"Strangers waiting up and down the boulevard; their shadows searching in the
night. Streetlights, people, living just to find emotion, hiding somewhere in
the night." ~ Midnight Train (Don't Stop Believin') - Journey
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ASCII thanks to Atom Edge, with my incredible modifications of changing the
name.
+----------------------------------+
| |
| Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow |
| For the Nintendo DS |
| FAQ/Walkthrough |
| By T. Jackson |
| Started : 7/18/06 |
| Finished : N/A |
| Last Updated: 11/23/06 |
| Version 0.4 |
| |
+----------------------------------+
This guide was composed in Metapad. It's best viewed with 1024x768 resolution,
Courier New font, and your browser's small text setting. Yarr.
Table of Contents:
I. Introduction
1.01: Table of Contents
1.02: Introduction
II. Soma Basics
2.01: Story
2.02: Characters
2.03: Controls
2.04: Souls
2.05: Status Effects
III. Walkthrough - Soma Cruz
IV. Appendices
4.01: Bosses
4.02: Bestiary/Souls
4.03: Weapons
4.04: Armor
4.05: Accesories
4.06: Items
4.07: Shop List/Soul Synthesis
4.08: Boss Rush Mode
4.09: FAQ
4.10: Secrets
4.11: Endings
V. Last Words
5.01: Copyright Information
5.02: Revision History
5.03: Contact Information
5.04: Credits
5.05: Boo!
If you need to find anything, press CTRL + F and type in the numerical code of
the section in question (e.g., if you're looking for the story, type 2.01).
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
I. Introduction
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=0
| 1.01: Table of Contents |
0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=0
Look up.
Ugh. People.
0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~0
| 1.02: Introduction |
0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~0
Hey hey, and welcome to this guide for the latest (as of this writing)
installment of Castlevania. I don't get to say that much, being the sweet old
school writer that I am. This is my first game for the DS, the first full
fledged guide I've written in awhile, and the first game since this game's
sequel for which I've written a guide without doing a few important things
first (e.g., writing the introduction, playing the game, etc.).
So this'll be entertaining. And I hope this guide entertains you - there are a
few attempts at humor and song references in here, just because that's my
style. Good luck with the game, though.
Also, there be spoilers ahead for all Castlevania games, so read at your own
risk!
Especially if you're playing the sequel here without first playing the prequel!
--Trace
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
II. Soma Basics
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
0=~=~=~=~=~=~=0
| 2.01: Story |
0=~=~=~=~=~=~=0
This is the first game in forever where it has an instruction manual sans a
story. While there is a pretty good summation of the story at the beginning of
the game, take this as a remedy for your nescience - a summary by me. Hah,
there's none better.
Count Dracula. We all pretty much have a good idea of who he is (or at least
his fictional version), if only because of our dad's terrible impersonations,
which we're subjected to every Halloween, shortly before the low-flying witches
crack. Or maybe that's just me. Anyway, he's a persistant one, haunting the
Belmont family for generations - from the Middle Ages to 1999 (Chrono Triggers
era, what what!). The premise is that, as a supernatural being, he can't
really die. Instead, he ressurects himself every century, or some other being
(e.g., Shaft) ressurects him. He has had a number of foes over the aeons - the
Belmonts, other random families, and even Alucard, his own son. Why does he
revive? Because otherwise the franchise would end.
In 1999, during the apocalypse (COME ON PEOPLE), a man named Julius Belmont
fought the Count and defeated him; however, to completely eradicate the Prince
of Wallachia, Julius sealed Dracula's castle - Castlevania - in the solar
eclipse that occurred in 1999. This truly did defeat the Count - no convenient
plot devices. The deux ex machina to save him, however, was that someone had
to inherit his power. It's a religious theory that's expounded upon in this
game - for God to be the ultimate good, there must be an ultimate evil, and
since you've fought the Devil himself as one of Drac's underlings, Dracula must
be said evil. There were three candidates who could inherit his powers, two of
whom are introduced in this game. They could do so because they were born at
the moment of Dracula's demise. What luck!
The third is Soma Cruz, the Scientologist (hah!) whom you play in this game.
You played as him in the prequel to this game (while Castlevania is a series,
few games are direct sequels. There are three true sets of sequels -
Castlevania I and II, Castlevania: Rondo of Blood and Castlevania: Symphony of
the Night, and this set: Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and Castlevania: Dawn of
Sorrow), when you found out that Soma inherited Dracula's powers. Well now you
have to fight to keep those powers. Woohoo!
And that's the premise of this game: there are two people, Dario and Dmitrii,
who at the behest of the priestess of a cult, Celia Fortner, want to become
Dracula by killing off Soma. You've gotta take those two out and meet up with
Celia at the top of the cult's base - right where Dracula would be.
0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~0
| 2.02: Characters |
0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~0
These will be listed in order of appearance.
Allies
======
Soma Cruz
---------
He who inherited Dracula's power in 2035, the last time you played. He's a
headstrong youth who wants to save his friends. The typical RPG hero.
Mina Hakuba
-----------
She is one of Soma's best friends, his raizon d'etre, and just the normal
damsel in distress and chief motivator of Soma. The typical RPG supporting
lady.
Genya Arikado
-------------
He's a really mysterious fellow who seems to know a lot about stuff he probably
shouldn't know about. He may be the secret identity of someone! Uh oh!
Enigmatic, helpful, and always there when you need him (and only when you need
him). The typical RPG supporting enigma.
Hammer
------
Can't touch this! This former army soldier decided, in the last game, that
killing people needed to take a backseat to the American Dream, so now he has a
shop. He's got a major crush on Yoko.
Yoko Belnades
-------------
The descendent of Sypha Belnades, who fought alongside Trevor Belmont in
Castlevania III, she offers information and weapon synthesis. She's a witch
who works for the church. As opposed to a witch who gets burned by the church.
Julius Belmont
--------------
The guy who sealed Dracula away in 2035, he's a strong vampire hunter who seems
to really want to kill Soma, despite being his friend, as seen by Julius'
greeting at the beginning of the game. Not the nicest guy. He lost his memory
in the last game, but he was nicer then.
Not So Much Allies
==================
Celia Fortner
-------------
She's a priestess of a religious cult. Yeah, that was pretty obvious. She
wants to revive the Dark Lord because according to her, for God to be truly
good, there must be an ultimate evil. Of course, you'd think that the ultimate
evil would have to manifest itself. Additionally, if she thinks we need an
ultimate evil, she clearly has not met Brittany Spears.
Dmitrii Blinov
--------------
One of the potential successor to the Count, he's a reserved Russian who's not
drunk. He can absorb souls and abilities like Soma. He's cool.
Dario Bossi
-----------
Unlike Dario, who's a fiery (hence his control of fire) jerk. He's the other
successor to Dracula.
Other
=====
Konami Man
----------
!!
0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~0
| 2.03: Controls |
0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~0
Basic Controls
==============
o--------o-----------------------------------------o
| Button | Function |
|--------o-----------------------------------------o
| A | Special attack*, confirm (menu) |
| B | Jump, cancel (menu) |
| Y | Attack |
| X | Switch equipment** |
| L | Dash backwards |
| R | Use Guardian soul |
| Up | Activate warp, epitomize You're So Vain | - Seriously. Look at him
| Down | Duck |
| Left | Move left |
| Right | Move right |
| Start | Go to menu |
| Select | Change screens*** |
o--------o-----------------------------------------o
*This varies from weapon to weapon and costs MP. See the weapons section for
more.
**You need to acquire the Doppleganger soul from the Garden of Madness first.
I got into more explanation there (CTRL + F Doppleganger if that's what
you're here for)
***For an explanation of the screens, check the Menu section (2.05). This
changes the displayed screen on the top screen of the DS.
Complex Controls
================
B + B -> Double jump (note: you need the Malphas soul)
Down + B -> Slide. You can damage enemies with the slide too.
You can also drop through narrow floors with this.
If you do this after you've gotten the Malphas soul, you can jump
kick (though obviously you must be in mid-air to do so)
Up + Y -> Use Bullet Soul
Touch Screen Controls
---------------------
-After you get the Balore soul, touch ice to break it.
-You can order a familiar to attack an enemy with the touch screen (simply
touch the enemy).
-You draw the Magic Seals by connecting the dots in the given order.
0=~=~=~=~=~=~=0
| 2.04: Souls |
0=~=~=~=~=~=~=0
For a full listing of the souls, see 5.02; this section is designed to give you
a primer on how to use souls, hence its inclusion in the Basics section. See,
this works.
There are four types of souls:
1.) Bullet Soul - These are the equivalent of subweapons, only more
----------- permanent. Up + Y activates these. For the most part,
they're the Use kind (read on for more information). These
are primarily for attacking. These are red souls.
2.) Guardian Soul - These are usually helping souls, hence the name. Hold R to
------------- activate them. They're usually familiars of the Time kind
who serve as backup, but the basic premise is that these
aren't used for direct attack, for the most part; if they
cause damage at all, it's either in the form of a familiar
(e.g., Great Armor) or in the the best defense is a good
offense way (e.g., Armor Knight). These are blue souls.
3.) Enchant Soul - The yellow soul doesn't attack. These generally give you
------------ some sort of stat boost (e.g., increased strength) or some
other ability that's useful but not damaging (e.g., the
Ghoul soul lets you eat poisoned food). These don't take
up any MP.
4.) Ability Soul - The final kind of soul also doesn't take up MP. The
------------ controls vary, but the game generally tells you what to do.
These are the only souls you need, for the most part, to
advance, as these let you do things like double jump.
0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~0
| 2.05: Status Effects |
0=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~0
There are two:
Poison: You lose all of your attack bonus that's attributable to STR and all
of your INT bonus. So basically, you do less damage with your attacks.
Curse : You lose all of your MP.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
III. Walkthrough - Soma Cruz
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
First off, a few notes:
1.) Soul equipping is really up to you because I don't know what souls you
have. Play around with them. There are some souls I'll really suggest you
get, in which case, you should probably get them. You know. Because I'm
not just wasting my breath- er, typing here.
2.) Unlike other games, you don't necessarily want to sell your old equipment
because it could be used in synthesis; that said, anytime you get any
equipment, equip it if it helps your stats (if you pick up something that
an enemy drops, obviously I can't remind you to equip it).
3.) Break every single candle/light source you see.
4.) Think like Doctor Who - "What do monsters have nightmares about?" "Me -
hah!"
5.) Due to the nature of weapon acquiring in this game (aside from the finds,
you have to synthesize to get good weapons), I can't really recommend what
to equip, as I don't know what souls you get. I personally prefer the
Great Sword line of swords - they give you the best bang for your buck.
Others might prefer a different style. All I can say is go for it!
Experiment! The one thing that I caution you about is don't synthesize
with the souls of bosses until you have 100% soul collection rate and
acquire the Chaos Ring (once you've got that, at the end of the game, you
can forge your Valmanways and your Death's Scythes). I do recommend,
however, for the purposes of this walkthrough, that no matter what weapon
branch you use, keep a good arcing weapon (something from the Great Sword
or Axe line). I use the Great Sword stuff myself, but just having an
arcing weapon is very useful, even if it's not your primary weapon.
After the intro, you'll be plunged directly into a fight. En medias res
indeed. No bones about it, though (ha!), this is a very easy fight. Genya
Arikado graces you with a Knife. Smack the Skeleton twice with it to gain his
soul. After a short explanation on how to use the soul, an Armor Knight
teleports in. Use your newfound soul (Up + Y, if you're confused) twice to
take him out (should he launch his spear, simply jump over it). You'll be
treated to a short explanation on hos to use Guardian souls. Now a Golem will
appear! As with the last foe, use your newfound soul to help - throw bones at
the Golem, and when he gets near, press and hold R to activate the Armor Knight
soul to help save your soul. You'll then get the Golem soul (later on, you'll
wish the souls came this easily; for now, they've got the neighborhood tricycle
feel, if you know what I mean). The explanation ensues, followed by a little
more exposition. The end result is that Ms. Fortner has a very annoying laugh.
