Within the darkness of an eclipse, a destiny awaits... | .-' '-. | _ | _ .|. | __ ' _ ' _ | / | .' ' | | |__' ' ' / | |-'-. | / | | .-| `-'. | | | ' ' .-| | | | .-| | |.| \_.' '_ | '._. ' . |.| | | | |.| | | ' . '-. .-' Aria '/ of Sorrow | Castlevania: Minuet of the Forsaken Moon Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow Walkthrough and Game Guide Version 1.00 By Sky Render =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= NOTE: This walkthrough employs the QuickFind system! To locate data about a particular part of the game, simply search for the QuickFind code listed in the table of contents, found in brackets at the end of each entry! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= QuickFind Code I. Preface Introduction [PINTRO] Legal Boilerplate [PLEGAL] Contact Information [PCONTACT] Latest Changes & Contact Information [PLATEST] Gameplay Outlined [PGAMEPLAY] II. Walkthrough Outset - Castle Corridor [WCORRIDOR] Chapel [WCHAPEL] Study [WSTUDY] Dance Hall [WDANCEHALL] Inner Quarters [WINNERQ] Floating Garden [WFLOATINGG] Clock Tower [WCLOCKTOWR] Underground Resivoir [WRESIVOIR] Optional - Forbidden Area [WFORBIDDEN] Optional - Underground Cemetary [WCEMETARY] The Arena [WARENA] Sidequests [WSIDEQUEST] Top Floor [WTOPFLOOR] Chaotic Realm [WCHAOTIC] III. Game Data Bonus Features [GDBONUS] Souls [GDSOULS] Items [GDITEMS] Equipment [GDEQUIP] Monsters [GDMONSTERS] IV. Conclusion Special Thanks to [CTHANKSTO] Afterword [CAFTERWORD] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= I. Preface =-=-= Introduction [PINTRO] ===-- Welcome to my Aria of Sorrow guide. This guide outlines a potential path through the castle that will get you to the end with as little trouble as possible, and with full map coverage. Enjoy! Legal Boilerplate [PLEGAL] ---== Standard legal boilerplate. This guide was written by me (Sky Render), and as such, it's my property. Reposting of this guide in any form without my consent is forbidden. Do not modify this guide or repost it in modified form, ever. I did not make the game that this guide pertains to, and as such, all credit for this title is given to the company that made it (Konami Computer Entertainment). All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. Latest Changes & Contact Information [PLATEST] ---== This is just a typical revision list. You can see how things have changed for the guide over time here. Version 1.00 (26 September 2004) * Entire guide is complete If you spot an error or omission in this guide, please feel free to inform me of it by contacting me at torquemada_gi@hotmail.com, with the subject About your C:AoS Guide. Any contributions that get used or corrections that are made via these e-mails informing me of them will have their contributors credited in the Special Thanks to section. Gameplay Outlined [PGAMEPLAY] ---== The gameplay in Aria of Sorrow is quite easy to adapt to. It's a mix of sidescroller and action RPG gameplay, which makes for a lot of avoiding attacks and delivering strategic blows. Here's how the system works. Stats: Level: A ranking of Soma's current overall capabilities. When his level goes up, he gains 12 HP and a small bonus to all other stats. The maximum level is 99. Exp: How much experience Soma has acquired. Once his experience is sufficient, Soma's level will go up. HP: How much damage Soma can take before you die. If Soma reaches 0 HP, the game is over. MP: How much Soma can use souls. The more MP, the more soul usage. ATT: Attack power. This is weapon attack power plus STR, and approximately how much damage Soma will deal to enemies. DEF: Defense power. This is armor defense power plus half Soma's CON score, rounding down. This is how much enemy damage to Soma will be reduced by. STR: Base attack power. CON: Base defense power; actual influence on defense is half of this value. INT: Base magic attack power. LUCK: Influences the rate of item, soul, and money drops from enemies. Souls: When you kill monsters in Aria of Sorrow, sometimes they will bequeath unto you their abilities, in the form of souls. These abilities range from attacks to defensive abilities to subtle augmentations to your stats. The odds of an enemy dropping a soul are generally determined by how high your LUCK is, how high your level is, and how strong they are, though there are exceptions to these rules. You will also occasionally find souls in soul keepers, small pedestals in set locations. These souls tend to be critical for progression through the castle. There are 2 basic types of souls, and 4 varieties overall. The first type are Tactical Souls, most of which can be traded via the Soul Trade feature to other game carts. The second time are Ability Souls, which cannot be traded and are usually required to progress through the castle. Tactical Souls: Bullet Soul (Red) - Usually attack souls, these are one-shot skills that can be used repeatedly. Guardian Soul (Blue) - There two varieties of these: continuous and duration. Continuous souls will work from the time you activate them until the time you deactivate them or run out of MP, and duration souls will work only as long as you're holding down R and have enough MP to cast them. Enchanted Soul (Yellow) - These are augmenting souls. They boost your basic abilities, and take no MP. Effects vary from stat boosts to status immunities to special abilities while attacking and defending. Ability Souls: Ability Soul (Grey) - These are souls that are gained mostly through the plot. They frequently give Soma new abilities via button combos, and are usually vital to progressing through the castle. