush attack has a negative ratio to his current vitality, which means the lower his vitality, the more often he uses rush attack, also, the speed of his rush attack will increase when his vitality is low. But if you find the location of his blind spots, you don't have to worry about it one bit ^_~. Another attack you must pay attention is Ginghamphatts' upward attack. This attack sure is defendable, but sometimes it comes in conjunction with an extra vertical slash, and it will hit Jubei and knock him on the ground. I notice that when he uses this combo move, his vertical slash can only hit the area that is exactly in front of him, which means if Jubei is in his left or right hand side, or anywhere is not directly in front of Ginghamphatts' head, his vertical slash will miss after his upward attack. Other attacks are not serious problems. Jubei could defend all of them. After analyzing all Ginghamhpatts' attacks, now it is time to conclude the strategy. Like the first battle, it is dangerous to attack Ginghamphatts more than three times in a row, so every time you attack Ginghamphatts more twice, you must pull back. Block his attack if it is necessary and the attack is defendable. Try not to attack him from the directly front position, as I have mentioned above, his upward attack + vertical slash combo will hit Jubei if you are directly in front of him. The best chance to attack him is after his vertical slash. You could attack him around six times, or if you could issen him, it is even greater. Every time he is using his rush attack, stay on the safe spots and defend. He cannot harm you. If you are hit around three times by Ginghamphatts, Magoichi should be here to help. Once he is here, let him handle most part of this battle and pull Jubei away from Ginghamphatts. But remember, Jubei must be the one finish the boss, so you still have to attack Ginghamphatts if you have a chance, or this battle will never end. You should not use more than one medicine in this battle. Anywhere excesses this limit item expense than that warrants a reset of your game. You will acquire "Nobunaga's Reign" after defeating Ginghamphatts. --Process to the next section and save your game. --Go up to the steps to your right and break the blue seal with Buraitou and you will find "Nobunaga's Knowledge". There is a yellow guardian in front of the seal, kick him down and stab him on the ground several times he will be dead for good. --Go back to the magic lamp and save your game. An event with Magoichi will take place while Jubei is trying to go through the pond. Magoichi is asking Jubei to cover him while he is preparing his cannon to break the rock. You will encounter many small fish enemies here, the only thing I could recommend here is to slash them like crazy. You may be able to issen them when they were jumping toward to Jubei, but the timing needs to be extremely exact. After surviving certain amount of time, Magoichi will fire his cannon and break the rock, and you will acquire a magic jewel and a POWER JEWEL as your reward for helping him!!! Save your game after this event of course. --Go through the pond and enter the building. In order to solve the puzzle at the entrance, pull the lever and place the statues in order the screen shows. +---------------+ + Rocky Caverns + +---------------+ --You will encounter a lot of archers as your first fight in the first section of Rocky Caverns. Climb upstairs first and Magoichi will show up here to help Jubei. After Magoichi appears, dash back to the entrance and defend, Magoichi will take care of the archers for you slowly. After the archers are cleared, climb upstairs again and you will see a blue guardian guarding the exit of this area. Kick him down and stab him on the ground four times and he will be dead, simple as that. --In the next section you will be in a small path, and it leads to a wilder area where a tentacle monster is guarding the exit. FIGHT: Tentacle monster & Lizard Soldiers. This fight was very, very annoying to me, with your weak Yague Sword, it will take you a long time to take the tentacle monster. First of all, you have to get rid of the lizard soldiers first. Lure them into the narrow path and slash/issen them. After all lizard soldiers are gone. Go to the tentacle monster, slash him two or three times then defend his counter attack. If you see him using seed attack, retreat to the marrow path so the seed cannot reach Jubei. NOTE: It is POSSIBLE to avoid this battle by cutting the Tentacle monster's lower left tentacle off (right tentacle in your view) then process through the door immediately before the tentacle is regenerated . --Equip the White Necklace and recover Jubei's vitality to full, then save your game. --Open the huge red door and you will find out who is waiting for you inside. *********************************************************************** BOSS: Jujudormah *********************************************************************** Jujudormah has two phases of attacks. She will use the second phase attack is her vitality is dropped below one-third (not sure about this part). In Jujudormah's first phase attack, she mainly uses her umbrella shots as her major offense. Each shot only deals around one over twelfth of Jubei's current maximum vitality. This attack can be blocked, but the biggest problem is that each shot will push Jubei back and prevent Jubei moving close to her. Jojudormah most likely shoots three shots in a row, sometimes two. Jujudormah will run away from Jubei if she is attacked or too close to Jubei. She might use tackle attack while she is running. This attack deals around ten percent of Jubei's current maximum vitality, and it can be blocked as well. You will have a chance to his Jujudormah once or twice after you block her tackle attack. Jojodormah use umbrella push attack. It deals around one over eighth of Jubei's current maximum vitality and will knock Jubei on the ground. Most of time, this attack is used as a counterattack when Jubei is attacking while Jojodormah is using her umbrella as her shield and defending. She also uses stab attack, which is used when Jubei is close and attacking her. This attack is defendable. Every time Jujudormah is damaged more than twice in a row, she will use her umbrella as a shield to block any possible advanced attack, it makes this battle tough and long, since you really don't have many chances to damage her. Do not dream about issening her. It is almost impossible to do so in her first form, plus you are playing hard mode. Jujudormah can also use teleport move, it allows Jujudormah to move to any place in the combat area. Used when she is surrendered, or has been damaged with certain amount of vitality lose. Every time she uses teleport move, she drops few souls, and there is a small chance that she drops yellow souls. You may want to heavily rely on Magoichi in this battle. If you have full vitality, Magoichi should be here to help you when Jubei's vitality is dropped below forty percent. Magoichi will keep shooting Jojodormah with his gun, and you must have Jubei move to Jojodorman's back and launch a pincer attack. Usually, Magoichi's gun will keep hitting jojodormah and pushing her into the corner of this combat area, it makes a pincer attack becomes in=impossible since you cannot move to behind her. In this case, just stay close to her and defend, while she is attacking Jubei, magoichi will be able to lay his bullets on Jojodormah. And if she is using Umbrella push toward to Magoichi's direction, have Jubei use rush attack or slash her twice. When Jojodormah is using the umbrella shot attack, unless she is very far away from Jubei, you must have Jubei defend no matter her umbrella is pointing to Jubei or not. Jujudormah's umbrella shot can shoot in ANY direction that is not behind her. She could point her umbrella to Magoichi and shoot Jubei actually. However, this case rarely happens if Jojodormah is shooting in a long range. She will focus most of her offense on Magoichi instead. You could find a corner and let Jubei rest there and his White Necklace will recover Jubei's vitality gradually. If you see a shot is heading toward to Jubei, have him defend. You will have the time to react if Jojodormah is not in close range. Every time Magoichi and Jubei deal enough damage on Jojodormah, she will use teleport move, she rarely drops yellow souls, which could recover Jubei's vitality. Don't forget to absorb it if you see one. If you are really not confident about your skill, just let Magoichi shoot Jojodormah and have Jubei stay away from her. But you must have Jubei stand in an opposite direction of Magoichi's position, so Jojodormah can only defend one side and cannot block another. Once Jojodormah is into her second phase attack, it is not going to make this battle any harder if you know what you are doing. First of all, she will start to use running attack-This attack is very slow, and can be blocked easily. Technically, you could issen her while she is close to Jubei, but since you are playing as hard mode, I highly recommend defending instead of attempting a dangerous issen in this case. You must keep defending before Jojodormah stop running, and pull away immediately to avoid Jojodormah's future attacks. Jojodormah uses double hit in her second phase attack, she will swing her umbrella twice and it deals minimum amount of damage. In close range, you CANNOT defend both hits and if you are hit by the first one, whether Jubei defended it or not, the second one will damage Jubei for