Some more story occurs (note the map on the top screen) - and just as a side
note, poor Hammer looks so dejected when you tell him Yoko's not coming! Now
would be a good time to tell you what conditions you're in now. Right now,
you've got no equipment aside from the Knife Arikado gave you, your clothes,
and the souls you just received. You have three Potions, and there are some
pretty sweet terms in the Library in the menu. Other than that? Nothing.
Good luck! Head right to get to...
The Lost Village
----------------
When you enter this screen, you'll see a Skeleton and possibly a Bat. The Bats
spawn infinitely, so now might not be a bad time to get their soul (get three
to level it up completely, but you don't have to do this just yet). It also
couldn't hurt to get more Skeleton souls either (or Skelesouls, as I like to
call them), but don't spend a ton of time on this, as it gets old fast. Cross
the suspension bridge, and head to the next screen.
On this next screen, note the lamp to the right. You can destroy this lamp for
an item. Make sure you destroy all lamps, candles, enemies, etc. throughout
the game. As you continue, there is a freaking HUGE Peeping Eye. This
seriously scared me. Take him out (don't worry about getting its soul - it's
rare; it can wait). Head to the next room.
Pick up the Short Sword here, and make sure you equip it (as it does no good
otherwise). Drop down and head right to grab a Potion and, in the next room,
save your game (these rooms, in addition to saving your game, could save your
life inasmuch as they heal you, so use these often, even if you don't wanna
save!). Once saved, climb back up the platforms (ignore the door to the left;
we'll explore it later), and head out to the right.
This next room introduces some more baddies. First up is the Warg, which you
SotN veterans will recognize. Deliver three quick sword swipes to him to
finish him off. There are also an unlimited number of Zombies spawning, who
take a minimal amount of effort to kill. Finally, there's the Axe Armor, who
is a large piece of armor that throws axes. He'll throw them in two ways:
either at a higher elevation or at a lower. If it's the higher elevation, duck
under the axe, smack him a few times, and duck under it again. If it's a lower
axe, leap over said axe, attack him, and jump over the axe again (the Armor
Knight soul is very useful here). I _really_ recommend getting the Axe Armor's
soul, as it's the equivalent of previous games' Axe subweapon (and it's very
useful on the upcoming boss), though the Warg soul, if properly used, is very
useful. Once you've cleaned out this screen satisfactorily, head to the next
room.
You meet up with Yoko (yay for Hammer! You can't touch this, but she sure
can!) and Julius. The latter delivers the best ally-to-ally greeting in video
game history. After another little exchange (Yoko's facial expression rocks,
you get the Magic Seal 1. After practicing it, you have to escort Yoko
somewhere. Backtrack the way you came (killing a few Zombies just for the
sadistic pleasure of watching their heads fall off). When you reach the screen
where you got the Short Sword, drop down to the funky door from earlier. Yoko
will explain that you'll need a Magic Seal to finish off the upcoming monster.
Oh snap!
You'll enter the door automatically; however, if Yoko's incredibly subtle hint
didn't tell you this, you've got a boss coming up. It's smart to have the
stylus ready, as when you defeat the boss, you have to draw the magic seal
relatively quickly, and you don't want to struggle with getting the stylus out,
risking having to fight the big guy again.
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
BOSS: FLYING ARMOR
First real boss fight time! Flying Armor is a floating creature with two
hovering swords. These swords act as a sort of barrier, such that it's
difficult for you to get close to him. Watch for the tips of the sword - when
they flash, the swords are about to attack you. They do this in one of two
ways - if the swords are both facing you (they're normally facing down), then
when they flash, their positions will be locked in, and they'll fire straight
in the direction they're pointed in, meaning don't be in their way. If the
swords are pointed diagonally up in either direction, they'll circle around and
try to squish you; jump over them to avoid the piercing blow. This is the
easier of the two to dodge. Now, if you don't have the Axe Armor soul, this is
the time to attack, as he's defenseless for the moment. Beat up on him until
the swords come back, rinse, and repeat. His only other attack is floating
around, which isn't so much an attack, per se, as much as a horrible video game
cliche (i.e., the "touch of death") at its finest.
If you have it, though, now's the time to use the Axe Armor soul. It makes the
fight loads easier - you can just make a slight hop, regardless of where the
swords are (unless the swords are, you know, inside of you), toss an axe, cause
damage (as each axe will not only hit for a fair amount of damage, but it'll
also hit multiple times), and repeat. Just make sure to watch out for the
sword attacks, and resort to the earlier strategy when your MP runs low.
If your HP falls below a certain level (i.e., how much HP each of the Flying
Armor's attacks take away from you), remember that you do have three Potions,
so feel free to use one.
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
For your troubles, you get the Flying Armor soul, which "reduces the speed of
falling." This is the same thing it did in Aria of Sorrow, only you have to
fight for it (I'm glad we didn't last time!). After the exchange with Yoko,
grab the oversized orb to replenish your HP/MP. Before you do anything else,
go two rooms to the right and save! Return to the boss room, and then head
through the left door.
Hah, there seems to be potential for another Flying Armor in here. Check out
the mantel. Anyway, drop down one step, and jump for the platform on the left
side of the room, using the Flying Armor soul to get you over there. Grab the
Claymore, and head to the next room.
Hop to the left to grab the aptly named Spear, though statistically and
practically speaking, I find the Claymore to be better. Drop to the platform
to your right, and fall through that platform. Take out the Armor Knight to
your left, and enter the room he was guarding.
In here, take out the Ouija Table (its soul is useful if you get it - you can
recover HP by sitting in chairs. Don't bother equipping it unless there's a
chair nearby, though). Grab the Mace to the left of the deceased dinnertable,
and continue left. Drop through the platforms. To your left is a save point;
to the right, $1000. Make use of both, and head through the right door. Drop
down to the bottom of this room, and go through the left door to reunite with
Yoko. She'll explain the art of synthesis to you. See the weapons guide later
in the FAQ for more information on this. You can synthesize weapons here
depending on what souls you have. I advise that if you want to perform a
synthesis, make sure you have multiple copies of the soul you're using so that
you don't permanently lose it.
You're welcome to make these if you want; however, it's not required by any
stretch. Just make sure to have multiple copies of the soul you're using. If
you need a reminder as to where to find enemies, either check the bestiary, or
I'll tell you now - you can find Armor Knights in the previous room. The Wargs
and Axe Armors are a few rooms back. While the Cutlass isn't too great now, if
you can get another Warg soul and make a Falchion, that would rock.
There's one thing about this I can't stress enough, though - Whatever you do,
until you have 100% of all souls, never ever _EVER_ use a boss soul. You can't
get them back. I don't care how useless it is. I don't care if it hurts you.
Don't use it until you have 100% soul collection.
When you're done, trot across the way to Hammer's shop. I recommend buying the
Castle Map 1 and whatever else you can afford. Look in the Items section to
see what the UMA News says, so don't worry about buying that. I also bought
the Gym Clothes, and the Scarf. Equip it all. Now, if you're low on money,
there's a cheap way of fixing that. Credit for this goes to FairEmma. Buy
some Brass Knuckles, and go find some Zombies (this is not a hard task,
unfortunately). Synthesize the Brass Knuckles and the Zombie Soul to get a
Cestus. Sell the Cestus to make a serious profit.
Return to the center room. Hop on the hippie van, and hop up a few levels
until you can go right. Go right when you can. Make sure you collet the $1000
bag as you move through this next room (side note: you can destroy the chairs
in a variety of ways. This looks cool), and head out through the door at the
bottom.
You're greeted with a funky sight in this next area: a skull in a cyclone (a
Spin Devil). Wizard of Oz jokes aside, use a Bullet Soul to take him out.
Kill off the Skeleton, and grab the Potion on the right side of this platform.
Drop to the bottom of the room, and head right through the next two rooms to
find a Cape, which isn't as good as the Scarf from Hammer's place, but
whatever. Backtrack to the larger room. Once back in here, climb up to thje
top left corner. Use the Flying Armor soul to cross the gap, look at Celia
Fortner's ugly mug + cleavage, and head through the door.
Kill off the Student Witch (such an adorable kitty!), and make your way through
the rest of the room, killing the other two Student Witches. Exit through the
top right corner. Make your way through the small hallway, and in the next
room, you'll find a gate impeding your progress. Such inconvenient things,
gates. If you attack the switch next to it, the water behind the gate will
drain, and the gate will open.
This actually drains the moat of the castle, which is where you are now. Take
care of the Spin Devil, and head straight across the way to finally enter a new
area!
Wizardry Lab
------------
In your first room, you're greeted with a neverending spawning of Ghosts.
Woohoo! Deal with them as best as you can as you drop down through the
entrance room. You'll reach a small landing after a little while. Grab the
Mind Up from the left side (the room behind the Mind Up is a save point), and
then head through the right door.
You'll now confront a Bomber Armor. Take care of it (when it lobs a bomb, just
make sure you're out of the way of the explosion!), and continue on. When you
see the Slime, just kill it before it slowly crawls at you. Hop across the gap
to get a Blunt Sword (just what I always wanted!), and continue down through
the room. At the bottom right corner, you'll see a treasure chest. Smack it
open with your weapon, and then backtrack to the previous room. Continue your
descent downwards to the door at the bottom, and then make use of said door.
I find it useful to slide (down + B) through this row of Skeletons and the
Skull Archer. The rest of this room is nothing you've never seen before
(although if you hit the Student Witch when she tries to fly, she falls, and it
looks so sad), so continue through the room. In the next room, drop down a few
levels, and take the first right that you can (though it may be advisable,
before you take this right, to go to the bottom of the shaft, take a left, and
grab the Scarf, if you don't have one). There be Manticores in this room - the
head of a lion, the tail of a scorpion. Watch out for the tail as you destroy
them. Also, note the eyes in the painting! Ahh! Go all the way right, and in
the next room, take your first right to find a warp room. The game will
explain the concept. Warp up to the Lost Village real fast (press up, and then
press left to get there).
The Lost Village
----------------
If you were paying attention to the map earlier, you noticed you couldn't get
to the room you're at now. But now you can, so it's all good. Anyway, it puts
you out by a save point, Yoko, and Hammer. Make use of them if you want, and
then teleport back to the Wizardry Lab.
Wizardry Lab
------------
Once back in the Wizardry Lab, return to the room before the warp chamber, drop
to the bottom, and head right. Go through this next room (your goal is the
bottom left corner), which has two new enemies: a Slaughterer and The Creature.
The Slaughterer is by far the easier of thw two. It's a giant pig thing that
hops around and shoots fireballs in an arc. Dodge the fireballs as you attack
him, and he'll die quickly. The Creature - Frankenstein's Monster - is
substantially harder. He'll be energized with lightning, stumble over to you,
and smack you really really hard. If he's energized, when he sees you, he'll
stumble really fast, making it difficult to get out of the way. You want to
attack him from afar - in here, you can lure him to the right side of his
level, hop up to the level above him, and get him with the Axe Armor soul. His
soul is useful (you restore one HP/second) but difficult to obtain, so do so at
your own risk. Anyway, once you've cleaned out this room, head out through the
bottom left corner.
Drop down through this room and take the bottom right door. After a nice
little cutscene, you can continue through the room. In the next room, go
through the bottom right door to find a save point. Uh oh! Go left to
encounter...