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= II. Walkthrough =-=-= Outset - Castle Corridor [WCORRIDOR] ===-- Castle Corridor Items: Short Sword, Cape, Pendant, Leather Armor, Scarf, $500, Potion x3, Mind Up, CASTLE MAP 1 Enemies: Zombie, Bat, Merman, Skeleton, Axe Armor, Bone Archer, Blue Crow, Buer, Zombie Soldier, Killer Fish, White Dragon, Tiny Devil, Rock Armor, Ghost Special Souls: Gravekeeper, Flying Armor After the game's introduction is over, make your way into the castle proper. The enemies in the first part aren't difficult, and most will fall to one or two hits. Rush through the first corridor and grab your first weapon upgrade, the Short Sword (and be sure to equip it!). Now, take a slight detour down and to the left into the Underground Resivoir entrance. There's a Pendant at the bottom of the first part of the resivoir, so grab it now, then head back up to the Castle Corridor. There's a soul keeper sitting in the middle of the small lake on the lower level of the room you return to. Attack it to obtain the Gravekeeper soul. The room to the right on the lower level is a save point, which I suggest you make use of as soon as possible. Continue to the upper part again, and nab the Cape from the top of the structure in the room, then head through the upper right exit to the next hall. The next two areas are just straight halls (ignore the upper level of the second area for now, you'll be coming back later to deal with that), and enter the first boss room. BOSS: Creaking Skull Strategy: Creaking Skull is a very easy boss to subdue. Move in close to hit it, and if it raises its arm, quickly backdash away to avoid getting hit by its bone club. If it opens its mouth, duck and continue to attack while ducking. He should be down in no time flat. After the fight, a small green-blue orb with flames will materialize and drop down. These are healing orbs, and are dropped after every boss fight. They restore all HP and MP, and are real life-savers. Anyway, continue right to the vertical corridor ahead. There's a save point directly across from where you enter, so feel free to visit it. Head down, and attack the lower left wall a few times to reveal a hidden area with a Mind Up. Leave the hidden room, and go right. Skirting along the water, you'll find a dead end with another soul keeper. Attain this soul (Flying Armor) and equip it as your guardian soul. Head back to the vertical corridor, and make your way up to the top of both it and the vertical corridor above it. Once you're at the ledge near the top, hold R and jump over to the other ledge. Since you have the Flying Armor soul equipped, you should make it to the other side no problem. This next area is a bit trickier than the previous areas. Make your way forward through the entrance to the next room (grabbing the Potion on the floor), and then all the way to the end of the second room. However, at the end, you can and should jump up to the upper level. Using the Flying Armor, glide over to the platform with the Leather Armor and equip it. Then, go over to the other side and nab yourself another Potion. Continue to climb upwards, and make your way all the way right on the upper level to a second section. From here, go through the hallway, then all the way around the next big room and down to the lower right exit. Defeat the White Dragon and grab the Scarf. Now, backtrack to the area where you got the Leather Armor, and continue through the lower right path. The next area has inaccessible upper levels, so just ignore them and continue right to another long hallway. At the end of it, you'll be in an outdoor area of sorts. Directly to the right is another save point. From here, head to the lower left exit, and make your way through the large room to the lower levels. Visit both the left and right paths to nab yourself yet another Potion and a $500 money bag. Return to the outdoor area, and take the lower right exit. After the brief cutscene with Graham Jones, go all the way right, into the Chapel. Chapel [WCHAPEL] ===-- Chapel Items: Rapier, Bamboo Sword, Silk Robe, $100 x2, $1000 Enemies: Ghost, Axe Armor, Bone Pillar, Giant Ghost, Tiny Devil, Bat, Skeleton Soldier, Rock Armor, Une, Quetzalcotl, Ghost Dancer, Zombie Officer Special Souls: None Upon entering, take either of the upper-level stairways to get to an area above the chapel. There is a Bamboo Sword in the middle-right part of this area, as well as a $100 coin in the lower left area. Other than that, the other items of interest will have to wait until you have the ability to double-jump. Make your way back