good. The best method to avoid being damaged by this attack is to stay away from her. However, her second hit has a small chance that misses Jubei. Jojodormah uses an improved version of stab attack-it looks like the regular stab attack that Jojodormah used in her first phase, however, after the first stab, the umbrella's length will be doubled and it will stab the target again. Like Jojodormah's double hit, this attack cannot be completely blocked in short range. If the first stab hits Jubei, the second one will certainly damage him no matter what you do, unless Magoichi uses his rapid firing attack to push Jojodormah away between her two stabs. Jojodormah still uses tackling attack, umbrella shot and umbrella push attack. But in the second phase, Jojodormah's umbrella shot can shoot four bullets in a row or three at the same time. Again, they all can be blocked. Jojodormah uses vertical slash-basically, it should be a very good chance for you to issen her by dodging this attack with R1+ direction bottom then attack. However, Jojodormah rarely uses this attack. I have never seen her use this attack on Jubei, and she rarely uses it on Magoichi for some unknown reasons. The key to survive in her second phase attack is to keep Jubei away from Jojodormah most of time, so Jubei won't be damaged by double hit or stab attack. The best chance for Jubei to attack is when Jojodormah is using double hit or stab attack on Magoichi. She is vulnerable at this moment and you are free to attack her from behind. Remember don't overdo it, pull away from her after you slash her two or three times. If Magoichi's rapid firing attack pushes Jojodormah to the corner, have Jubei stay close to her and defend. As I stated above, Jojodormah most likely uses her Umbrella push attack as a counterattack. She will use umbrella push toward to Magoichi and since Magoichi is attacking her with a long range, she cannot harm Mogoichi and leaves Jubei a chance to attack. If you hear her scream, she is about to use running attack, have Jubei defend and pull away from he after the attack. Then find another chance to attack carefully. She could be the easiest boss in your Yague Sword game since Magoichi's long-range attack sure works very well in this battle. The only thing you need to know are what attacks form Jojodormah can be blocked, and what cannot be blocked. With cautious, you could win this battle without using any recovery items. Actually, you should not use more than one HERB here anyway. If you think one herb is not good enough to carry you through this battle, reset your game and fight her again. Keep trying. It is possible!!! --After you defeat Jojodormah, you will acquire an Honesty Orb from her. She drops only one yellow soul so Jubei's vitality should be pretty low right now. Worry not, equip the White Necklace and stand still 'till Jubei's vitality is filled, then save your game before you process any further. --Next section is a narrow path, after you pick up herb and go forward a little bit, the trap will be triggered and gas is starting filling this place. Find your way out there as quickly as possible. More or less, Jubei will have some vitality lose here. --Equip White Necklace again and recover Jubei's vitality to full. Then save your game. --After a CG movie and a cut scene, be prepared for another boss fight. *********************************************************************** Boss: Gogangantes-Second Match *********************************************************************** Again, you still can't defeat him in this battle mo matter how good you are, you can inflict damage on him, but you cannot kill him right here. This battle will be ended once one of the following ending battle requirements is met (*): A) Gogandantes's remaining life is now less than 1/16 B) Jubei gets hurt with these two conditions filled: -The fight has lasted 70 seconds or more -Jubei hit Gogandantes 35 times or more (it doesn't matter if he blocked or not) C) Jubei hits Gogandantes (it doesn't matter if he blocks or not) with these two conditions filled: -The fight has lasted 70 seconds or more -Jubei hit Gogandantes 44 times or more (it doesn't matter if he blocked or not) In this FAQ, I would recommend going for option B: Juebi is damaged with hitting Gogandantes 35 times +, and battle with 70 seconds +. IF you could hit Gogandantes 35 times, this battle should be at least two minutes, so you don't have to worry about the time. Gogandantes is back again and his sword skill is much improved since last fight. He can still use single and double slash, which deals minimum amount of damage, but are VERY AGILE as well. It is hard to block them unless your reaction is very fast. Gogandantes still uses sword charge attack, like the previous match, this attack takes Gogandantes long time to charge, but cannot be blocked. You will see his sword turning into red when he is charging his sword, and you can have Jubei dash back away form him to escape his attack range. Gogandantes can use throwing knife attack now. This attack is used when Jubei is out of the area with radius of one and half of Gogandantes' sword, and is used more often if Jubei is far away form Gongandantes. Most likely, Gogandantes shoots three throwing knifes in a row and rush to Jubei when Jubei is busy on blocking his throwing knifes. And after he is close to Jubei, he will either use single slash or kick Jubei if Jubei is defending. Gogandantes uses jump attack in this battle as well. This attack deals medium amount damage on Jubei, and cannot be blocked. I had a very hard time on dodging this attack since it is most likely used right after a single/double slash. You have a very short reaction time between Gogandantes' slash attack and jump attack. Every time Jubei damages Gogandantes, Jubei will receive a very agile counterattack from him, so attacking Gongangantes is actually not an ideal option at all. Here is a cheap way to pass this battle, and it is always my favorite strategy: When battle starts, run toward to Gogandantes. When Jubei is in his slash range, Gogantanges will perform either single or double slash. Dash back before he hit you, and attack right after his move and Gogandantes will block your sword. DO NOT smash square bottom right now, but attack Gongandantes periodically instead. Press square bottom right after Jubei is back from the attack position to the normal position. If you could catch the correct attack timing, Gogandantes will do nothing but blocking your sword. If you miscalculated the attacking period and let Gogandantes counterattack you, simply use the same trick again and force him to block your sword over and over. After Gogandantes blocks 35 times, let him attack Jubei and this battle will be over. You should not use ANY herb/medicine in this battle, anywhere more than that warrants a reset of your game. +--------------------+ + Oni's Palace (Oyu) + +--------------------+ --After this battle, you will play as Oyu. Enter Oni's palace and save your game. Remember that you should not use any recovery item while playing as Oyu. --Go to the path in the middle of the room and walk straight to the end. Oyu will receive a Key Plate and encounter two blue guardians. Ignore them and go back to the magic lamp. --On her way back, Oyu will be forced to fight a tentacle monster that blocks Oyu's way out. FIGHT: Tentacle monster + Red Lizard Soldiers With Oyu this battle should not be tough at all. Have Oyu abuse "Ready" special attack on the tentacle monster and it will continually drop yellow and blue souls. Around three or four "Ready" special attacks will take them down, and Oyu's vitality should stay full after this battle. --Save your game. Use the Key Plate on the Dragon Alter and the locked doors will be unlocked. Enter the door on the left side of the room. --Oyu will encounter many spiky demons and one bullhead monster in the next section. Stay close to the entrance so the bullhead monster will spot Oyu and have her issen the spiky demons. After clearing most of spiky demons, move forward and challenge the bullhead monster. Dash back every time Oyu has attacked him twice. Be sure to block when it is necessary. --There are several silver Oda soldiers and an archer in the next section. Ignore them and pick up the items in that area. Be sure to grab a medicine behind the status. --Ignore the enemies all the way 'till Oyu reach a sealed ladder. In order to break the seal, Oyu is forced to fight the baby serpents here. Just slash them like crazy, you may have some vitality lost here, but it really cannot be helped. --Go down the ladder and pick up Oyu's shield-Adarga in the treasure box and equip it. Oyu will have to fight a Tentacle monster in order to be able to process to the next area. Fight: Tentacle Monster + Red Lizard Soldiers This fight is similar to the previous fight against last tentacle monster, but it is a bit easier since the you have larger combat area here. First of all, lure those lizard soldiers away from the tentacle monster and kill/issen them. After you clear all the lizard soldiers, abuse Oyu's "Ready" special attack and the tentacle monster will go down quickly. --After defeating the tentacle monster, a big hole will appear. Go through the hole. You will also see an earth seal here, but you can't break it right now. +----------------------+ + Oni's Palace: Bridge + +----------------------+ --Ignore all the enemies 'till you reach the save point. Pick up Oyu's beet weapon: Gradius and EQUIP it. Then save your game. Fight: Bullhead monster