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
BOSS: BALORE
A beam suddenly cuts through the ice! Go through the ice to find Balore
himself. Balore has two basic attacks, and the safest place to evade both of
them is right in between his hands. His most obvious attack is a GIANT laser
beam that comes out of his eye. There'll be a dead giveaway when he's about to
use this attack - you'll see him charge it. When you see it, immediately duck
to avoid the beam. His other attack is to punch with one of his fists. You
can avoid all of these if you're positioned where I told you to be. When he
brings his fist close to him, though, jump on it (and then jump off when the
coast is clear) to avoid being hit by it.
The easiest way to take him out is with a weapon with a sweeping motion, like
the Axe. Simply jump, use it, and repeat until Balore is no more!
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
Take the orb and head right to find an ice wall. Use your new soul and your
stylus to clear away the ice (just press an ice cube to make it go away. This
would be inefficient, so run your stylus around the screen like a crazy man).
Make sure to save your game!
Now we've got some backtracking to do. Use your map to help you with this -
you want to get to the first room of the Wizardry Lab (on the map, it's the
room touching the closest save point to your current location, excluding the
save point you just used). You can either go through all those halls again (go
an alternate route to increase map percentage), or you can go to the warp room,
warp to The Lost Village, and make your way to the moat (where you saw Julius),
drop into where the water used to be, and take the door. Either way, get to
the top of the first room, and head through the top right door.
In here, you'll see some ice. Before you go and destroy it all, look at what's
behind the ice - a pillar. You need to get over this pillar, so destroy the
ice like this:
o--------------o o----o------------------------o
| xxxxxx | |Key | |
| xxxxxx | |----o |
| xxxxxx | | - - Stairs |
| xxxxxx | | o - Don't destroy this ice |
| ooooooP | | x - Destroy this ice |
| J ooooooP | | P - Pillar |
|-- ooooooP | | J - Jump from here |
| -- ooooooP | o-----------------------------o
o--------------o
Jupm from the stairs, and invoke the use of the Flying Armor soul to land on
the ice. This gives you an easy way of getting over the pillar. With the next
bit of ice, destroy all the ice but the bottom level, and on the next set,
destroy only the top three layers of ice by giving it the cold (ha!) shoulder
with the stylus. Continue with this pattern (of destroying all the ice except
those which are level with the pillar). There's one tricky one, where the
pillar extends from the ceiling, so you have to go under it, but then there's
no apparent way to overcome the next pillar. Do the easy thing, then, and make
a staircase out of the ice to get over the pillar.
In this next room, destroy all the ice to get to the bottom. Head left to grab
a Combat Knife (woo hoo!), and then go back into the other room. It seems hard
to get back up, but you essentially have to use the staircase strategy again.
Destroy the set of 16 ice blocks (4x4) closest to you except for the ice in the
bottom right corner in this fashion:
o----o-----------------o
o--------------o |Key | |
|XXXXoooooooooo| |----o |
|XXXXoooooooooo| | X - Destroy this ice |
|XXXXoooooooooo| | o - Don't |
|XXXooooooooooo| | D - Door |
| oooo| | - Stairs |
D | o----------------------o
D |
|-- |
|---- |
o--------------o
Jump to the lone remaining ice block, and create a staircase of ice to get back
to the top. Now backtrack all the way back to the main room. Drop down to the
bottom of this shaft (giving the Ghosts the shaft while you're at it), and take
the door there. Make your way through this room, and when you come out at the
shaft (there are certainly quite a lot of these) on the other side, drop down
and take the first door on the right. Once you've made your way through the
Manicore-infested room with the creepy painting, make your way up through the
shaft (note: this shaft has a warp room. If you haven't already done so, it
may be a good time to return to The Lost Village and drop by the shop; I
_highly_ recommend getting the Castle Map 2), and head to the top-right door.
Head through the next room (it's nothing new; however, if you're using the Axe,
you can destroy enemies above you by jumping and swinging)) to emerge at a new
room at the top-right corner.
If you have an uncontrollable urge for an Armor Knight soul - which is
understandable, considering you got it at the beginning of the game - this is
the place. Ignore the first set of ice, but as you go through the room,
destroy all the rest of the ice. Run back to the start of the room, jump on
the ice block you spared, and use that to get to the platform. Ride it - and
duck while you're riding it to evade a very inconvenient pillar, hop off and
head two rooms to the right to reach...
Garden of Madness
-----------------
This room has two new enemies: the Une and the Skelerang. The Une is very
easy; just attack it without doing something funny like running over it. As
for the Skelerang, it can, as the more astute among you may derive from its
name, throw a boomerang. Dodge them as you destroy the Skelerangs. That's
really all there is to this room. There's a save point halfway up. Save,
climb to the top, and head left.
This next room has the huge Treant enemy. Aside from the obvious pun in its
name, it's got a nice mythology reference. Anyway, dodge its kicks as you
attack. Once it's destroyed, grab the Magic Seal 2. Awesome! Hop up to the
next room. Take your first left to activate the warp room, and then continue
up through the previous room. There's a new foe here, a Corpseweed, but it's
the same concept as an Une only bigger (because a head sprouts).
In the next room, head right, and grab the Breastplate from atop the ledge
(instead of jumping and getting it by using your video game magic to go through
the pillar, hop on the junk as a stepping stone to that ledge, as we're going
up). Hop onto the next ledge, and go up one more time to find a Skeleton Ape.
This is a Skeleton wielding bad posture and a barrel (this is a Donkey Kong
reference, kids). Take him out (jump over the barrel Mario style if you need
to), and head to the next room.
A Cateoblepas awaits you here. They've got stone breath, so watch out! Take
it out from the doorway (it helps if you use an Axe or something that attacks
in an arc), hop up to the top of the room, and go right. In the next room,
dodge the barrel that the Skeleton Ape will throw at you almost immediately
upon your entrance, kill it, and hop over to the next ledge. Break the lantern
to get the Doppelganger soul.
Now for a word of explanation on this puppy. You'd think a soul with that
title would be interesting, possibly allowing you to, you know, doppelgang
someone (that sounds nasty; it means to look like them, just to clarify). No,
this gives you the ability to alternate between sets of equipment and souls.
Go to your Equipment menu. You'll see an A and a B in the heading. Press X to
switch between them. The game recommends you have a travelling and a fighting
set, but you probably don't have good enough souls for that. Keep this in mind
while equipping - just because you use it on one set doesn't preclude you from
using it in another. For instance, if you have one Warg soul, and it's in your
A soul set, you can still use it in your B soul set.
Here's what I'd do: for now, have a short range and a long range set. Have A
be your go-to equipment/souls; these are what you already use. For B,
concentrate on defense - use your longer reaching bullet souls (e.g., the
summons), and for your equipment, beef up on defense and/or luck, or some other
stat. When necessary, you can do a quick swap. This soul will come in handy
later, or so I hope. This is also good for soul combos (e.g., in this very
room, you can get a Skeleton Farmer soul at the bottom, which enhances the
power of plant souls, and a Mandragora soul, which is already a really strong
soul. If you keep both of these together in a soul set, you can hit for
massive damage.
As I mentioned in the last paragraph, it'd be a good idea to drop to the bottom
of the screen and acquaint yourself with the Skeleton Farmer. He throws out
five seeds: four Unes and one Mandragora. The Unes are harmless, but if you're
in the Mandragora's range (it pops out of the ground and explodes), it'll hurt.
Oddly enough, the background influences his seed throws - he can't throw into
pillars. You really want the Mandragora, and having the Skeleton Farmer is
nice too.
Once you're done, head back to the previous room. If you want some money and a
new weapon (which you may not use), climb to the top of the shaft and head
left. Make your way through this room (there is a new enemy - Rycuda - which
is a weak lightning shooting bird. Make sure to get its soul). Take them out,
drop through the floor, kill the Catoblepas, and go left to find a treasure
chest. Destroy it for some money, grab the Fleuret from the ledge, and head
back to the shaft. Go through the top right door, cross this room to the top
right door here, and head through there.
This shaft contains nothing new, so go through it and exit at the bottom.
Dodge the Skeleton Ape's barrel, and drop to the bottom of this room, go right,
and drop through the floor. Descend through this room until you reach a gold
door marked 777. These are the last three digits you need your money value to
be. There's a light right outside of the door. Break it, grab money, drop
through the floor, come back up, and repeat. Do this until you reach 777 (to
help you out, blue = $1, brown = $10, grey = $50). Enter the room and grab the
Three 7s armor. I recommend equipping this to your alternate equipment setting
for soul harvesting. Anyway, backtrack back to the big room, go all the way
right, and head to...
The Dark Chapel
---------------
Finally. I just wanna give a tangent here real fast. Most of the Metroid-
esque Castlevania (e.g., Symphony of the Night, Circle of the Moon, etc.) have
a chapel in them. No one stops to consider the fact that this has no place in
an unholy castle. That said, this is the base of a religious cult, so they
need a good chapel. GET IT STRAIGHT, KONAMI!
Anyway, there are two Mini Devils. They appear, fly around, and fire these
large crescent, Pharaoh Shot-esque projectiles at you. Dodge them as you
destroy the Mini Devils (who bear, both in name and in visage, a resemblance to
my sisters). Run to the right side of the room, save, and then start hopping
up the ledges. There's one more Mini Devil in your path, but exit at the top
right corner of the room.
This next room is populated with Ghouls, which are upgraded Zombies, but
they're just as easy. There's also a Witch, who will fly around spouting magic
spells, Space style. Ghoul souls are easy to get and recommended - they let
you eat food that's normally "unpalatable" (e.g., Rotten Meat, which you can
get from these guys, etc.).
The next room is filled with Ghost Dancers, who are very easy to take care of
(you only have to destroy one of the pair to take them both out), and their
souls are the luck equivalent of the Golem soul (think about that one for a
second - the suave Ghost Dancers. Luck. UH OH PREGGERS). There's also an
Amalaric Sniper in here. This is the equivalent of the Sniper of Goth from
previous games, and his soul is pretty sweet too. Anyway, hop up the nearest
set of ledges, jump to the right, and grab the Potion. Now drop to about
midway down the room, enter a room on the left (it's a warp room), and now head
to the bottom of the room, working your way through the enemies as you go (in
addition to the Amalarics and the Dancers, The Creature awaits you at the
bottom). Enter the bottom left door.
Now you enter the mainstay of any good church - the torture chamber. Head left
to find a Hell Boar, the blue version of the Slaughterer (wait...a blue
pig...GANON!). The difference between the two is that, in addition to
fireballs, the Hell Boar can attack with an uppercut, so watch out. Ghouls
abound in here too, but they're no threat. Head through the room.
You'll come out in a shaft which get get to explore. Start with the top left
door. In here, you'll encounter a Barbariccia, named for a demon from The
Divine Comedy as well as a certain fast food restaurant. He flies around,
acting clever, wielding a spear. He'll lunge at you occasionally, but he's no
threat. Grab the $2000 and regress to the previous room.
Drop through the shaft, watching out for the Bone Pillars (they be shootin'
fiuh!). Take the first left to find a White Dragon. Get under it (to dodge
its attacks), and use your souls/Axe to take it out. Swipe the Traveler Cape
(you can equip it to your B set of equipment if you like), and then return to
the shaft. Finish your descent, and head left.
Your first new foe in this room is a Guillotiner. It splits apart into a head
and a...um...lower body, but you only need to destroy one part. Once you've
taken care of it, head down the shaft to the bottom, and take the right door.
In this room, you'll find a Barbariccia, but before you go killing it, look at
the ceiling - spike traps. Get close to them, let them fall and rise again,
and then run under them. There are two in this room, so watch out! In the
next room, grab the Red Scarf, and then head back to the shaft and take the
bottom left door.