to the first area of the Chapel, and head into the large area to the right. You should find your way to the entrance in the ceiling, and make your way up to the upper right corner of the upper area to get a well-deserved upgrade to your weapon, a Rapier. Head back down to the lower level, and go to the upper right corner for another $100 coin. Then, go all the way down to the lower-right floor exit. There is a much-need save point to the left, which I highly recommend utilizing right now. Make your way to the bottom of the long shaft, and through the lower left exit. Carefully work your way through the hallway, and into the boss room beyond. BOSS: Manticore Strategy: This boss is really a make-or-break fight. There are two ways to handle it: you can either attempt to fight it face-to-face with your weapon (in which case you should always hit once, backdash, and jump out of the way if he spits fireballs at you), or you can employ your souls to defeat him. I suggest the latter method. The most effective souls to use are the Axe Armor and Winged Skeleton souls. Just launch them at close range, then jump or backdash away to avoid getting hit. As long as you don't take too many hits, you should do fine. Note that, if you want to get around the Manticore, to hit it from behind, you can by jumping onto the platforms and jumping over it when it's really close to them. After Manticore is down, make your way to the middle right exit of this room, and grab the Silk Robe in there. Also, you should attack the ceiling in this room to access a hidden room with a $1000 bag. Return to the room that Manticore was in (now there are Ghost Dancers and a Quetzalcotl here), and take the lower left exit to the next area. Head down, and take the lower right exit to enter the Study. Study [WSTUDY] ===-- Study Items: Uncurse Potion, Melon, Whip Sword, Bastard Sword, Broadsword, $100 x2, Heart Pendant, Hammer Enemies: Flying Skeleton, Evil Butcher, Bone Pillar, Minotaur, Durga, Tiny Devil, Student Witch, Giant Ghost, Ectoplasm, Fleaman, Arachne, Catoblepas, Rock Armor, Buer Special Souls: Malphas There's a lot to do here, so it's best to get started. Drop straight down into the area below the entry to the study, and head left to get yourself an Uncurse Potion. Then, work your way right to an area with a crate. You can't do much of anything in here at this point, so just take the lower left exit to the next room. This area is dangerous, and I suggest you make sure you either equip a good weapon, or have a long-ranged bullet soul equipped. Make your way right past the half-dozen enemies into the large open room beyond. Then, make your way up to the upper level (you can stand on the back of the Catoblepas and usually take no damage), beat the Rock Armor up there, and jump over to the right to nab a $100 coin. Then, go back to the left, and hit the upper left wall repeatedly to reveal a hidden room with a Melon in it. Go back out into the large room, and fight your way down to the lower left floor exit. There's a save point directly to the left of where you arrive, which you will no doubt want to use now. From here, take the right exit and watch a scene where Yoko Belnades is introduced. Then, continue right through another small hallway full of enemies, and into a large two-sided corridor. Instead of heading into the boss room, take a slight detour to the lower left exit. Backdash through the mouth (it closes when you face it, so you have to do this to get through it), and make your way up to the top of this hidden room to get yourself the Whip Sword (which you should equip now). Now, if you're feeling confident, go face the boss. If not, save first and then enter the boss room. BOSS: Great Armor Strategy: Great Armor is a very slow enemy, but very powerful (for the point in the game you're at, anyway). Thanks to the Whip Sword, however, he'll be a breeze. Just attack him at the furthest distance you can while still doing damage, and backdash whenever he raises or poises his sword. It'll take a while, but he'll shatter eventually. After that, head into the left room, where you'll meet the wily military man/merchant Hammer. Hit the Soul Keeper to obtain the infinitely useful Malphas soul, which lets you double-jump. Now, there are a few bonus items to nab in the library. The first is in the corridor just outside of Great Armor's room, on the upper right level. Up here, you'll find yourself a $100 coin. Backtrack to the room with the crate now, and using the crate in conjunction with your double-jump, you can reach a room to the upper right that has a Heart Pendant in it, and a small alcove in the lower right part of the crate room with a very useful Broadsword in it. Return to the very first area of the Study (saving on the way, naturally), and then head left. You were supposed to tackle this area before the lower areas, technically, but who cares? Anyway, make your way through the first hall, and take the lower left exit for a Bastard Sword. Take the upper left exit via double-jumping for a Hammer (which you should not equip; it has a very slow recovery