x 2 & Red Bullhead monster This fight is going to be tough, especially in hard mode. I have to remind the audiences again here: You have to save your recovery items for the later boss fight, you should not use any recovery item here, or you may want to reset your game. Two normal bullhead monster will appear first. Have Oyu abuse "ready" special attack and both of them will go down after being attacked nine or ten times. Since Oyu's special attack forces enemies drop yellow souls, Oyu's vitality should remain full after fighting two bullhead monsters. The red bullhead monster will appear after the two bullhead monsters are defeated (I ASSUME that the red bullhead monster will appear as well if Oyu did not kill two bullhead monsters in a certain amount of time, but I haven't tested it). None of the attacks from the red bullhead monster can be blocked; none of those attacks can be dodged in a close range, and Oyu can only take two attacks from the red bullhead monster!!! The hest method is to attack in conjunction with Oyu's dagger. When the red bullhead monster appear, stay close to him and throw a dagger and the red bullhead monster will be stunned. Attack him TWICE then throw a dagger again-DO NOT ATTACK MORE THAN TWICE, or the red bullhead monster will swing his axe and knock Oyu out. Repeating throwing daggers and slashing him twice after throwing each dagger, Oyu should be able to kill the red bullhead monster after twenty eight daggers were used. After this fight, Oyu will acquire a "Scared Flute" --Save your game. Ignore ALL the enemies on your way. Head back outside the Oni Palace and Oyu will meet Jubei there. --You are controlling Jubei again. Go inside the palace, pick up Dokoutsui from the dragon alter and save the game, ignore the robots. With the souls absorbed by Oyu, all Jubei's armor should reach the maximum level by now. --Go through the skull door on the left side of the room than Oyu went. You will encounter another tentacle monster on your way once you enter the door. FIGHT: Tentacle monster & Red Lizard Soldier First of all, lure all the lizards soldiers away from the tentacle monster and issen them. After you clear the lizard soldiers out, stay close to the tentacle monster and smash square bottom. The tentacle monster here is much easier than any other ones because of its position in this fight, its core is not well protected by its tentacle and Jubei can attack the core directly. This should be a very easy fight. --Ignore the enemies in the next section. --Process to the next section and Jubei will encounter many silver Oda soldiers. If you are not very confident about your dodge/issen skill, you may want to avoid them. Magoichi will be here to help only if Jubei survive certain amount of time. --Go down the ladder and Oyu will help Jubei. Here are a tentacle monster and some lizard soldiers. Let Oyu take care most of the fights. After all the enemies are defeated, use Dokoutsui to break the earth seal and you will find a Circle Key and...another tentacle monster inside, but with Oyu's help it should be a pushover. After defeating it, speak to Oyu twice and you will receive a herb from her. --Climb the ladder and you will find yourself in the room behind the huge statue. I hope you know where you are. --Head back to the magic lamp. You will see a cut scene that Magoichi speaks with Tokichiro. After the event, save your game. --Go inside the room and you will see THREE ROBOTS here, you must use wind magic to turn the fan on and activate the elevator, and you will be surrendered by three robots very easily after you turn on the fan, once you are trapped into the corner by three robots, you are dead for sure. Here is what you should do: After you use wind magic to turn the fan on and activate the elevator, press start bottom to skill the cut scene and turn around IMMEDIATELY by pressing R2 bottom and move forward, hopefully you could get out of the corner before you are trapped by those robots. Leave the room and save your game, enter the room again. The positions of the three robots will be reset, ignore them and use the elevator to process to the bottom floor. --Go straight into the next room and you will find a trick box, pick up the Tanegashima inside and climb up the ladder, climb down the ladder once you reach another side. Go to the next room and solve a simple math puzzle there. You will acquire a Gold Key. --Head back to the room you cam down into after riding the elevator, there is a ladder there. Climb up the ladder and use the Gold key, leap across, then use the circle key to unlock the door. --Solve a very simple there and enter the light path. +-------------------------+ + Gifu Castle: Star Tower + +-------------------------+ --There is nothing on the roof, but if you equip the Green Necklace, you will find some bullets. Find the ladder and climb down. --If there is no archer in the next section, it means that Ekei is going to help. You will find a trick box and there is a TALISMAN inside, you cannot miss it!!! NOTE: It will make your Yague Sword game easier if Ekei does not help here, but if you follow this FAQ so far, there is a fair chance that he shows up here. This FAQ is based on Ekei showing up at this point. If he does not, then it is good for you and your game. --Go down to the bottom of the star tower, pick up the treasures and save your game. --When you are trying to get out of the tower you will find out that the door is locked. Ekei will be here to help you. +--------------------+ + Gifu Castle (Ekei) + +--------------------+ Although Ekei has a good attack power and defense, his spear and special attack are actually very slow, and it is very hard to control Ekei's issen timing. In order to save your vitality and recovery items, you must run away every time Ekei is facing more than three enemies. Avoid as many fights as possible. --Go left. Pick up a yellow bracelet in the blue treasure box and other treasures. --Process to the next area, you may want to avoid the fights here, although they are not really that tough. Pick up the Cheery Key in the red treasure box in this area. There is a locked door in this area and you will have to wait 'till later to unlock it. --Process to the next section. Do not go to castle keep directly, take the path with bone stairs and go al the way down, you will find a medicine in a blue treasure box there. --Go inside the castle keep. Ignore the enemies in the first room, and use the Cherry Key to unlock the door to the right. You will find a Nioh Protector, a Crescent Key, a magic jewel and some documents. --Go back the area that you got Cherry Key, ignore the enemies and use the Crescent Key to unlocked the locked door. Ignore the white seal and go straight. --Ignore the enemies in the next two sections. --When you reach a narrow path, look for a stone pillar and break it, you will acquire a medicine. --In the next section, use Ekei's special attack to stun the silver Oda soldiers and pick up the Halberd in the blue treasure box, you must equip it, of course. Rush to another side and enter the door quickly, try not to be hit be those archers. --You can recover Ekei's magic gauge from the magic pool. Save your game here. --Ride the boat to the temple in the middle of the lake. Ignore all the enemies and rush to the door. FIGHT: Spiky Demon x 3 & Red Bullhead Monster This fight could be insanely tough, not to mention that it is almost impossible to issen the red bullhead monster with Ekei, but Ekei is too slow to dodge some of red bullhead monster's attack as well. Plus, you should not waste too many medicine/herb here. I would say that it is okay to use one medicine and one herb here, if you need more than that, or Ekei is knocked out and Talisman is used, you have to reset your game. Three spiky demons will show up first, issen them while they are rolling toward to Ekei, here is a good chance to recover Ekei's vitality. The red bullhead monster will appear right after the spiky demons are defeated. I have tested this battle many times, and my conclusion is that you need some luck. Have Ekei throw a Charm on the red bullhead monster, attack him twice then press R2 bottom again to activate the charm, if the red bullhead monster uses vertical slash, Ekei's charm will be fast enough to stun the red bullhead monster and you can throw another charm on him, attack him twice then blow the charm up. If the red bullhead monster uses horizontal slash, Ekei will be damaged no matter how hard you try to dodge his axe. With full vitality and the best equipments, Ekei could barely take horizontal slash twice, the third one will kill him. You need around 20 Charms and 35 times attack in order to defeat the red bullhead monster, so prepare to reset your game a lot...charging your weapon might be a good idea, but it takes your time as well. You will receive a Snake Key after defeating the red bullhead monster. Pick up the documents in this room if you wish. --When you come out the room, you will encounter four silver Oda soldiers while you are trying to go down stairs, use Ekei's special attack to stun them and ride the boat to escape this area. --Recharge Ekei's magic gauge and save your game. --Go back to the place that Jubei is locked in and use the Snake Key there. Ignore all the enemies on your way. Use Ekei's special attack to stun enemies if it is needed. For the sake of your game, don't be afraid to be a coward. --Once you get the control of Jubei back, save your game first. +------------------------+ + Gifu Castle: Revisited + +------------------------+ --You will see a cut scene that Magoichi fights many giant serpents. He will give you a Tri-Barrel with twenty burst bullets loaded. Do not use it right now of course. Let Magoichi take care of the serpents for you and save the burst bullets for later boss battle. --Head to the Gifu Castle Keep. Do you remember that when the first time you visited Gifu Castle, there was an earth seal in the deepest part of the Castle Keep? Now you can break it with the Dokoutsui in your hand. Once you enter the Castle Keep, ignore the robots in the first room, kick the yellow guardian down in the second room then pass through the door. Save your game at the magic lamp and go up stairs to the second floor. Keep going 'till you see the earth seal, use Dokoutsui to break the seal, and you will find a medicine inside with some other items, since they don't have any importance in your Yague Sword game, I won't bother mentioning them. On your way out, beware of four red lizard soldiers on the second floor, I highly recommend running away from them and go down the ladder quickly instead. --Once you are out of Gifu Castle Keep, head to the door that Ekei used the Crescent Key on, you will see a white seal there. Use Hyoujin-Yari to break the seal. Enter the light path inside the room. +----------------------+ + Demon Cave (Magochi) + +----------------------+ --Pick up a medicine inside the treasure box and save your game. --Process further and Tokichiro will turn Jubei into a stone statue, and Magoichi will be here to help him. NOTE: Magoichi's weapon bares fair attack power, reloading time and excellent range. I don't feel like to list all the encounters in this part since with Magoichi's Goraishinki, you can take many enemies down easily by shooting them from afar. I will only describe the battles that you are forced to fight. Against other enemies, you will be okay by staying away from them and shoot them like crazy. When you are fight archers, be sure to defend every time after Magoichi fires. Also, remember to pick up all the treasures in blue boxes, especially the one besides the magic lamp, it contains a Rasha Glove. If you don't look for this one carefully, you may miss it. FIGHT: Tentacle Monster and Red Lizard Soldiers You have to defeat the tentacle monster in order to pull the lever and activate the bridge. When you enter the combat area, stay close to the entrance and abuse Magoichi's rapid fire special attack, hopefully you can wipe out all the lizard soldiers with three or four rapid fires. Those red lizard soldiers drop clue souls often so you don't have to worry about Magoichi's magic gauge. After clearing all red lizard soldiers out, shoot the tentacle monster from afar 'till he is dead. FIGHT: Spiky Demons & Red Bullhead Monster This fight takes place in the next two sections to the magic lamp area. Once you enter the room, kill few spiky demons first. Once the red bull head monster appear, pull back to the entrance and abuse Magoichi's rapid fire special attack. After he runs out of the magic power, shoot the red bullhead monster from afar, his bullets will keep pushing the red bullhead monster away and he cannot deal any harm on Magoichi. Be sure to pick up the GREAT POWDER TUBE and the FLAMETHROWER + FUEL at the end. FIGHT: Invincible Bug + Lizard Soldier The invincible bug will steal Magoichi's Great Powder Tube while Magoichi is walking on the bridge. You must kill the bug in order to get your stolen item back, and you can only damage the invincible bug with flamethrower. In order to avoid being surrendered by lizard soldiers, stay close to the wall so they cannot attack Magoichi from back, and focus your flame on the invincible bug, if those lizard soldiers are getting close to Magoichi, let them taste some flame as well. You will out of fuel about every four or five seconds. You can reload fuel simply by releasing square bottom for around a second and you can fire again. You may not be able to kill the invincible bug in one round, but you can go out this combat area. Then come back and try again, the damage you have dealt on the invincible bug will still remain, so you will kill it in your second attempt. --Use Great Powder Tube on Jubei. Once Jubei is back, use Great Powder Tube on all the stone statues and turn them back to human. You will receive a secret medicine and a medicine from them. --Save your game and enter the left path, you will find a POWER JWEWL and herb inside. --You can get out of the Demon Cave now. Go out of the room and process to the next section, you will see a cut scene that Magoichi is hurt a giant serpent. FIGHT: Giant Serpent x 3 Their water spray attack is very annoying... the best way to defeat them is to lure one of them away from other two, kick it down and stab it on the ground, while other two are wasting time to blow their water spray far away. This tactic may require some luck to be used in practice. If you want to fight them directly, prepare for a tough fight and you must block often. If you feel like to use a recovery item, reset your game. --After the fight, process to the next section. Ignore bone warriors there. --Next section is a narrow path with some spiky demons, iseen them and absorb some yellow souls to recover the vitality lost from the fight against three serpents. --In the next section, there is a yellow guardian standing on your way with three lizard archers as back up. Try to lure the yellow guardian to the entrance of this section without drawing those archers attention. Once the yellow guardian is far enough from those archers, kick him and step him on the floor 'till he is dead. Then rush through this area. There are two archers on the roof and one is standing on your way, you have to kick that one down and pass him quickly. --Save your game and ride the boat to the temple. FIGHT: Tentacle monster & Red Lizard Soldiers It is similar to all previous fights against tentacle monsters. Lure lizard soldiers to down stairs and kill them first. After all lizard solders are cleared, go upstairs and fight the tentacle monster. Dash back every time you attack it twice to avoid its tentacle counterattack. --You will encounter two blue guardians after you go inside the building. Kick them down and process to the next room. Don't bother fighting them. --Use the Great Powder Tube to turn two statues back to human and you can process further. Solve a simple puzzle and enter the light path. +------------------------+ + Oni Palace: Blood Pond + +------------------------+ FIGHT: Tentacle Monster (Again...) Stay next to the treasure box and slash its right tentacle. Defend every time you attack it twice. Once you destroy its right tentacle, move forward close to the core before the right tentacle is regenerated. Then smash square bottom like crazy. Don't forget to pick up a medicine inside the treasure box. --Ignore all the enemies in the next section. --In the next section, save the game and talk to Magoichi. If you want to play the mini game, answer "sword", if not, answer "gun" --If you choose to play the mini game (and I think it is fun), you have to defeat twenty monsters before Magoichi reaches twenty kills. The key of winning this game is to issen red lizard soldiers for quick kill. Ignore all the dark ninjas, they are harder to issen, and they can move very quickly, leave them to Magoichi. The reward of winning this mini game is totally useless in a Yague Sword game, but I assume that people would like to do it for fun like I did. --Process to the next section, it is a mini maze. Collect a herb, a magic jewel and bullets if you have Green Necklace equipped. Every time you encounter a guardian, kick him down and stab him on the floor. --In the end of this maze, use wind magic to turn on the fan and activate the elevator. Ride it to the upper level. --Pick up the Scarlet Key and the hidden treasure box if you have Green Necklace equipped. --Go through the door and you should recognize where you are. Go to the magic lamp in the first main room of Oni Palace and save your game. --Go through the door next to the magic lamp. Ride the elevator to go down. --Ignore all the enemies in the next section. --In the next room Jubei will encounter many archers, the best way to pass this part is to kick them down and run through this area quickly. Kick down the one beside the empty treasure box first and climb upstairs. Defend often and move forward. When you are close to the archers on the second floor, kick them down and rush to the other side and climb the ladder down. --Go to the sealed door and use the Scarlet Key there. Jubei will break the seal. --Process further you will see a cut scene with Tokichiro and Oyu, after the scene, equip white Necklace and let Jubei's vitality be recovered to full, pick up the treasures around this area, then save your game. *********************************************************************** Boss: Gogandantes: Final Match *********************************************************************** Finally!!! You get a chance to defeat him for real, but don't get so excited, defeating him with Yague Sword is not easy, plus there is no ally will be here to help you anymore. Gogandantes' attacks in this battle are similar to the second match. He still uses single slash, double slash and upward slash as his main short range attacks. A single slash is most likely followed by an upward slash if it is avoided. Gogandantes uses charge attack, which gives you a good chance to issen him. When you see Gogandantes is charging his power and