In this room, take out the Bone Pillars (if you have it, the Mandragora soul
rocks for this), and do what you can to destroy the Hell Boar on the other side
of the partition. Look at the pink wall - it's got a picture of a Skeleton on
it. Equip the Skeleton soul, lob a bone at the wall, and watch the wall come
tumbling down. Now watch out - there's a rogue White Dragon here who'll be
spitting fireballs. Dodge them as best you can while you get under it. Grab
the Halberd, kill the White Dragon, and then backtrack to the Ghost Dancer room
(if you don't remember where it is, check the map - it's the room touching the
nearest warp room).
Once in the dance hall, head up to the top left corner of the room, and go
through the door there. This room has two Great Armors, who are great
pushovers, despite their size. Get up close to them (in real life, this would
be a mistake), and hit them with your Bullet Souls and with whatever weapon you
have. Make sure to back up if they get too close. The Great Armor soul is
pretty sweet - it's a familiar, though. At the end of the room, continue on
int he only direction you can.
The next room contains a Valkyrie, a winged warrior who flies around and tries
to spear you. Kill her off (if you use the Great Sword as I do, you'll want to
get her soul so as to be able to upgrade the Great Sword), and exit the room
through the upper exit. You'll be met with a Witch and a never ending supply
of Ghosts in this room. Hop onto the platform, ride it up, and jump over to
the platforms on the right. Continue on to exit the room on the right side.
Ascend this shaft to the top, and head right. This takes you to a passage with
a Tombstone, which is a tombstone (as you may have inferred) with the ability
to throw a temper tantrum. You may want its soul, as it stops petrification,
which is useful later on. Kill it, and head to the next room, which is the
bell tower. There are Mini Devils in here. Destroy them all while you climb
to the top left corner. Grab the Anti-Venom, and then backtrack to the last
shaft. Use the top left room as a save point, and then drop to the bottom of
the shaft, and enter the door...
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
BOSS: DMITRII BLINOV
After a nice cutscene (imagine him saying that with a Russian accent; it's
funnier), you'll fight Dmitrii with cool music. He'll lumber over to you and
use the Cthulu attack you just saw. That attack's easy to dodge, but you want
an easier one. I recommend using either an Une, a Student Witch, a Skeleton,
or a Zombie soul. Regardless, Dmitrii is very easy to figure out. He'll use
whatever soul you've used on him (and when you use a new one, he'll copy that
too), knife you if you get close, jump around, or dash backwards - he's
essentially Soma.
I recommend using whatever soul you're using to beat him. Additionally, if you
have a long range weapon (e.g., an Axe), you can use that too. Jump towards
him, smack him, and move away. Rinse and repeat. He's a very easy boss. Note
that you don't need to use a Magic Seal at the end.
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
(note: When you beat him, Soma exclaims, "What? Dead? That can't be!"
Because dying is not normally what one does when one is whacked several
times by a large weapon and/or screaming plants.)
When you've beaten him, you'll gain his soul (though you won't be able to use
it). Go back to the shaft, save, and then return to Dmitrii's room. He's been
replaced by a Quetzalcoatl, a Fleaman on a dragon. It bounces around, so look
for the spaces between the dragon bones, and then attack. Once he's been
bested, head to the next room. This room is very simple. Head through it, and
at the top you'll find...
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
BOSS: MALPHAS
Malphas is exactly like Symphony of the Night's Karasuman. He's just as easy
too. Malphas has three basic attacks. The first is an attack where he summons
black ravens to him and faces you. When you see this, move so that you're
behind him (when he flies up) so you can dodge his onslaught of black feathers.
For his second attack, he flies and faces you, the player (not you Soma; i.e.,
he's facing forward). When he does this, get under him to dodge the blue
feathers. His final attack is to summon these orbs which will try to track you
down. Jump over them. The best plan is to stay under him while he's in the
air - if you see an orb forming, run away, and when they come near you, jump
back towards Malphas; if you see blue feathers, stay still. When he lands, you
know he's about to break into the first attack.
In between attacks, smack him a few times. This is really easy with the first
attack, as he's firing away from you, making him a sitting duck...er, raven.
Mutant raven. You get it. Make sure to have the stylus ready for the Magic
Seal. Also, make sure you remember how to do the seal (start from the top
right, go to the bottom left, to the bottom right, to the top left).
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
Now you get the Malphas soul, which lets you double jump. Additionally, if you
press down and jump while double jumping, you'll do a jump kick. It rocks.
Sweet. Grab the orb, and head back to the previous room. On your way down the
first set of stairs, notice how there are two squares that extend onto the
stairs. Stand by the first square, activate the Flying Armor, and jump right.
As you fall, jump again to double jump up to the ledge. Grab the Hoop Earring,
and now head back to the save point. From here, if you want, head back to the
bell tower, climb to the top right bell, activate the Flying Armor, and
fall/double jump to land on a ledge just below the top ledge to grab a High
Mind Up. Anyway, from the save point, drop down and take your first left.
Once back in this room, go left to the platform that rises and falls. When it
reaches its peak, double jump around the ledge to get a Power Belt. Now
backtrack to the dance hall. Drop and take your first left. Go left two
rooms, and in that room, go as far left as possible. You can double jump onto
a ledge to get a Long Sword, and then return to the room with the Dancing
Ghosts to use the warp.
If you'd like to get some map percentage now (and a few items), read this part;
otherwise, skip this section.
***EXPLORING***
The Lost Village
----------------
Warp here, and then head back to the second room in the game. It takes some
cleverness to get up to the upper parts of this room. Stand on the left side
of the room near the door. Wait for a Bat to come by, jump kick him, and
double jump to the ledge above you. Head to the room to the left to get a
Pumpkin Pie. Now head back to the previous room, and move right to the next
room.
Double jump up to the upper parts of this room. There's a High Potion in the
upper left corner, and a door leading to the Demon Guest House in the upper
right.
Demon Guest House
-----------------
Ignore the Persephones for now (well, you can kill them if you like; they're
not overly powerful, and this is the area we're heading to next anyway), and go
all the way right to reach a weird room. Grab the Cestus, and then return
to...
The Lost Village
----------------
Drop down to the bottom, and then run right for a few rooms until you reach the
castle moat. From the doorway, double jump to the ledge above you, and then
double jump to the ledge above that. Run right to grab the Crimson Cloak. Now
head back to the warp room, and warp back to the Garden of Madness.
***END EXPLORING***
Garden of Madness
-----------------
When you've warped here (it's the third warp from the left, if you're lost),
ascend the passage, and in the nex troom, take the top right exit. You'll be
in another shaft with a Catoblepas. Climb that shaft, take the top left door,
and go left. This is all old stuff. Go left until you reach the pile of junk
with a skull above it. Double jump to that skull, grab the Elfin Robe, and
take out the Skeleton Apes. In the next room, kill the Mollusca (I recommend
jump kicking it until it gets backed into a corner - hitting its eye stalks
seem to achieve that - and then taking it out with a weapon), and progress to
the next room.
This room has two Ents- er, Treants as well as a Barbariccia, all of whom
should present no threat to you at this point. At the far right, there's a
save point. Use it, go back to the last room, and ascend to the next room,
take out the Rycuda, and enter the boss door.
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
BOSS: DARIO BOSSI
After a nice, friendly chat with Dario, you'll get ready to fight - again with
awesome music.
This fiery foe presents way more of a threat than his counterpart did, but he's
still nothing you can't handle. His attacks are thus: He can shoot a fireball
at you. Jump over the fireball (there's a trend!). His other attacks are
preceded by a "Hahaha!" - these include a fire wave (jump over this) - though
the "Hahaha!" here comes right when he punches the ground, teleporting (if he
wants to be Drac, he's got this down!), and creating fire pillars (the trend
with these is that he'll create one fire pillar close to him. A second fire
pillar will emerge at a length away from him, and shortly thereafter, another
will come up between these two. The trick is to, when you see the first fire
pillar, run away from Dario. If you need help figuring out the locations of
these pillars, right before they come up, you'll see some fire, followed by the
pillar).
The time to extinguish this pugnacious punk is after he attacks. There's a
pause between each attack. Move in - preferably with a quick weapon or with a
Bullet Soul - attack, and get ready to move away to counter his next attack.
Familiars don't help too much.
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
Once you've utterly humiliated Dario, a cutscene will ensue (wherein Celia
breaks the fourth wall!). Go back, save, and then proceed to the room after
Dario's. Fight your way through this disturbingly easy room, and at the top,
go left to get to...
Demon Guest House
-----------------
In this pleasant area, head left, and take out the Persephones. They know Kung
Fu, so watch out (hint: girls with Kung Fu - doesn't work). In the next room,
you'll meet up with Genya Arikado, who will give you Mina's Talisman. Once the
cutscene's done, continue left. In this massive room, drop down the
chandeliers until you reach a room on the right. It's a save point, so make
use of it. Continue to the bottom, through the Ghost Dancers. There's a Devil
at the bottom. Take him out, and head right. In this room, kill Persephone,
grab the money, and run.
Now head back up to the save point. Head left from there, killing the Lilith
(note that if she hits you with her kiss, you lose all your MP - you're
cursed). When you get to a hole, drop down the hole, and take the left door.
In here, go left, killing your foes as you go. At the far left is where the
fun begins.
There's a puzzle in this room. You already saw part of it if you did the
backtracking. If you don't want any treasure, you can skip this part and just
head through the door and follow the path to the top, but where's the fun in
that? Now, you need to chart a path to the following rooms:
Room 1 : Cestus
Room 5 : Cutall
Room 8 : Turquoise Stud
Room 9 : Justaucorps
Room 12: Great Sword
Additionally, find a way to exit in the top right corner to get a Ring Mail.
If you went exploring earlier, you already have the Cestus. The bottom left
corner takes you to The Lost Village, the top right to the Ring Mail, the
bottom right to the puzzle room, and the top left to where you need to go. The
trick is to touch the tiles with the stylus to move them - it's a very classic
game. If you want 100% map coverage, you've gotta visit all 16 rooms (the 15
numbered ones plus the blank square - the blank square is a free space; it
takes you all four ways). Once you're done, go back, hit reset, and follow the
path.
This room has Killer Dolls which curse you if you touch them, so be careful as
you make your way up. The next room has a Killer Clown, who attacks you with
cards after he shuffles them about three times. You really want his soul for
later in the game, so now is as good a time as any to get it. Continue through
the room, and take the top left door. Cross the piano (nobody knows what the
heck this does - email me if you do!), and go to the next room. This room has
a TON of Bone Pillars! It's great for soul harvesting. The trick here,
though, is strategy. Knock down all the Bone Pillars but five in the first
column, and double jump on top of them. From here, kill off some of the next
column's Bone Pillars, but leave about two or three higher than you. Continue
this process until you can go no higher. Jump from column to column to find a
hole. Starting from the left, make yourself an ice stairway to heaven. At the
top are some War Fatigues (the top right houses an UMA News 2-4). Now
backtrack to the room before the piano room, and head through the top right
door. This next room has a Buer wheel in it, which is the flaming wheel of
Hell. Kill it like the rest of the foes, and take the top right door.
In here, drop down real fast to grab the High Potion, and then return to the
above room. Take out the Skelerang (this is turning into the Demon Fun House,
not the Demon Guest House). Something about Lilith really disturbs me, though.
Or turns me on, one. Anyway, take the top left door. In the next room, run
left, kill the Killer Clown (as pennace for your childhood nightmares), and in
the left room, you'll see a warp room. Sweet! Anyway, take either the top
left or the top right exits (they both work, though if you cross the room,
you'll encounter the Devil, who's designed to make you feel right at home in
the Guest House), ascend the shaft, and enter the next room.
This room is really chaotic - you've got Quetzalcoatls, Buers, Killer Clowns,
etc. In the top right corner is a room with three Killer Dolls and the Uma
News 2-2. The top left corner has the overly complicated Magic Seal 3, which
is definitely a necessity. Finally, go to the upper right side of the room,
and exit through the top. Make use of the save point to the right, and then
enter the boss door.