time). Now, return to the Chapel. Chapel New Items: $100, Anti-venom New Enemies: Winged Skeleton From here, you should use your double-jump in conjunction with the Flying Armor to reach the second part of the Chapel, the entrance of which is on the upper left of the vertical corridor that links to the Study. Anyway, going through the upper left entrance, make your way up this new corridor, and through the upper right door to another hallway. At the end of the hall is another large room. Stick to the left side, and enter the middle left doorway to find an Une guarding an Anti-venom. Then, go all the way to the top on the left side, and double-jump while using Flying Armor to the right to nab another $100 coin. Do the same trick back to the left, and take the upper left exit. This is a teleporter room, which currently is only linked to the Castle Corridor teleporter (which you haven't seen yet). Enter it, then select the Castle Corridor teleporter and press A to instantly travel there. Castle Corridor New Items: Lucky Charm, Copper Armor, Lance New Enemies: Siren Return to the lower level, sell any stuff you don't want to Hammer (and maybe even buy yourself a Katana), double-jump up the platforms on the right side to get a Lucky Charm, then return to the Castle Corridor proper. Return to the area you got the Scarf from (see the Castle Corridor section for instructions), but this time, take the upper right entrance. Jump on the Catoblepas, and get yourself the Copper Armor. Now, make your way down again, and go all the way back to the room before where you fought Creaking Skull. Now that you have double-jump, you can make your way up this passage. You'll need to use the Flying Armor in conjunction with your double-jump to reach the second tier of this meandering vertical corridor, but it's pretty straightforward from there. Be sure to go left on the third tier and down into the alcove to get a Lance. Then, make your way to the top of the vertical corridor, and through the upper right exit. Head through the left doorway up there, and into the Dance Hall. Dance Hall [WDANCEHALL] ===-- Dance Hall Items: High Potion, Cutall, Samurai Armor, Mana Prism, $500, $100 x2 Enemies: Durga, Zombie Officer, Ghost Dancer, Evil Butcher, Killer Doll, Creaking Skull, Minotaur, Waiter Skeleton, Catoblepas, Bone Pillar, Quetzalcotl, Nemesis, Flea Man, Winged Skeleton, Wooden Golem, Tsuchinoko Special Souls: Skeleton Blaze As you enter the Dance Hall, you'll be greeted by the mysterious J. After the conversation, make your way to the left, and left again in the next room to a large area with some Ghost Dancers. Take the lower left floor exit, and take the upper right exit of the vertical corridor you end up in. Continue right past a Creaking Skull (wasn't he a boss not too long ago?), and then down to the lower left entrance of the next corridor, and to the end of this corridor for a $500 money bag inside a candle. You can actually keep getting this $500 bag, but there's really no point right now. Anyway, backtrack to the first area of this cellar, and go all the way down through the floor exit to the next part. Down here, there are some oddly purple Evil Butchers and a Wooden Golem, so take care, and make your way to the right exit. In this corridor, head straight down, and take the lower right exit to get to a save point. After this, go and take the lower left exit instead to face the boss. BOSS: Big Golem Strategy: This guy is a poster child for long-range attacks. For those of you who prefer to duke it out, equip the Whip Sword and nail him in the head repeatedly, moving away whenever he crouches down, then coming back in to do more damage when he stands back up. For those who prefer the path of using bullet souls, the Winged Skeleton, Skeleton, and Bone Archer Souls can all do nicely versus this over-sized rock pile. The same rule applies about backing away whenever the golem crouches, though. Persevere, and victory will be yours. After the fight, head through the left entrance and obtain the Skeleton Blaze ability soul. Note that this room also contains the game's only Tsuchinoko; however, you're currently too weak to stand much of a chance of beating it, so don't bother trying to get it to appear just yet. Go back and use the save room, then head all the way back up out of the cellar (using your newly acquired slide technique to get a High Potion on the way). Back in the upper level, fight your way to the middle-left portion of the room, and slide to get yourself a Cutall (but don't equip it; the Katana and Whip Sword are better). Then, slide back out and take the lower left exit (not the floor one this time). Go upwards, and take the upper left exit, then go left again through the small hallway. Go down the vertical corridor, and take the lower right exit to reach another teleport room. If you want, you can take this opportunity to go heal up and sell stuff to Hammer, or you can just return to the previous room and go back through the upper right exit and the short hall that it leads to. Anyway, take the upper right exit from here to