his sword is turning into red, use R1 + direction bottom to perform side DASH (not side walk, it won't be quick enough to dodge his attack), and press square bottom when his sword is about to hit you, it may require some practice, but it is not hard to learn. Gogandantes uses jump attack-much faster than the jump attack he used in the second match, and he usually uses this attack in very close range, but sometimes it can reach medium range as well. This attack is not defendable and hard to dodge as well because of its agility. When I was testing Gogandantes in this match, I had a lot trouble of dodging this attack. He knows how to use jump attack while Jubei is attacking so he cannot dodge immediately. However, this attack is not used often, and the exact damage of Gogandantes' jumping attack is vary... I assume that if you are hit within Gogandantes in the longer range, you will receive major impact and more damage. Gogandantes uses throwing knife attack like he used in the second match, it is used when the distance between Jubei and Gogandantes is longer than twice of Gogandantes slash attack range. If Jubei is too far from him, he will keep throwing knives and rush toward to Jubei. Most likely he will perform a double slash or a kick attack. Remember that Gogandantes' kick attack deals minimum amount of damage, but is not defendable. Gogandantes does have an ultimate attack that deals around one-eighth of Jubei's current maximum vitality in this match. When he uses this attack, he will hold his sword with both hands and charge it into red. After around one second, he will attack and knock Jubei down. This attack has a range longer than what it should be. Every time you see him charging his sword with both hands, keep dashing back from him. This attack is not defendable. When battle starts, use the Scared Flute first to dispel his magical shield, or you will never be able to defeat him. Remember that Gogandantes can ignore your first strike and counterattack with double slash, so every time you damage him, you have to defend immediately. Gogandantes cannot counterattack issen, but he will still use double right after being issened, so you have to defend anyway each time you issen him. Gogandantes will perform an action every time you press square bottom, so smashing square bottom will simply increase his attacking frequency. The best method of defeating Gogandantes in this match is to stay in a distance with two or three times of the length of this sword from him, then stand still, but hold your R1 bottom and be prepared to dodge/defend any of his attack any time. If he does not use throwing knife attack, he will walk around Jubei and look for a good chance to attack. After walking around Jubei for a while, he will either perform a charge attack or a double slash. If he is going to use charge attack, use the tactic stated above to issen him, then press L1 bottom to defend his following double slash counter. Pull away from him again and stay clam. He will walk around you and do another charge again eventually and you could issen him again. If he uses throwing knife attack, simply defend and dash away from him after he rushes to very close to Jubei while Jebei is busy on defending the throwing knives. If you can stay clam and issen him every time he uses charge attack, he will be defeated with nine issens and you won't even need any herb in this battle. Remember: DO NOT smash square bottom!!! I have to say it here again, his movement is basically based on yours, if you don't move and stay away from him with a medium distance, he cannot find any chance to attack you and he may end up with a charge attack, that's when you could issen him. Another chance you may attack is after his double slash. You will have a chance to slash twice, but you may take a great risk of receiving his counterattack. Master players could also issen Gogandantes when he is doing double slash attack. Press square bottom right after Gogandantes finish the performance of his first slash and the second slash is about to hit Jubei. This ieesn tactic only works if Jubei is in certain distance from Gongandantes. It cannot be too far or too close, or the issening is going to fail anyway even if you catch the correct timing. The last thing I have to remind the audiences here is to defend often every time Gogandantes is close to Jubei. Have Jubei constantly in defense mode would be wise. Due to Gogandantes' agility, if you want to defend after you see Gogandantes attacks, you won't be quick enough to react his movements. You are allowed to use four to five medicines in this battle, anywhere more than that warrants a reset of your game. --After defeating Gogandantes, Jubei will receive a Respect Orb. Process to the next room and collect those following items: a POWER JEWEL, a medicine, an herb and a secret medicine that is in the invincible treasure box. You can see it by equipping the Green Necklace. --Exit the room and use the Respect Orb on the statues and A CG movie will occur. --Save your game. Examine the glider and rotate both analog sticks to open the gate. You can also give gifts to Oyu here, if you want some extra bullets or herb from her. +--------------+ + Oni No Genbu + +--------------+ --Save your game first. Get the magic jewel in the trick treasure box. --Enter the door and you will encounter some silver Oda soldiers and Oda archers. Finish the archers first by walking close to them first. They will draw their swords instead of shooting arrows, and you can issen them just like issen regular Oda soldiers. Leave the sliver Oda soldiers be the last ones to be finished. Collect one medicine in the red treasure box and another medicine in the invincible treasure box. --Process to the next area. Ignore Oda soldiers all the way and enter the control room. --Enjoy the CG movies if you wish. +-------------------------+ + Gifu Castle: The Finale + +-------------------------+ --Save your game first. Don't forget the medicine in the invincible treasure box. --Go to the next room and ignore bone warriors and dark ninjas. You may have to abuse kicking trick in order to pass them. --You will encounter a blue guardian in the next section, kick him and stab him on the floor, simple as that. Don't forget to grab a medicine inside the treasure box. --Head forward and here is the top of the Gifu Castle. Enter the first door and finish the two soul suckers. Climb upstairs after the enemies are cleared out. FIGHT: Golden Soul Sucker Golden soul sucker uses two attack methods: The first attack method is releasing several small soul suckers and having them rush to Jubei. You can issen those small souls suckers by pressing square bottom while they are close to Jubei. They are VERY EASY to issen, and they drop good amount of yellow souls as well. Here is a good chance to restore Jubei's vitality. Hopefully, you can fully recover Jubei before Golden soul sucker uses its second attack method. After Golden soul sucker runs out of the small soul sucker, it will use rolling attack and it deals around 15 percent of Jubei's current maximum vitality. Hold R1 bottom when it begins to charge, and side dash to another side of the roof immediately when it is charging to Jubei. After the first rolling attack, Golden soul sucker will either move around the roof slowly or use another rolling attack. The best weapon you may use in this battle is Tanegashima. If you have built good friendship value with every ally, hopefully you would have 99 bullets loaded in Tanegashima right now. If you see Golden soul sucker is moving around the roof, simply move away from it and avoid staying in corner-if you are trapped in the corner, you cannot escape and you will keep being hit by it 'till you are dead. Let it taste some of your bullets every time it stops moving. If you see that it is going to use rolling attack, dash back away from it first and side dash to avoid its charging. If the distance between Jubei and Golden soul sucker is shorter than half of the length of the edge of the roof, you won't be able to avoid its rolling attack no matter how hard you try to dodge. So stay away from it would be a wise choice. Only shoot it three times when it is stopping. You will need around 75 bullets to defeat it, and you should not use more than two medicines in this battle, TOUGH FIGHT! You will receive a Golden Scale from Golden soul sucker once you defeat it. Use the scale on the roof and the seal of Demon Base will be broken, head to Demon Base. +----------------------------+ + Demon Base-Jubei's revenge + +----------------------------+ --Save your game first. --Climb upstairs and an old friend is waiting for you there. *********************************************************************** Boss: Ginghamphatts: Final Match *********************************************************************** This battle is another reason that you need Magoichi to be Jubei's best friend. With him in this battle, the difficulty of this fight will be reduced dramatically. Ginghamphatts' attack power is doubled in this battle. Almost every of his attack can deal around 20~25 percent of Jubei's current maximum vitality. You will have to avoid his attack most of time instead of abusing offense. Ginghamphatts' main attacks in this battle are vertical slash and jump attack. Like the previous battle against him, his vertical slash gives Jubei a very good chance to issen/attack. When he is doing vertical slash, use R1 + direction bottom to dodge it and press square bottom immediately to perform an issen on