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
BOSS: PUPPET MASTER
I dislike this boss. He's got three main attacks. He can summon miniature
ghosts who fly around and try to hurt you (kill them off). The second is to
summon a monster to hold in his hand. You need to destroy this monster, or
you'll switch places with him and end up in one of the spiked coffins. The
third and most effective - he's plain ugly.
Your top priority are the monsters in his hands - if you get into a coffin, it
will hurt a lot. You'll see and hear some blue sparks when he's summoning the
monster. Destroy it (it'll take two hits), and then attack the Puppet Master
himself. The Mandragora soul is great for inflicting damage on the Puppet
Master himself.
As for the monsters, use the Doppleganger soul - equip your Knife to the B
attack setting, and when you hear the Puppet Master summon a monster, do two
quick jabs to defeat the monster, switch back to set A, and move on.
The Mandragora is also great for destroying all of the little marionettes he
sends out.
With this strategy, he should be relatively simple. The biggest danger is just
getting coffined up in a coffin.
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
Take the orb and his soul, and retreat from the room. Save. Now's a good time
for me to tell you about the Puppet Master soul - you throw a puppet and switch
places with it. If you've done any exploring, you may have noticed small
crevices through which you couldn't fit because Soma's a little on the hefty
side. If you throw a puppet through there, you can make it. Awesome. Now for
a _ton_ of backtracking. You know the first save point in the Demon Guest
House? Go there.
The best way to do so is by going a few rooms right of the warp room - it
connects to a shaft (use the Puppet Master soul to get through) that leads back
to a large room. Head to the right side of the room (note: if you ignored my
advice earlier, definitely get the Killer Clown soul here now). Go through the
door at the far right side to find two Killer Dolls and $2000. Continue down
until you find another room, containing a Persephone and a Devil (if you kill
the Devil first, the Persephone has to hold her dress down, so she's
defenseless). Kill them both, take the UMA News 1-2, and continue. The bottom
room contains a Skeleton Waiter. Kill him, and then sit in the chair. A
Crown will appear - take it (you can sell it to Hammer - it's a reference to
the original Castlevania). Now run left, drop through the hole, and you'll be
in the room outside of the aforementioned save room. Drop down to the bottom,
go left, and drop through the floor. Kill off the Persephone, lob a puppet
through the crack, and take the High Mind Up. Drop through the floor, and head
left for a few rooms, reuniting with some old foes. At the far end, you'll
reach...
The Lost Village
----------------
It always comes back to here. Kill off the Skeleton Ape and the Warg, and head
left. Hit the switch to lower the drawbridge that Julius used to show off
earlier. Head left, and if you missed the exploring section from earlier, take
this time to do all of that. Make for the warp, buy whatever you need, and
then warp to the Dark Chapel.
The Dark Chapel
---------------
You wanna head for the torture chamber area (that sounds weird, but bear with
me). Drop to the bottom of this dance hall to do so. Make your way through
here to the last shaft in the torture chamber region (we explored this area
earlier; you should have rooms in both directions at the bottom of this shaft).
Take the first right in this shaft to reach a room where you can use the Puppet
Master soul. Watch out for the spike trap above you (75% of you read this
sentence after being hit by it - haha, you suckers), lob the puppet through the
crack, and take out the Catoblepas and Guillotiner you find here as you move
right. Watch out for the spike trap near the Barbariccia. Once overcoming it,
head through the door.
Subterranean Hell
-----------------
Well this is an encouraging name. First thing's first. Drop to the bottom of
this room. The only new foe here is the Dead Pirate - fortunately, he's not
too hARRd. Watch out for the sword swipes. If you use the Puppet Master soul,
you can get around him, incidentally. At the bottom is a save point. Use it,
and then head back to the top. Go through the right door. Kill off the Cave
Troll (it hops around, sticks its tongue out, and summons lightning. Kill it
before it does the latter), and head through the boss door. Oh good, this is
early.
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
BOSS: RAHAB
At first glance, you're screwed. You're fighting a water foe. You can't swim
underwater. Yay!
His attacks are fairly simple. Rahab can jump out of the water and fall back
in. Occasionally, he'll launch some icicles below him, so watch out for those.
He can also fire ice that turns into platforms. You can tell where Rahab is by
the air bubbles.
If you have a good Bullet Soul (e.g., Mandragora), a weapon like the Great
Sword or the Axe, or even the Bomber Armor soul, you might be able to hit him
while he's underwater, but your best bet is to wait for him to shoot ice
platorms. Jump onto the platforms as leverage to attack.
So that's basically your strategy - wait him out, attack when you can, and be
done with it. He can't hurt you that much. Also, note that you don't have to
hit his head - anywhere on his body will do.
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
At first having the orb fall underwater seems cruel, but Rahab's soul gives you
the ability to - the more astute of you may have seen this coming - walk
underwater. Jump up (you can jump an unlimited amount of times underwater with
Rahab's soul, plus once more above water), admire the background, go back and
save, and then progress to the right. As a side note, judging by the music,
the overall ambience, and the boss here (fish boy), odds are against this
really being true Hell. And in videogames, if it's not fiery Hell, it's puzzle
Hell. OH NO!
In this room, you'll see a Decarabia spin down to the bottom. Go down and spin
it right round, baby. Also, watch out for the Fish Heads, aquatic, missile
launching versions of the Bone Pillars. Go up the stairs, and jump to the
ledge above you to see a treasure chest. This is actually a Mimic, so watch
out - its bite is worse than its bark. Destroy it, drop down, and drop through
the floor.
Drop to the left, take out the Needles, and see a massive stack of Fish Heads.
This seems intimidating. That's exactly right. Or it would be if you didn't
have Mandragora (I really hope you do). Use it to destroy them all in one or
two hits. Now head right, grab the $2000, and then continue left. You'll
reach a fork - take the upper path, destroy the Killer Fish and Needleses, hop
up, take out the Fish Heads and Merman (make sure, as you go through here, that
you get some Merman souls. It'll help a ton for a boss fight later), and grab
the Chain Mail. Return to the fork and take the lower fork. Jump over the
large Fish Head set, drop down, and use the Mandragora strategy to take them
out again. Kill the Merman, grab the High Mind Up, and continue right. Go
right as far as you can, kill the Killer Fish (turnabout is fair play and all),
and grab the Rusty Food Tin. Now head left as far as you can.
I recommend you make small double jumps to descend through this Needles
infested passage. Dodge them, head up the next passage and down the last.
Exit to the left. Run as far left as you can to lure the icy Procel to you.
Procel's soul is one you really want - it's an Ability Soul that lets you walk
freely underwater. Lure it to you, use the Mandragora, exit, re-enter, and
repeat until you have this rare soul. Once you get it, continue left through
the room - try to stay on land - and exit to the left.
In here, hop up to the ledge and kill the Frozen Shade. She'll summon three
icicles, aim them at you, and then fire them. Dodge them and attack. I highly
recommend that at some point, you get her soul. It's even better if you max it
out. It makes some stuff later easier. At the top, go right. In here, you'll
want to use the hammer weapons you have on the seesaw - it's an old carnival
game. The Mace will net you a Potion. To get the other prizes (the
Morgenstern nets you a High Potion, while the Mjollnjr gets you a Super
Potion), you need to upgrade the Mace via the weapon synthesizer (and
fortunately, there's a warp coming up). Exit the room and head left to the
next room.
Jump kick the Unes, and drop to the bottom. As you go left, you'll find
another member of the Une family - the Alura Une. She's evil. She'll sprout
these sharp vines to attack you if you come near her, and she can also shoot
out some flowers. Jump over the flowers, and attack from a distance with a
Bullet Soul. Once you've eliminated her, continue left. In here, run left and
go into the room above you.
In here, you'll find the pyromanical Ukoback. Dodge the fire and then attack
(hey, it's a rap smack!). You really, really want his soul (not for using it
now, but it'll come in handy later - trust me), and this room is one of the
best places to get it, so do so now. Once you have it, exit to the right.
This room has a Bone Ark. It's a demonic skull version of the Ark of the
Covenant. It's also really powerful - it has two carriers (who give up souls
as readily as the Ark) and a skull. Take out the carriers and jump behind the
Ark to smash it. Get its soul, and then backtrack two rooms.
In this large room, drop to the bottom, head right, and collect $2000 (if only
this happened in real life!). Now run left into the next room.
The left door here is a warp room. Use it to return to The Lost Village and
save if you want (I also recommend right now that you get your gold supply so
that the last three digits are 666 - and leave it like that for awhile. Trust
me, it'll save you so much grief later, and there are plenty of candles around
here) - you can synthesize the Mace and go back to the earlier game if you
want. Once you're done, go back into the previous room and drop through the
hole. This next room has nothing new. Grab the Mushroom from the left (make
sure to use the Ghoul soul if you need to eat it!), and navigate your way
through this room. Head left at the bottom to find another Ukoback. Get its
soul here if you haven't already, and then continue into the next room.
Drop down to the bottom of the shaft. There's a save point to your right. Use
it, and then head left. This room serves almost no purpose to us right now, so
drop to the bottom and go left. Watch out for the Medusa Heads - the gold ones
can petrify you, so in order to make sure they don't kill one stone with two
freaky head birds, dodge the yellow ones (though you can jump kick them).
The next room is a shaft with Dead Pirates and an Ukoback. It's nothing new or
haRRRRD. Kill them all, and head to the next room. This room is apparently
insurmountable, but if you got the Bone Ark soul, it's really pretty easy.
Just use the Bone Ark, watch the funny bit with Soma riding the Bone Ark across
the spikes, and at the end, take the door to reach...
Wizardry Lab
------------
We're in a funky new area of this level. Drop into the water to find a
Homunculus. They're attached to life support systems and try to chase you.
There are two ways of dealing with them: kill them or let them chase you.
After awhile, they'll break apart from their oxygen supply, and after a little
more chasing, they'll suffocate (I recommend everyone sees this, as this is
something you must see once in your life - as is Michael Jackson's face). Head
left, and when you pass the second Homunculus, jump up to the top of the water
to grab a Serenity Robe. Drop back down, continue left, kill off one more
Homunculus, jump to the top, and go left.
In here, you've got two Larvae to deal with. They're just caterpillars that
squirm around. Nothing too bad. Drop to the bottom and head left. In here,
drop to the bottom and collect the Super Potion (after killing your pal
Homunculus). Jump back up and continue left. At the far left is a pit leading
to a Bloody Stud (what you get when a guy finds out his cheerleader girlfriend
is cheating on him - hah!). Now jump up to the top and head left.
I really utterly despise this next room. It's the kind of room where you think
something should be located or something should happen, BUT IT DOESN'T. Keep
on moving. This next room is funky, so we're skipping it for now. Drop down,
take out the Mermen, and head left. This room is populated by all manner of
Killer Fish and Homunculuses...Homunculi. At the far upper left is a golden
door with 666 on it. You need the last three digits of your monetary supply to
end in 6. (the last room with just candles only seems to supply $1 coins,
though). If you didn't follow my advice earlier about this, read on and then
backtrack - but it'll be painful (albeit worthwhile). Enter the door, grab the
Gold Ring (equip this immediately - Hammer has had, since you defeated Malphas,
a ring in his shop called the Soul Eater Ring. It costs $300,000, but it's
well worth it. The Gold Ring increases the amount of money monsters and
candles drop - it's not uncommon to get $500 in one drop), and then backtrack
to the junction room with the massive amount of Ghosts (it's right after the
weird room with the candles).