return to the Ghost Dancer room, at the top this time. Take the upper right exit here as well, and take the ceiling exit from here. To the right is a save point (wasn't there one of those not too far away?) and to the left is a hallway. Go left, and down that hallway to a room with a Minotaur and a ceiling exit. However, instead of taking the upper exit, attack the left wall to reveal a hidden room with a Samurai Armor. Very nifty. Now, go back to the previous room and this time, do take the ceiling exit. Head all the way right (yes, right past the ceiling exit; we're going for map completion as well), then backtrack and take the ceiling exit. Up here, head right again and beat the monsters in the little room to nab yourself a $100 coin. Then, go back to the previous room and all the way left to find another little room with enemies and a $100 coin. Return to the previous room after getting it, and jump over the Catoblepas. Now, wait until the Catoblepas is close enough, then jump on its back and double-jump up onto the ledge above to the right. Make your way around up here, and kill the enemies, but (this is important) leave one of the Bone Pillars alive. Jump on top of said Bone Pillar, and then do a double-jump to get a Mana Prism. Hooray for ingenuity! Anyway, backtrack to the save point, save if you wish, then go down through the floor exit and through the upper right exit of the room it leads to. Make your way through the Minotaur-infested hallway (sliding through a floor gap about halfway through), and through the door to the Inner Quarters. Inner Quarters [WINNERQ] ===-- Inner Quarters Items: High Potion, Ninja Suit, Hrunting, Mind Up Enemies: Persephone, Durga, Nemesis, Chronomage, Curly, Valkyrie, Lilith, Kyoma Demon, Disc Armor, Student Witch, Witch Special Souls: Headhunter, Undine After entering, make your way to the top of this corridor (killing every enemy on the way, of course), then enter the upper right exit. In here, attack the floor to reveal a hidden area with two Student Witches and a High Potion. Attack the right wall of this secret area to reveal a second secret area, this one containing a Witch and a Ninja Suit. Return to the previous area and the area above that, and go up the corridor. If you wish, take the middle right exit to find a mostly empty room with a Persephone in it. The middle left exit cannot be passed until later, so just ignore it for now. Anyway, go and enter the upper left exit to find a save room, use it, and take the upper right exit. Enter the right exit in this next room, and prepare for a boss fight. BOSS: Headhunter Strategy: Headhunter has 3 forms, each more difficult than the previous one. The first form is very easy indeed; just attack continuously and backdash if you see her back up. Once she's lost her head, an old man's head will take her place. From here, jump-strike the Headhunter, and when you see him pull out his scroll, jump/backdash away from him until his spell is over. After the old man is down, the lizard head will take over, and the real challenge begins. The lizard has many dangerous attacks. It can crawl on the ceiling (where it will spit poisonous mist; be careful), and lash out with its tongue on floor or ceiling. The best tactic is to duck down close to it when it's on the ground and hit it repeatedly, and carefully jump-strike it after it executes an attack on the ceiling. Eventually, Headhunter will fall. After the fight, you'll automatically gain the Headhunter soul, which will become very useful if you ever decide to rack up on enemy souls. Anyway, continue to the right, and then take the ceiling exit to get onto the roof. Up here, fight your way up to the top story, and get the Undine soul from the upper right portion of the top of the tower, and the Hrunting from the upper left part. Go all the way back down, and take the lower left exit (if you want) to fight a number of monsters. Note that, to fight the green demons in the mirrors, you must stand still near one long enough for them to pop out of it. Anyway, back in the previous room, equip the Undine soul and jump onto the pool of water, then double-jump your way to the upper right exit of this area. Head down the corridor (you may want to get a Curly soul at this point, if you plan to visit the Forbidden Area later), and go all the way down and through the lower left exit. At the end of this hall is another teleporter room, so feel free to restock and the like back at Hammer's. Anyway, go back to the vertical corridor, and this time, take the floor exit. Head all the way right (for map completion's sake, then head down through the floor exit on the far left and through the door to reach the Castle Corridor (again, for map completion). Return to the Inner Quarters, and this time, take the right floor exit of the big room. Fight your way through this part to reach a Mind Up (be careful, a Lilith will pop up under the Mind Up itself!). Now, finally, go back to the previous room and take the left exit. Go all the way to the door and straight through the entrance to the Top Floor to reach the Castle