him. Even if you failed, you are still safe to slash him four to six times before his next move. His jump attack is very easy to dodge in this battle, simply dash back and he will miss Jubei. After you dodge the jump attack, you are free to slash him four times as well. Ginghamphatts' sometimes use stab attack, upward slash and horizontal slash in this battle, stay away from him and you would be fine, also, they all can be defended. You really don't have to worry about them too much. Ginghamphatts rarely uses rush attack in this battle, this attack can also be defended, and unlike the first match, his rush attack is very easy to defend now. The basic strategy of defeating Ginghamphatts is to stay away from him. However, he will mainly use Jump attack if Jubei is to far fro him, so you may want to move close to him sometimes and see if he will do a vertical slash, if he does, then you can perform issen dance on him or dodge his attack and slash him. If not, then dash back a bit and defend his attacks. For people who have mastered the issen trick on Ginghamphatts, you only need two issens and around twenty slashes and Magoichi will show up. For people who have trouble on iseening him, you may need around sixty slashes to finish this battle. But no matter what kind of player you are right, with Magoichi, this battle should be the easiest boss battle in the entire Yague Sword game. After Magoichi shows up, he will use his new weapon "Kuni Kuzoshi" to send Ginghamphatts back to six feet underground. You will receive a Strength Orb from Ginghamphatts after the victory of this battle. You should not use any recovery item in this fight. --Climb the ladder down and equip White Necklace to recover Jubei's vitality to full. Save your game. I hope you have those following items in your inventory right now, especially if it is your first Yague Sword game: At least eight herbs. At least ten medicines. At least ten secret medicines. A bow with twenty arrows and twenty fire arrows (optional). Tenegashima with around twenty bullets. Tri-Barrel with around twenty burst bullets. At least one Talisman. Usually, I only need around one secret medicine and a couple medicines to defeat Nobunaga with Yague Sword in hard mode, but that happened after I fought him over and over. You definitely won't have my skill if this is your first Yague Sword game. The more recovery items you have, the higher your chance to win. --Use Strength Orb on the elevator. After a scene with Oyu, whether they kill each other or not, you will face Nobunaga once the scene is over. --After a CG movie, Nobunaga will turn himself into a demon. *********************************************************************** Boss: Oda Nobunaga *********************************************************************** Oda Nobunaga is very tough even in a regular game in normal mode. I believe that more than eighty percent of players had trouble on this boss in their first game, even with powerful magical attacks. And you have to take him down with Yague Sword now, in order to survive, you must be very careful and prepare for a long fight (around 45 minutes). Nobunaga has two phases of attacks, during his first phase, he mainly uses his sword and does physical attack on Jubei, after Jbei deals more than fifty percent of his vitality, he will transform into flying form and use both physical attack and magical attack with five elements: Thunder, wind, ice, earth and fire. Oda Nobunaga: FIRST ATTACKING PHASE Oda Nobunaga uses those following powerful physical attack during his first form: --Punch attack: Deals around five percent damage of Jubei's maximum vitality and is not defendable. This attack has a very short targeting time and is not easy to avoid. Nobunaga usually uses this attack before his main slash attack, especially when Jubei is side walking around Nobunaga or in defending position. --Rapid slash: It could be a single, double, or triple slash, depends on how far Jubei is. It does not attack a single spot but cover a small area in front of Nobunaga. Nobunaga is able to move toward to Jubei quickly after each slash, and there is almost no break between his attacks. His double/triple slash can reach the distance further than what you might think. Every time you see this attack, defend immediately no matter how far away are you from Nobunaga. He won't use this attack if you are out of the attack range anyway. Each rapid slash deals around 12 percent of Jubei's current maximum vitality. --Stab attack: It can reach medium range and deals around ten percent of Jubei's maximum vitality. Can be defended, but this attack is very quick and hard to spot before the action is taken, so it might be too late if you press L1 bottom after his stab attack, because you only have a very short amount of time to react. Not used often. --Vertical slash: It deals around twelve percent of Jubei's maximum vitality and knock Jubei on the ground. Nobunaga will raise his sword above his head before he performs vertical slash, so this attack can be spotted easily. This attack can be defended or dodged by dashing back from Nobunaga, but it is close to impossible to dodge with side walking. Unlike Ginghamphatts, Nobunaga always targets your position before he launched his vertical slash, as long as you are in the attack range, if you don't defend, you are not going to avoid this attack, at least it has never happened to me before. --Charge attack: It is used when Jubei is not in the range of any attack listed above. The damage of this attack is vary, depends on how far did Nobunaga start his charge attack, the longer the distance, the heavier the impact and damage on Jubei. It deals up to thirty percent of Jubei's maximum vitality (!!!), but it can be defended. Also, You have the best opportunity to issen him when he is performing his charge attack. More detailed about issening Nobunaga will be explained later. --Combo attack #1--Vertical slash + upward attack: Most likely, Nobunaga will use upward attack after he performs vertical slash. He expects you to defend his first attack and "think" you are safe, and then give you an upward attack as a surprise. If you are hit by the first slash, whether you have defended it or not, you CANNOT defend the upward attack followed by the vertical slash. After you defend Nobunaga's first vertical slash, use R1 + direction bottom to perform sidewalk to avoid his upward attack. If his vertical slash missed you, then his upward attack is defendable. --Combo attack #2-Normal Slash + normal slash + short charge: This attack is terrifying, especially when Jubei is trapped in the corner. If Jubei is hit by the entire combo attack, Jubei will receive damage that excesses thirty five percent of his maximum vitality. If Jubei defended the first attack, the second and the third attack in this combo are not defendable, but the short charge from Nobunaga may miss Jubei with a fairly low odd. After the battle begins, equip Tri-barrel and let Nobunaga taste the power of your burst bullets. Nobunaga may defend, once he does so, stop shooting and wasting your bullets. Wait after around half second then shoot again. After you run out of burst bullets, switch your weapon to Tanegashima and shoot Nobunaga with normal bullets. Tanegashima can only shoot one bullet each time and it has a long reload time, it may not be able to completely prevent Nobunaga from being too close to Jubei. Every time you think that Nobunaga is too close, switch your weapon to Yague Sword and defend Nobunaga's attack, then try to move away from him and use Tanegashima again 'till your bullets are out. Switch you weapon to bow and fire arrows only if you are FAR AWAY from Nobunaga-Bow and arrows do have a quick reload time, but it takes Jubei a while to open the bow. Once you shoot your first fire arrow, Nobunaga won't have any chance to get close to Jubei before you run out all of the fire arrows in your inventory. If you have some normal arrows, you can use them to deal a little extra damage if you wish. After you fired all the side weapons you have, Nobunaga can still take seven issens and around twenty slashes before his transformation. Sounds a lot, huh...well, don't be discouraged. Try to stay away from Nobunaga, but not too far. If he does a charge attack, press square bottom when he is about to hit Jubei. It appears to me that it is almost impossible to issen when Nobunaga is using charge attack far away from Jubei, so only issen Nobunaga when he is in medium distance from Jubei and using charge attack. Other than this, you really don't have too many chances to attack. You will have to spend most of time on side walking around him to avoid his combo attacks, and block other defendable from Nobunaga if it is necessary. You MUST STAY AWAY FROM THE CORNERS of the combat area. Every time Jubei is trapped in the corner, Nobunaga will use punch attack to pierce through Jubei's defense first and abuse combo attack. Every time you have adjusted your distance between Jubei and Nobunaga successfully, have Jubei stand still, but hold R1 bottom and prepare to dodge any attack, and Nobunaga will walk around Jubei like Gogandantes did, however, Nobunaga is smarter than Gogandantes, when he cannot find your weakest moment to attack, he will most likely use triple slash instead of charge attack. You must defend quickly and try to adjust the distance between Jubei and Nobunaga again. Once Nobunaga uses charge attack from medium distance, issen him. Usually, he won't give up if his first charge attack failed; he will do