This room really stinks. Or it did for me, as I had to backtrack through here
to get the 666 money thing going. Also, I didn't have the following really
convenient map. This room is really annoying - Ghosts are everywhere, spawning
infinitely and existing in majorly not nice numbers, and you have to navigate
through an invisible series of platforms. Your only clue as to their location
is that the Ghosts pass right through them, and you can see the platforms.
While the Ghost soul helps here, because there are so many enemies, you don't
really get a good chance to use it. I recommend having the Armor Lord soul
ready to go to defend yourself. The only way to get through this room is to
use the Ghosts as boosts - jump kick them to elevate Soma up.
-------------------
| | o----o--------o
| | | | |Key | |
D | | | |----o |
|---------- ------| | D - Door |
| | | | - Barrier |
| --- | | - - Barrier |
| | | \ - Ramp |
| --- | o-------------o
| |
| --- |
| |
|---- -- |
| | |
| | |
| | | |
| | -----------|
|---- |
| |
| D
\ /
\ /
\ /
-------
(next area)
That should give you an idea. And now I can walk you through it. Double jump
off Ghosts to get up into the maze. When you can't jump higher, go left.
You'll land on a platform. Double jump up, right, and left again (you're going
around a platform), and then double jump to the platform above you. Double
jump from there across the way to the upper right platform, and jump kick
Ghosts to get into the upper area. If any Ghosts knock you off, use the
platforms according to the map. Have fun! Go left at the top.
This room has an Iron Golem. Use Puppet Master to get behind him. No matter
what, you'll always deal 1 HP of damage to him, so you'll wanna use a
weapon/soul that can hit multiple times, such as the Kaiser Knuckle or the Une
soul.
The Lost Village
----------------
Hey, we're back! Immediately slide under the White Dragon and take it out with
Mandragora. Now begin your ascent. After awhile, you'll reach a door. Go
through it.
Wizardry Lab
------------
You just need to connect the dots on the map real fast. There are two new
enemies in here - a Great Axe Armor and a Heart Eater. The Heart Eaters are
easy - just kill them with Mandragora and take the massive amount of hearts
they drop. For the Great Axe Armor and its huge axe (compensating for
something?), run up to it. If you're right next to it, it can't hurt you. Let
him have it, and then run right. Take the UMA News 4 and hit the switch. Now
retreat back to the shaft.
The Lost Village
----------------
Continue up the shaft. As you go up, you'll see an object on the right side
that's pick upable (it's my new word; shut up). Don't get it yet. Continue to
the top to find a basin of water next to a drain switch. Step on the switch to
get access to the upper area of The Lost Village, but wait, there's more! Drop
back down to the aforementioned object. Collect it, the Neck Warmer, and then
drop to the nearest ledge on the left side of the shaft. In between this ledge
and the next ledge on the left side is a secret door. Attack the wall to open
it (it's closer to the upper ledge), and go through.
This room has both known versions of the Axe Armor. Take them out, grab the
Caviar at the far end, and continue on. There are Mermen in this room, but
they're nothing you can't handle. Kill them, ascend to the top, and drain the
water again. Head up through here to reach your main base of operations -
Hammer's shop, Yoko's syntheizer, a warp, and a save point. Excellent. I used
this opportunity to save up for a Soul Eater Ring (Gold Ring + Ghost Dancer
soul + Zombie/Warg/Axe Armor room + Cestus trick). Don't do this. It takes
forever. Just keep the Gold Ring equipped. It's easier. Buy what you need
to, and then warp back to...
Subterranean Hell
-----------------
Well that was fun. Head two rooms to the right from the warp, and in here, go
right until you reach some platforms, and then head back up to the Ukoback
room. Go through here, and in the next room (the Bone Ark room), head all the
way right to find a save point. Leave the save room and head up. Grab the UMA
News 1-3, and then go all the way left. Take out the Frozen Shades, and use a
Bullet Soul on the treasure box. It's a Mimic in disguise, and these things
will hop around you with their vicious fangs - like you'd expect a treasure
chest to do. Now drop back to the platforms and head up. Ascend all the way
through this shaft to reach...
Garden of Madness
-----------------
Everyone should seem ever so weak in here. It's too easy. Near the top is a
room on the right. Kill the Treant and take the Small Sword. At the top of
the shaft, head left, and continue left until you reach the warp room. From
there, warp to...
The Dark Chapel
---------------
You emerge in the dance hall. Work your way up to the top exit, and then go
through it. Duh. Continue working your way through this region - your
ultimate goal is the next save point. From there, head right. I once again
highly recommend that you get the Tombstone soul from here, as it'll really
help. In the bell tower, ascend the bells and get to the top right side of the
room. Toss a Puppet Master puppet through the crack and continue right.
Now you're in a brand new massive room. Drop down and head right. Jump over
the crack, and stand in between the two broken parts of the pillar. Equip the
Puppet Master soul, double jump, and lob a puppet up to the ledge where the
sword is. This'll get you up there. Grab the Kotetsu, and then return back to
the gap. The next level has a Quetzalcoatl. Kill it, and then head left.
Jump over the gap and continue left to get the UMA News 3-2. Drop off the
ledge, and head right. Equip the Flying Armor and Puppet Master souls.
Activate the Flying Armor, jump right, double jump after a few seconds, and
when you get relatively close to the ledge, toss a puppet up there to get a
High Potion. Drop down and head left now. Go right, drop down the ledge, hit
the button, and now run right to finally get out of this massive room from Hell
and reach...
Condemned Tower
---------------
Head through the entryway (check out the music!), and into the next room. Take
out the Draghiganazzo (which is an upgraded version of Barbariccia,
appropriately enough - they're both devils from The Divine Comedy), and keep on
going. The next room is another one of those horrible rooms that feels like it
has some significance but doesn't, so just keep going. In the next room, grab
the Mind Up, and go to the door beyond the Mind Up to find Julius. MORE
ENIGMATICNESS!
After the scene, go back to the previous room, and start your climb. When you
reach the door, keep going up to find a Silver Stud. Drop back to the highest
door, and enter it. This room hsa a Disc Armor. Jump over its disc as you
attack it. It's pretty easy. Exit to the left, and then begin ascending this
shaft. Climb to the door and go through it.
Kill off the Fleaman, and continue on through. Climb up to the top of this
region and drop through the platforms. Continue left. There's a trend here.
Kill these Fleamen, and then go through the Skeleton Ape-infested next shaft.
At the top of the shaft is a Great Axe Armor. Remember, get up close and
attack to avoid its Great Axe. Its soul is pretty Great, so it couldn't hurt
to get it (although it's rare). Continue on up to grab an Estoc, drop back
down to the door, and go right.
This room has a Werewolf, who fights as dirty as the one in Symphony of the
Night. It can dash at you really fast (jump out of the way), or do an attack
where it clings to the wall and drops down, sending fire in both directions!
Kill it really fast (try to get its soul and use it to get the Kaiser Knuckle,
as it's effective against Iron Golems), and then work your way up through the
rest of the room. The next room has a Buer, so watch out for it speeding at
you the second you enter. In the next room, climb to the top to grab the UMA
News 2-3, and then drop back to the highest door in the room. Exit through
there. A Great Axe Armor inhabits this room. Kill him, and then destroy the
Fleamen in the next room. At the top of the room, save, and then enter the
boss door (note the snake seal: SNAKES ON A CONDEMEND TOWER, BABY)
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
BOSS: GERGOTH
This boss is a pain. If you have too hard a time against him, use the Great
Axe Armors to level up (there's a room with one right near the boss room).
The strategy for this is almost counterintuitive. The first thing I want to do
when I see a giant dinosaur - and ask people from Tokyo; they'd agree - is run.
You want to get right next to him. Be under his head and duck, as it's the
best place to counter his three attacks. His first is to shoot this massive
beam at you. When he does this, get right next to his feet and duck. It's
ever so critical to dodge this attack. If you disagree, get hit by it and
check the damage. His second is to back into the back wall and then jump
across the room. When he does this, run with him. Get so his rib cage will
land on you, and then duck - this keeps you safe. His third attack his harder
to counter - it will appear that he is charging up for the beam, but he'll
bite. All you can do is dodge as you would the laser.
As for attacking, just do it constantly. Toss a few Mandragrenades (Mandragora
+ grenade), hit him with your sword, and just make sure to dodge his attacks,
as they hurt like crazy. When the battle's halfway over, his face will turn
red. Back away to the closest wall. He'll go ballistic and break the floor.
At the bottom, he'll - and this is one of the greatest scenes in the game - get
his head stuck in the ground. Let him have it at this point. When he breaks
free, the battle really gets rough. He loses his anklets and can seriously
jump around now. Slide under him when he jumps. His other new trick is to
shoot gas out of his rib cage (as opposed to...). Dodge this gas - it's really
localized to right in front of him, so just get away. Other than that, he
keeps the same old attacks, so you keep the same old dodges. You get his sweet
soul when you finally seal him away.
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
After that pain, you'll notice you're at the bottom of the tower now. Now you
get to climb it again. I'll refer you to the earlier directions if you need
help. The only thing new is the lack of a floor in some rooms (because that's
what tends to happen when giant extinct zombies fall on them), so use the
double jump + Flying Armor combo to get through there. Get to a door quickly
if you miss a door. When you cross Gergoth's room, you'll get the Tower Key.
The next room is a warp room. Use it if you want, but then return to Gergoth's
ruins. Drop down two doors and go left. Climb this room until you reach the
first door. Go through it, and run into the barrier to open it. Once it
opens, proceed to the door.
Cursed Clock Tower
-----------------
Run left to see a cutscene. Julius tells you to stay away. So keep going
left. I love the music here.
Anyway, welcome to the requisite clock tower level. Every Castlevania has one.
Drop to the floor, and use the candle (the Gold Ring helps here too) to get the
last three digits of your gold supply to be 573. Now go through the door to
get a Shaman Ring.
Drop to the bottom of this long shaft and head through the door on your left.
Because clock towers are obviously nothing but a bunch of pendulums and spikes
in the real world, you're met with some pendulums here. Equip the Flying Armor
soul to make this journey a little less arduous. When the pendulum is swinging
towards you and passes the midpoint of its oscillation, jump for it. Ride this
pendulum until it reaches its peak on the left side of the oscillation, and
then jump to the next pendulum. Hop off here onto the solid platform and move
to the next pendulum. From here, you have two options. You can either sit
here and wait for the movements of the pendulums to be such that you can safely
hop to the next one, or using the Flying Armor soul, you can make a leap of
faith. It depends on just how you roll. Either way, once on the other side,
head through the door.
This spikey shaft introduces the wonder of the Golden Medusa Head. Unlike
their verdant counterparts, these ladies can turn you to stone (they're just
that ugly. I think this is a racist statement), so try your best to avoid them
(if you have the Tombstone soul, now is the time to equip it). Drop to the
bottom of this shaft (either running against the motion of the gears or
pressing down and B to drop down through them), avoiding the spikes, and head
west. This room opens with an Imp and a Harpy. Take them out quickly
(especially the Imp, as the Imp can take control of you), and continue left.
The next foe is a difficult one. This is a Malachi. Although the name is
Biblical, the only thing holy about him is that holy is the first word in the
two word phrase you'll exclaim upon fighting him. The second word is one I'll
leave to your imagination, but Malachi has two attacks: he can summon this star
looking thing, which shoots out slow moving balls of plasma (duck these), or if
you're close, he'll coil up and slash you. Back off if he does this, and beat
him down with Mandragora/your sword. Deal with the Harpy/Imp combo, and drop
down the hole at the end of the room.
In this room, run left so as to avoid the Tanjelly. Take him out, and then
deal with the Dead Pirate to your right. Go through the door to find another
spikey, gear-y shaft with Medusa Heads and Imps. Drop to the bottom of the
room and run left to find a door.
Garden of Madness
-----------------
Take out the two Corpseweeds here. Take out the Skelerangs on your way down
through the room, making sure to kill the two Unes at the bottom. I think Une
is Latin for something. Maybe "TOTALLY GOT THE SMACK DOWN OH SNAP?" Possibly.
Anyway, continue on. Make quick work of the Rycudas in here, and in the next
room, snuff out the Catoblepas. Continue working your way through this room
until you get to the bottom. Here, use the Frozen Shade or Fleaman souls to
take out all the Yoricks and Unes at the bottom. Drop through the whole at the
end of the room. Run to the far right side of the room to get a Handgun. Be
wary of the Mimic in the treasure chest above you. Now backtrack all the way
to where you entered the Garden of Madness, busting caps up the rears of
enemies as you please (if you deign to equip the Handgun).
Once at the top of this shaft, head left. While this room has Ghouls, the main
attraction here is Wakwak Tree. This thing grows Fleamen. Destroy the little
pus-looking balls as they arise (so as to destroy the Fleamen before they're a
problem), and cut the brances in order to kill the tree. Once it's been
defeated, hop on the switch to the left. Use the map to get to a save point if
you like; otherwise, regress back to the door and back to the...
Cursed Clock Tower
------------------
The return trip is a lot harder than the fore trip. Take out the Imp, and run
right. Hop on the vertical platform, and use it to get to the gear. Use the
gear to get to the door. Continue backtracking until you get to the shaft just
before the Malachi room. Ascend to the top of this shaft and take the left
exit. This room is nothing new - just two Harpies, two Imps, and a Catoblepas.
Once they've been exterminated, move left through the door.
Drop to the bottom of this room, and go left to get to another room with an
Army Jacket. Now backtrack all the way back to the first shaft in the Cursed
Clock Tower.
Ascend to the top of this room and head left. This room is tricky. Look at
the pistons:
XXOXX
X = Don't stay here long
O = Rest point
The middle ons is bloodless. So run to the third piston and duck. Wait for
the pistons to begin to go back down, and the second you have enough room, run
to the other side of the pistons, sliding so as to decrease your height. The
same principle holds for the next set of pistons: duck on the first, and
run/slide to the last. After that, you're home free to move to the next room.
Drop to the bottom left of this shaft (the bottom right has our old friend,
spikes), and run into that room to save. Now hop on the platform and ride it
to its apex. From here, hop onto the next platform and take that to the room
at the top. Head right. This next room has a bunch of rotating spikes.
Great. Run along the bottom, dodging the lower part of the spikes as you go.
Be extra careful when you get to the three-pronged spike bar. Hop onto the top
ledge, and do the reverse of what you just did (be really careful with the 120
degree spiked one - wait for the longer break between spike attacks to run),
and enter the room above you.
This room has a lot of Imps and pendulums. Start off by running right and
entering the small room at the bottom right side of the room to get a Scale
Mail. Reverse directions, and go back to the pendulum room. Hop onto the
first pendulum, and use it to get to the second. Once on the second, duck.
Once you pass under the next pendulum, jump up to it, duck, and repeat the
process until you can jump to the exit at the top right side of the room.
This next room introduces the Bugbear, an upgraded version of the Peeping Eye.
Grab the Magic Soul IV from next to the rotting Bugbear corpse, and continue on
after practicing this complicated seal once or twice. Drop down to the bottom
of the following gear shaft, dodging the Medusa Heads as you go to grab the UMA
News 3-3. Now ascend the shaft, taking care to eliminate the Medusa Heads as
you go. At the top, head to the next room.
Slide under the conveniently placed spike trap. Kill off the Slime and
Tanjelly and move carefully through this room. In the next room, you've got
Medusa Heads, spikes, and platforms - enough to make the sanest person curl up
into the fetal position and sing It's A Small World. Hopefully you won't
sucumb. Ride the platform up to the top while killing/jumping over the Medusa
Heads. At the apex, hop into the next room.
Kill off the two Imps that confront you. Run left, and hop on the giant
pendulum (if you can't make it from here, go to the left side of the room,
climb the boxes, and jump from there). When the pendulum's at the peak of its
swing on the right side of the room, use the Flying Armor soul to jump to the
right. You'll land on a platform. Use this as a stepping stone, much to the
chagrin of the Monkees, to get to the room above.
Use the Mandragora soul here to get a Flying Humanoid soul. Go right to save,
and then head left to encounter...
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
BOSS: ZEPHYR
Of no relation to the water company, Zephyr is your staple time freezing boss,
so we need to show this poor excuse for Flashman who's boss (no pun intended)!
Zephyr struts a lot, but he has two attack types: The first involves him
curling up. He'll laugh and freeze time, and instead of taking this time to
slash the heck out of you, he flies over you, laying out knives in a strategic
pattern above you. Once he resumes time and gravity kicks in, they fall. In
the interrim between time resuming and the knives falling - if this isn't
obvious - get out of the way! Get into a gap between knives. His curling
attack involves him charging at you. Jump over him.
His other attack type is the non-time freezing variety. He can also simply
toss a dagger (jump over it) or slash you (back away). This is indicated by
him curling up while still standing up. If he jumps onto the ceiling, he'll
jump down towards you, bringing a knife down with him. Dodge them both by
sliding under them.
Slash him while he's struting. Mandragora is particularly effective. Make
sure to use the Magic Seal IV that you just acquired to seal him away. Zephyr
doesn't take much in the way of pain before he goes down the drain.
And that's another water joke.
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
Go to the next room to find a path left and down. Go left to find a warp.
Take this warp to Subterranean Hell.
Subterranean Hell
-----------------
Kill off the Dead Pirate, and then descend through this room. This next room
greets you with a Frozen Shade, perhaps a Merman, and a Procel. Kill them all
(get the Procel's soul here if you haven't already). Head left, grab the
Mushroom, and the go to the far right side of this room. Drop down and go left
to exit the room.
The following room has one solitary Ukoback. Again, get his soul before you
leave (if you don't already have it - you'll need it later), and then continue.
In this next room, take out the Frozen Shades above you and get to the top
exit. The subsequent room has a large waterfall in it, as well as an
opportunity to sequence break. This is totally optional, and you can do this
later, but climb up as high as you can in this room. Using the Flying Armor,
jump kick off the Medusa Heads to get to this platform high above you. Make
your way left two rooms to get to the...
Wizardry Lab
------------
Kill off the Mimic and the Cave Trolls. Continue west to get an Aquarius
tunic. Destroy The Creature on the other side of the dual partitions before
hitting the switch to bring down this wall. Now head back to the waterfall
room of Subterranean Hell.
Subterranean Hell
-----------------
Head back, and drop to the very bottom of the waterfall room (when you get down
from your high horse, go left to find a Devil. Kill him, and jump left). Head
right. Snag the Mushroom that's on the ledge above you if you like, but
continue through the right door. In here, hop on the ledge, send those Dead
Pirates back to Davy Jones' Locker, and go through the door. Equip the Zephyr
soul while you're going to the next room.
If you don't, you'll see a cannon shoot one pillar but stop short of the
second. The second pillar has a rabbit with a clock - he's the Chronomage, if
you've played Aria of Sorrow, or the White Rabbit if you haven't. Either way,
with Zephyr equipped, when you activate it, time will reactivate, and the
cannonball will blast the second pillar. Welcome to the...
Silenced Ruins
--------------
!
This area is very familiar to some of you. The music is Vampire Killer,
arguably the theme and most prolific song in Castlevania. This area is
supposed to bear a resemblance to the first level of the original Castlevania.
Yay! As such, it's very easy - just move right, taking out all the enemies who
dare oppose you. In the next room, descend until you find a door that would be
out of reach if you couldn't double jump. Double jump to it.
The Gorgon in here appears to pose a threat - it's a large golden bull that can
poison you! Jump on top of it and start throwing Mandragoras to kill it and
everything else in the room. In the following room, go through the hole above
you. You'll encounter a Dead Crusader as you rise. These guys block just
about anything - you've gotta kill them while they're attacking. Or you can
hit them from the bottom. Whatever works. At the very top, you'll find a
Larva. Kill it by attacking its head, and then double jump to the top. Go
right to find two Waiter Skeletons. Dodge the curry (CURRY!), make sure to
grab a Waiter Skeleton soul, and go through the door.
Subterranean Hell
-----------------
Because you needed another link between these two areas. Hit the switch, then
backtrack to the room with the Larva.
Silenced Ruins
--------------
Now go through the left door, grab the Mana Prism, and return to the Larva
room. Descend all the way through this room, as well as the following room.
Kill the Bone Ark, and go left. Make your way through the next room (being
extra wary of the Dead Crusaders - you can actually Mandragora them from a
distance without them blocking), and continue into the following room. This is
the bottom of the shaft where you took the double jump path. Go through the
left door to find a very ice puzzle.
Remember Jezzball? That game where you had to trap the little balls in smaller
and smaller areas? Well this is just like it. Using the stylus, you have to
try to get the little energy ball up to the top row. There's only one block of
ice leading there, so you have to trap it as high up as possible. If you hit
the ball, the game is over - go out and come back in. The trick to this game
is just to slowly get it as high as possible, and then cut off its escape
route. Once it gets up to the top row, immediately destroy the block linking
the top row with the bottom rows, and slowly trap it into being in the far left
two blocks. Once it's there, touch it to blow it up and open the ceiling. You
can't get there just yet. Come back in, destroy the top three layers of ice,
and double jump up there. Watch out for the Devil lying in wait, and grab the
Rare Ring. Now back track three rooms back - to the room where you desended
from the ceiling and dealt with the Skelerangs and the Bone Ark.
Go all the way right to the lower right door of the room. Proceed through the
next room. Although there's a Larva, Bats, and Ghouls here, your main foe is
the Dead Mate. Although you can dispose of him by killing his dog, if you want
his soul, avoid killing his dog and kill him (wow, think about that one for a
second). Hit the warp, and then backtrack to the room before the Dead Mate
room. Now go to the top right exit.
You'll see a cutscene between Julius and Dario. Keep going right. At this
next hub, take the bottom right door to save. And now I'm caught up! I know
you wanted to know this, but the reason for the delay in writing this was
because after I had written for Rahab, I got kinda bored and just kept playing
through. I got all the way to here and accidentally saved, so I had to catch
up to myself on a new game. I'm so happy. Anyway, ascend through the shaft.
The vestibule to the boss' chamber contains nothing new - just some Skeletons
and a Dead Crusader. Take the latter out from a distance, and continue. When
you reach a ledge, jump on top of it, and move right, killing off your foes
(it's easier than the bottom path). Enter the boss door at the far end.
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
BOSS: BAT COMPANY
First off, this is a really dumb name for a boss. I mean, BAT COMPANY! AHH!!
Come on now, Konami.
Anyway, as per the name, it's a bunch of bats. But they're not just bats.
They're _red_ bats. Anyway, it'll assemble into one of three patterns:
1.) It'll turn into a giant hand that chases you. Run away. Duh.
2.) It'll start shooting these blue rings. The best strategy for these is to
equip some rapid fire soul to protect you (e.g., Skeleton) or to jump kick
the rings.
3.) The most common form, the Bat Company will form a bat and swoop at you.
Jump kick it to dodge the swoops.
It's easiest to attack with a sword or with Mandragora and to do so during
either the first or third attacks. You can also use Bomber Armor on it to do
some serious damage. Jump kick to escape if need be (hit it - but don't hit
the bat in between the wings, or it won't work), and this terrible - this
really bat - boss will go down sooner than you can call him batty.
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
Now you get the Bat Company soul, which, despite its terrible name, enables you
to fly. Yay! The end is now in sight. To the Cursed Clock Tower! From the
boss room, go back to the shaft two rooms before (notice the lava in the
background too - this is just funky, but it makes the game all the hotter).