one or two more instead and it means you could issen him one or two more times. Another good chance to attack is after Nobunaga's vertical slash. You can use rush attack to deal some extra damage, but remember to defend or dash back after your movement to prevent the damage from the possible counterattack from Nobunaga. After you use rush attack to slash him around twenty times and seven or eight issens, Nobunaga will transform into his flying form. Oda Nobunaga: SECOND ATTACKING PHASE First of all, you cannot rely on issen anymore. I found that it is insanely hard to issen Nobunaga when he is in his flying form, you have to use your Yague Sword to wear him down slowly, you will need to damage him around 450 times in order to win, I would say that's a lot of vitality. During Nobunaga's second phase of attack, Nobunaga will keep changing his elemental status and use different attacks. Each time Nobunaga changes his elemental status three times (rarely four times), he will retreat to the platform in front of the Golden Evil Statue and use shield defense. I know that many people wonder what does he do when he is in the shield, after testing many times, I would say that every time Nobunaga is in his energy shield, his vitality is recovered gradually, not sure the exact amount of vitality he can recover each time he retreats into the energy shield. Nobunaga uses both physical attack and magical attack during his second attacking phase. His physical attacks are the same in every form-normal attack, short charge, long charge and rolling charge. --Normal attack: May be used when Jubei is very close to Nobunaga, and Nobunaga's attitude is low enough. This attack only deals minimal damage on Jubei, and it is defendable. --Short charge: Used when Jubei is close to Nobunaga, and Nobunaga's attitude is high. This attack deals around 12 percent of Jubei's maximum vitality. It is defendable. --Long charge: Used when the distance between Jubei and Nobunaga is longer the twice of the length of Nobunaga's sword, and most likely in conjunction with magic attack. The damage is based on how far did Nobunaga charge. The longer the charging distance, the higher the damage will be. It could deal up to 25 percent of Jubei's maximum vitality. It is defendable as well. --Rolling charge: Can be used in any range, any attitude. This attack may look scary to you, but even you are hit by this attack, it only hit Jubei up to three times and deal very minimal damage, and this attack is very slow as well. It is defendable, too. Besides physical attacks, Nobunaga also uses various magical attacks in each of his elemental form: Thunder, ice, earth, wind, and fire. --Thunder attack: Used when Nobunaga is in the thunder form. Nobunaga will launch five thunderclouds every time and the thunder will drop on the area where the blue lights are located. Nobunaga may use thunder attack constantly up to twelve times in a row. Nobunaga's thunder attack strikes RANDOM spots instead of targeting Jubei exactly. You cannot dodge his thunder attack by just moving around, you may run into the blue light accidentally and be stroke. The best way to dodge his thunder is by using R1+ direction bottom to perform sidewalk and watch out the blue light spots carefully, never run into them. Sometimes you have move back and forward as well, not only left and right. --Ice attack: Nobunaga will target Jubei and strike with ice. This attack covers an EXTREMELY wild area in front of him, and it deals around fifteen percent of Jubei's maximum vitality. If you watch this attack carefully, you will find that Nobunaga cannot charge vertically, which means if you stay exactly below him, he cannot harm you. When Nobunaga is in his ice form, stay under his shadow and his ice attack will miss just about every time. However, this trick won't work if Nobunaga uses ice attack while he is in very low attitude, since there is not enough height for Jubei to stay under Nobunaga. In this case, this attack is about unavoidable. The only way to prevent Nobunaga using ice attack in low attitude is keep attacking him if his attitude is low. Every time Nobunaga is damaged, he will fly up a little. --Wind attack: Nobunaga will launch a tornado with radius about the length of his arm. The tornado will move slowly toward to Jubei, and will disappear after the distance it moves equal to the edge of the combat arena. The best way to dodge this attack is still by using R1 + direction bottom. If Nobunaga uses wind attack when Jubei is close to him, have Jubei dash back from Nobunaga immediately then perform sidewalk 'till the tornado is gone; if Nobunaga uses wind attack while Jubei is far from him, stay still until the tornado is very close to Jubei, then sidewalk 'till the tornado is vanished. Beware if Nobunaga's charge attack while you are dodging tornados- Nobunaga likes to abuse charge attacks while Jubei is busying on dodging tornados. DEFEND every time you hear Nobunaga yells at Jubei. Also, for the sake of your game, STAY AWAY FROM THE CORNERS. Nobunaga's wind attack deals very little damage on Jubei, but it can hit Jubei five times constantly if Jubei is trapped in the corner by the tornados. --Earth attack: Nobunaga launch five earth spears that hit the area in front of him. The range of this attack could be anywhere between zero and infinity. It deals a bit less than twenty percent of Jubei's maximum vitality. Since the attack range of earth attack is "between zero and infinity", which means it cannot reach the place with zero range, which is the spot right under Nobunaga!!! Like Nobunaga's ice attack, his earth attack also has a blind point underneath his body. If you stay in his shadow, his earth attack cannot harm you. Also, notice that when you are staying in Nobunaga's shadow during his earth form, make sure you stay in the shadow of his HEAD instead of his WINGS. If you stay in the shadow of his wings, you are not exactly below his body, and his earth attack may still have a fair chance to damage you. Like I have mentioned before, you cannot hide under Nobunaga if his attitude is too low. Keep attacking him when he is in low attitude. If he still uses earth attack with low attitude, stay with him as close as possible and you will have a fair chance to avoid his earth spear. Some people may ask me why not run to the area behind him, my answer is: You cannot stay in the area behind him if he uses earth attack while he is on the edge of the battle arena. --Fire attack-Single flame wave: Used during Nobunaga's fire form. It launches a single flame wave with normal speed that deals around twenty five percent or less damage of Jubei's maximum vitality. It can be dodged easily by using R1 + direction bottom to perform side dash move. --Fire attack-TRIPLE flame wave: Used during Nobunaga's fire form, the lower Nobunaga's vitality, the higher the chance that Nobunaga uses this attack during his fire form. This attack is the most horrifying attack in the entire game: Nobunaga launches three flame waves in a row. Each flame wave moves toward to Jubei with unbelievable speed and deals THIRTY THREE percent damage of Jubei's maximum vitality. I had a lot of trouble of dodging this attack before, side dash movement simply won't be fast enough to help Jubei dodge all three waves. After testing this attack over and over, here is my favorite strategy so far: Stay in medium distance from him when he is about to use flame wave attack, perform side dash movement to dodge his first flame wave. If you dodge the first wave successfully, RUN TOWARD TO NOBUNAGA before he launches the second flame wave. I don't know if it is a glitch or not, although Nobunaga's flame waves are quick and powerful, the second and the third flame wave will always miss Jubei if Jubei is very close to him. If you stay close to Nobunaga (the two people must "touch" each other. It has to be THIS close) while he is launching the second and the third flame wave, he will never hit you. This is also a good chance to attack Nobunaga. If you are hit by the first flame wave, Jubei will be knocked down on the ground, DO NOT press any bottom to let Jubei stand up, let him stay on the floor and the following flame waves will miss him for some unknown reasons. If you are so deemed to let Jubei stand up after being hit by the first wave, then you won't be able to dodge the second wave no matter how hard you try. Being cheap is at least better than being a loser. You won't know whether Nobunaga is going to use single flame wave or triple flame wave attack unless you see the speed of the first wave. So move close to him after the first attack anyway. If it is a single flame wave attack, you will still be safe by staying close to him. Basically, Nobunaga uses triple flame wave attack after Jubei attack him around 200~250 times, and the frequency of his triple wave will increase with the damage he has received. When Nobunaga transform into the flying form, each time he is hit by Jubei, he will fly up a bit and Jubei won't be able to reach him after hit him four times. You have to spend most of time to dodge his various attacks. As I have mentioned above, Nobunaga's ice and earth attack have a blind spot under his body, as well as all his physical attacks, because he cannot charge vertically, so staying in his shadow and waiting for the next chance to attack is the best strategy against his flying form. You will also need to follow the tactics listed above to dodge some of his magical attacks. Every time you hear Nobunaga yells "HA" to Jubei, or he is holding his sword with both hands, it means that he is about to use one of his physical attacks. If you don't think you can dodge it with the current distance from Nobunaga, defend his attack immediately. Every time Nobunaga uses a physical attack, his attitude will drop and you will have a change to attack, some of his magical attack will lower his attitude sometimes as well. Every time Nobunaga retreats into his shield, don't stand still and do nothing, smash the square bottom and attack his shield. You cannot harm him be doing so, but you can absorb extra souls by attacking his shield. His shield randomly drops yellow souls, and you can absorb them to recover Jubei's vitality besides using herb or medicines. I assume that you can reduce his recovery rate by attacking his energy shield, too. But I need more testing before I can confirm this theory. You have to heal Jubei every time his vitality is lower than twenty percent of his maximum vitality, except when Nobunaga is in his fire form, you need to recover Jubei each time his vitality is dropped below thirty five percent of his maximum vitality. This battle is very tough, but don't give it up. Follow the tactics I gave to you and practice a bit, you will make it!!! After you defeat Nobunaga, he will use all his remaining power to activate his ultimate creation: The Golden Evil Statue. *********************************************************************** Boss: Golden Evil Statue *********************************************************************** Jubei will transform into an Onimusha in this battle, so this battle basically has no difference from the same battle in a regular game. The only thing you might worry about is your recovery items. If it is your first Yague Sword game, you would probably used all your Talisman when you were fighting Nobunaga, and most of your herb and medicines as well, but I hope that you have at least one secret medicines and three to five medicines in your inventory. It is possible to beat Golden Evil Statue without using any recovery item, but if it is your first game, it is not going to happen anyway. Golden Evil Statue has five parts: Left leg, right leg, left arm, right arm, and head. You will have to destroy all other four parts before you can target the leg. You cannot select your target in this battle. If Jubei is in the left side of the screen, he will automatically target Golden Evil Statue's right leg, or right arm if the right leg has been destroyed; same method applies to Jubei if he is in the right side of the screen. Golden Evil Statue uses those following attacks: --Fire shots: Used by the right arm. Each shot deals around ten to twelve percent damage of Jubei's maximum vitality. Cannot be defended. You can avoid this attack by staying on the left edge or right edge of the screen, and use R1 + direction bottom to side dash to the edge in another side of the screen after the fire shots are close to Jubei. --Earth strike: Used by the left arm. A red energy ball will appear on Golden Evil Status' left hand and summon five deadly spikes from underworld. It deals around fifteen percent damage of Jubei's maximum vitality. Cannot be defended. You can avoid this attack by using R1 + direction bottom to perform side walk/dash movement and stay out the area with red light on the ground. --Trample attack: Used by both legs after at least one leg is destroyed, and can still be used even if both legs are destroyed. Golden Evil Statue will move toward to Jubei and try to trample on Jubei. It deals around twenty five percent of Jubei's maximum vitality. Cannot be defended, but you can avoid this attack by simply keeping dashing back. --Flame thrower: Used by none of the five parts of the Golden Evil Statue, and will only be activated when the Golden Evil Statue is moving. It deals medium amount of damage on Jubei. Cannot be defended. You can avoid this attack by simply staying away from Golden Evil Statue. --Eye beams: Used by head, can be activated under any circumstances. It sometimes targets Jubei, and if not, it always misses the left and right edges of the screens. It deals around twelve percent of Jubei's maximum vitality. Cannot be defended. It can be avoid by using R1+ direction bottom if the beams are targeting Jubei; or be avoided by staying on either edge of the screen, if the beams are not targeting Jubei. --White mask attack: Used by head, and will be activated after one of the arms is destroyed. There will be eight white masks launched toward to Jubei. This attack deals damage around ten percent of Jubei's maximum vitality. Can be defended, but you cannot defended two masks in a row. You can avoid this attack by using R1 + direction bottom and keep side walking, they will have a big trouble hitting Jubei. However, it is hard to dodge this attack if it is used in conjunction with black mask attack or eye beams attack. --Black mask attack: Used by head, and will be activated after one of the arms is destroyed. There will be eight black masks that surrender Jubei. After surrendering Jubei around certain amount of time, they will use magic to disable Jubei's movements and damage Jubei. This attack cannot be defended and should be treated as a magical attack. Once Jubei is damaged be one of the black masks, he cannot prevent being damaged by the next black masks unless Jubei is dead. This attack cannot be dodged, but you can destroy the black masks by shooting them like crazy. Every time Golden Evil Status use black mask attack, Jubei will target the masks first automatically. The rule of winning this battle is: HOLD YOUR R1 BOTTOM UNTIL THE BATTLE IS OVER. Destroy Golden Evil statue in this order: Right leg, left leg, right arm, left arm, and head. Follow the strategies listed above and you will be able to dodge most of its attacks. Heal Jubei when his vitality is dropped under critical line, however, if Golden Evil Statue uses black mask attack, you must heal Jubei if his vitality is below thirty percent of his maximum vitality. That's all I have to say about this battle, best luck on your game!!! VI. Frequently Asked Questions Q: The damage I have received are totally different on what you have stated on this FAQ, why? A: that is probably because you did not pick up all the power jewels and you have a life bar shorter than how long it suppose to be. Q: Is magic jewel any useful in a Yague Sword game? A: Well, if Jubei has longer magic gauge, he can stay in Onimusha form with longer amount of time once he has transformed into an Onimusha. I did not mention this point in the walkthrough because I think relying on Onimusha form does very little help in your Yague Sword game, unless you are planning on attempting Purple Phantom Realm. You can acquire a magic jewel from each Jubei's friend, just like how you acquired power jewels. Q: Sometimes there is a purple line between Jubei and Nobunaga when I attack him, does it mean that Nobunaga received no damage? A: Nope. The purple line does not prevent Nobunaga from being damaged, but from being stunned. Q: Why do you put characters family names first? A: Because that's the way it is in Japan and most Asian countries. "Jubei Yagyu" is actually "Yagyu Jubei". Q: When will be the next update? A: This version was made in a rush and I will update a completed version in two weeks. After that, it depends on if I found any valid boss data. I will update more information if I find some. Q: How hard is this challenge compare to a critical mode game: A: In a critical mode game, everything is the same as in normal mode. The enemies do take damage from your attacks, however, you can only "FINISH" then with issen. The issen timing in a critical mode game is as loose as in normal mode. If you are playing a critical mode game, then you will have a hard time fighting normal encounters, but the boss battles will be about the same since they still take damages, all you have to do is to issen them as the finish blow. Basically, I would say that a critical mode game requires more skill, and a Yague Sword game in hard mode requires more strategies and time. Q: What rank did you usually get at the end in your Yagyu Sword game? A: I always got an "A" rank. I ASSUME that it is still possible to achieve "S" rank in a Yague Sword game. The question is the playing time. Normally, it could take you about at least seven hours to complete a Yague Sword game in hard mode, regardless phantom realms. The only possible way to achieve "S" rand in a Yague Sword game is to issen ALMOST every encounter in order to reduce the playing time, and it will be tedious in hard mode. But more power to you for trying. I like players who have skill and courage. Q: I am playing a regular game. Will this FAQ be any help to me? A: Certainly, I don't see why not. Since any sword in this game is stronger than Yague Sword, if you follow some of the strategies in this FAQ, it sure will make your game easier, especially boss strategies. Q: How about a Yagyu Sword game in normal mode? A: Then it won't be as challenging as critical mode, however, if you are not confident about your skill, it is a good warm up. VII. Appendix: Green/Purple Phantom Realm VIII. Credit/Thanks Thanks to CjayC first, for creating this wonderful site and allow me to have a chance to share my knowledge with players around the world. Thanks to Hyprophant, of course. Hyprophant has spent much time on this game and much money on coffee. (*) part is credited to Azraelswrd, for telling me the exact conditions of passing the second match against Gogandantes.