Descend the shaft, save if you like, and then head left two rooms. Drop down
through this room, and go through the bottom right door. One room later,
you'll arrive at the warp. Warp to the uppermost warp on the map now.
Cursed Clock Tower
------------------
Go right to the next room, and drop through the hole in the floor. Drop to the
bottom of this room, and hit the switch to open the way back to the clock
tower. You can go through this newly opened hole and work your way through the
room that is accessed through the hole on the bottom of this pendulum room for
percentage if you like (you should definitely do this. Use the Bat Company
soul to get through the spiked bars, and then in the top portion of the next
room, you'll see a ton of spikes with one lone area of safe ground. Fly here
and kneel to receive KONAMI MAN!), but otherwise, from the switch, head through
the western door.
This next room has a ton of Golden Medusa Heads, a platform, and of course,
spikes. Gotta love 'em. Anyway, drop down so that you land on the edge of a
spikey ledge (the eagle outcropping). Drop down from there to the door. The
subsequent room has more gears. Just drop straight through them (come a little
ways from the wall first, so as to avoid the spikes), and head through the left
door after that.
In this room, the more acute among you (ha ha!) will notice the acute spikes.
If one pricks you, you won't think it's a cute object. Anyway, head left, drop
through the platforms, and look at the spikes in awe. The only way to pass
through this is just to run straight at the spikes. But that's if you really
want to die. Use the Bat Company soul to turn into a bat and navigate through
these treacherous shafts. I'd diagram it, but it should be pretty obvious.
Once you've escaped this area, continue right.
More spikes. Great. Hop over to the box and then to the solid ground. Drop
down through the platforms, and get right up next to the wall (DON'T TOUCH
IT!). Slide under it, stand back up, hop over the spikes, and continue.
This next room is deceptively empty. When you get to the middle, a Devil
appears! Kill him (although you don't need it for reasons other than
completion purposes, this is the best room to take the Devil's soul. You're
taking the Devil's soul. Put _that_ in your pipe). Continue on.
This next room's got a bunch of Harpies. Go back and forth between the two
rooms to collect a Harpy soul if you want it (as you're confronted by three
Harpies when you enter, and one Mandragora should take them all out). At the
far left lies a door leading to...
The Pinnacle
------------
This is it! The pinnacle of the game! Go left to find Yoko swinging her hips
seductively. Don't take that. Smack her - she's a Succubus. She goes naked
and then attacks you. Backdash away from her when she starts the heart thing -
it hurts! The next room has a Bugbear in it. Kill it off (this is an easy
room to get its soul). Continue until you find a hole. Drop through it. Kill
off the Werewolf in this room (this is a great room for his soul!) - he's
pretty dangerous. He can shoot fire, charge at you, or hit the ground and
cause fire to burst up - and then continue your downward spiral. Now you're
confronted with a Flame Demon. His soul is pretty useful too, and there's no
better spot to get it. Flame Demons shoot fire downward, so at first, you're
safe, but watch him when he's above you. If you get his soul, set one
equipment set to have both the Bat Company and the Flame Demon soul, as you can
shoot fire as a bat now. Drop down and take out the Werewolf. Follow the room
to its conclusion.
The next room has a Succubus. Take her out from the entrance with Mandragora,
and then head to the top right exit to save. Drop back down to where the
Succubus was and go left. In the next room, you'll have an Erinys to contend
with. Take her out before she can charge at you (she can also sit there and
destroy anything really close to her, so when you attack, do so from a
distance). Drop down to the bottom, but avoid the Dead Warrior (take him out
from in the gap in the pillar, where you're safe). Attack the floor below the
platforms to find a secret room containing a Truffle, and then hop up the two
platforms to your left to find a warp. Now that you have it, backtrack back to
the last save point. Note that this is a great area to get the Erinys,
Succubus, and Dead Warrior souls, since they're all right here, and there's a
save point right there.
Once you're satisfied, head through the hole in the top of the shaft. Go right
to connect the dots on the map, but then backtrack to the save point and take
the upper left exit in the room. This room has a lot of Yoko-Succubi in it.
Although you can take them all out, the easiest way is just to jump in between
each Yoko (or fly over them all). They don't transform into Succubi this way,
so you're safe. You can also jump kick and run if you like to see Yoko lose
her clothes. However you do it, at the far right side of the room is a door.
Demon Guest House
-----------------
You're back! Kill off the Persephone and the Succubi as you move left. In the
next room with the Ghost Dancers, hop on the switch to open a hole to the
previous area of the Guest House. You can drop through the hole in the floor
to find a Killer Clown (GET HIS SOUL!), but otherwise, head up. The passage on
the right side of the room, as you use the chandeliers to ascend (if you don't
want to explore, just use Bat Company to get to the apex of the room) contains
a Mimic. Kill it, and continue up. Ignore the door on the left for now as you
continue climbing. The top right room has a ton of female villains - Two
Witches, a Student Witch, a Persephone, two Liliths, and a Succubus. Kill them
all, and exit the room. Go left to find a Flame Demon, followed by a room with
an Iron Golem (this is a great room to get his soul in - Bat Company over him,
and use a soul like Une to inflict a lot of damage on him in a short period of
time). Go back and save, and then head to the door in the middle of the room
on the left side that I told you to ignore.
This room has three pink walls with pictures of three enemies on it. As you
might guess, you need to attack each wall with the soul of the enemy. That's
deep. Anyway, the first is an Axe Armor (go back to the antechamber of the
drawbridge in the Lost Village if you need help with this soul). The
subsequent is the Killer Clown - there are plenty of these around here (try the
room below the room you just came from). The final one is the Ukoback, who
abounds in the Subterranean Hell. Once you've cleared all three pillars,
continue left. Make sure to destroy all the candles to get hearts. In the
next room, wait until you've recovered your MP (it may be worthwhile to equip
Lilith, as that increases your INT), and then enter the boss door.
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
BOSS: PARANOIA?
Paranoia is amazingly easy. As you walk by the mirror, you'll notice a little
clown thing as your reflection! Oh no! Once you walk by it, this little clown
- Paranoia - will come out. It will dash at you with its knife. Jump over
this. After awhile, it'll disappear into the big mirror and emerge from one of
the smaller ones. From here it'll shoot a laser. Although you can try to
guess how the laser will go, I just recommend ducking in the bottom right
corner and adapting if you need to. Paranoia here falls really easily.
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
But you don't get a soul! Interesting. Let your MP recharge, continue left
through the boss door, but...
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
BOSS: PARANOIA
This time it's for real. This one's harder than the DDR series of the same
name if you're not sufficiently levelled up.
Fortunately you had practice for this guy. He'll float around the room and
occasionally pull an M. Bison head drop (you'll know this when he starts
floating directly over you - in this case, keep moving). After a few rounds of
this, he'll hop into the big mirror and shoot lasers twice (instead of his
little reflection's (ha!) one round of lasering). This requires as much skill
as the last to avoid - the best trick is to just minimize the damage (if a
laser hits you, jump out of the way). You can also use the Medusa Head soul to
float in mid-air between the lasers.
The best time to attack him is while he's floating. You can also Mandragora
him once or twice after he drop kicks you, but other than that, keep your
health high, and you should do fine (level up if need be).
<----------------------------------------------------------------------------->
Now you get the PARANOiA soul (sorry, couldn't resist - it's esoteric, though).
The next room has a call back to one of the previous rulers of the upper part
of the castle, Olrox, as you collect the Olrox's Suit. Backtrack to the room
where you fought the smaller Paranoia, and use the Paranoia soul to enter the
mirror and collet a Mana Prism. Now that we can enter the castle's myriad of
mirrors, it's time to go look for them. With the Bat Company soul in tow, we
can get to all of the secret rooms the castle has to offer, so it's exploring
time! This is completely optional - CTRL + F "***END EXPLORING***" if you want
to skip it, but otherwise, go back through the mirror, and head to The
Pinnacle's warp room. Warp to The Lost Village.
(side note: This part is terribly boring. To save some monotony for both of
us, since you've been through these areas once already, with the exception of
the secret rooms, I'll give you a barebones walkthrough; refer to the first
visit sections if you need help)
The Lost Village
----------------
First off, head back to the first room of the game. Use the Waiter Skeleton
soul to lure out the Yeti, and then use either the Flame Demon soul, the
Mandragora soul, or the Zephyr soul to kill him off. Exit and re-enter until
you get his soul. From here, go to the drawbridge of the castle. In the room
after that, fly up to the top. Kill the Hell Boar and grab the Heart Pendant.
Now backtrack to the warp.
From the warp, head to the middle right door in the room outside of the warp
room. Move down through the room, killing the Ouija Table and the Zombie. In
the next room, kill the Spin Devil, and go to the bottom right exit. Slide
through all the Zombies, and you'll open a secret passage. Drop through here
to get some Corn Soup and $2000. Move back to the previous room, and continue
right. You'll see a mirror here. Enter the mirror, go right, and exit mirror
world to find a Tear of Blood. Eww. Leave this room, and backtrack to the
room with the Spin Demon in it. Climb to the top of this room, and make your
way all the way right to the...
Wizardry Lab
------------
In here, head through the top right exit. Use the stylus to clear away all of
the ice (as you now have the double jump, so you don't need to be too careful
here). Make a hole through the ice here to get to the bottom, and use Paranoia
in the next room to find a Rosary. Backtrack to the entry hall of this area
(you can use the Balore soul to clear away the ice even while the Bat Company
soul is enabled, so that helps immensely here). Use your map to get you to the
room just outside of this area's warp room, and then use the top exit. Work
your way through this room, and kill the enemies off the floor in the following
room (which is the room with a moving platform and a bunch of ice). Go right
through this room on the floor until you get to the point where there's one
constant line of ice (instead of sporadic blocks). Continue until the height
of that ice drops. Make a hole in the fifth block of this series and Bat
Company up through it. Use your weapon (preferrably something with an arc
movement, such as a Great Sword or an Axe) to make a hole in the ceiling. Due
to a glitch in the game, you have to Bat Company through the hole to find a
Foie Gras.
Backtrack to the warp, but this time, go to the bottom of the room. In this
room, go all the way right, and continue right until you reach...
Subterannean Hell
-----------------
Continue right until you reach the waterfall room. Drop down, and go left.
Hop off the Devil-infested cliff and through the waterfall. Now activate Bat
Company/Flame Demon. Go down until you're under the platform from which you
jumped, and then fire (or de-transform and attack) the wall to your left. This
will open up a secret chamber leading to an Eversing. Very cool. Now head a
few rooms right to get to the warp, and go to the Silenced Ruins.
Silenced Ruins
--------------
It's like you never left! Go left through the room with the Old Mate. In the
following room, get to the left side, and then go straight up. You'll reach a
shaft. Ascend this shaft to the top, dodge the Larva, and go left. This room
has a mirror, behind which is a Super Potion (what's kinda neat is that you can
see any Ghouls pop up in the room behind you). Leave this room, and go all the
way right.
Subterannean Hell
-----------------
Go through this room (if you've upgraded your hammer since the last visit, go
through the top right door and use it to win new prizes), and then go right in
the next room. This is the Procel room. Go all the way right through it. In
the next room, get to the top of the pool, and then slowly descend through it
(by jumping a lot) and use the Une soul to clear out the Needles. At the
bottom, head to the top, and then go right.
Ignore the fishy smell, and make your way to the exit at the top right of this
room. Go left until you reach...
The Dark Chapel
---------------
You'll be in the torture room chamber portion of this area (so ironic).
Remember that in this room, there are spikes on the ceiling that fall down on
you as you go. So jump over those or suffer incredible pain (well, they're not
soft and snuggly). Go left (use the Puppet Mas