Corridor once more. Go back to the big watery area that you got the Flying Armor soul from, and equip the Undine soul. Double-jump up to the area above, and make your way up and through the upper right exit to reach the entrance to the very odd Floating Garden. Floating Garden [WFLOATINGG] ===-- Floating Garden Items: CASTLE MAP 3, $500 x3, $1000 x2 Enemies: Cockatrice, Red Crow, Dead Warrior, Gorgon, Imp, Werewolf, Devil, Manticore, Golem, Disc Armor, Mandrake, Bone Pillar, Altair, Ripper, Kicker Skeleton Special Souls: None From the entrance, go straight to the right, and straight to the right again to reach a save point. Now then, it's time to explore the first part of the gardens. This is fairly easy to do; there are lifts that drop from the ceiling, which you can ride up to the upper levels. It's all very much self-explanatory, so I won't go into detail, save to remind you that you can jump onto the backs of Gorgons to reach high places. Anyway, once you have the four quadrants of the main garden mapped out, enter the far upper right exit to enter the flying part of the gardens. These sections are all very straightforward, with money stuck in the upper levels, and enemies on the lower ones. Since you entered from the right, you'll reach a hidden area in the garden after one or two of these sub-areas. The hidden area doesn't have a whole lot to it just yet, but it's still worth exploring. There's a save point below the area where the Altairs are dropping Rippers, so feel free to make use of it. Also, the game's only Kicker Skeleton is down there, so you might want to nab its soul. Once you're done there, finish exploring the remaining floating gardens until you reach the far upper left exit of the main area. Yeah, it loops around. Now, re-enter from said upper left exit, and go all the way back through. One or two of the garden areas you travel will be different this time, and you'll reach the clock tower from the last one. Clock Tower [WCLOCKTOWR] ===-- Clock Tower Items: Mystletain, Pitch Black Suit, Burtgang, $1000 Enemies: Harpy, Siren, Medusa Head, Lightning Doll, Valkyrie, Gargoyle, Bomber Armor, Needles, Devil, Great Armor Special Souls: Skula As you enter, you'll have a brief chat with Graham Jones. Then, it's onto the main event, the most hellish spot in the entire game. Why hellish? The room off to the left should answer your question nicely: spikes on the walls. Yeah, you have to watch your step here, or you'll be a Soma-kebab really quick. Anyway, drop down the vertical corridor through the floor exit, then make your way down again and through the lower right exit. Drop down again, and take the lower right exit here to reach a save point (thank goodness they added one). Head left back into the other room, and straight left again to meet Yoko once more. After your little chat, head left three more times to reach another vertical corridor. Attack the lower left wall (yes, I know there's spikes there, use a bullet soul like Winged Skeleton), then visit that lower left room for a very handy Mistletain sword. Return to the vertical corridor, go up said corridor, and take the upper right exit. Continue right through this next room, and then up through the upper left exit of the vertical corridor it leads to. From there, take the upper right exit, and in the next room, grab the $1000 bag in the lower right and take the upper left exit. Lots of corkscrewing climbs, huh? Take the ceiling exit here (the other way just leads to a blocked-off section of the Top Floor), and head right in the upper area, past the Great Armor (again with the bosses as common enemies) to another vertical corridor. Visit the upper right room first to save, then go into the boss room on the upper left. BOSS: Death Strategy: This is a two-part fight, so be ready for a lot of work ahead of you. If you have the Giant Ghost guardian soul, activate it for this fight so you don't have to deal with the mini-scythes. At first, you just have to hit Death's scythe enough until it blows up. He'll try and throw it at you, but he broadcasts this by swinging it around in a loop, so just move out of the way when the scythe starts twirling. Once he's lost enough HP, he'll start causing energy to erupt from the ground below you. Wait until you see the first beam before you move (or you might get trapped in a corner), and just keep moving. Once this form is down, Death becomes quite a bit trickier. Form 2 has you fighting him with one wicked-looking double-headed scythe. He has 3 maneuvers here, all of them dodgeable if you pay attention. His first is to throw the scythe in a boomerang fashion. Just duck down next to him and get some free hits in on him when he does this. The second act he does is to rear back and do a rushing swing at you. When you see him rear back, quickly double-jump over him and move some distance behind him, as he slides backwards a bit after his swing. His third move is to throw his scythe up in the air and make it twirl around the room. It always starts at the ceiling going right, so you can easily predict when it's coming and double-jump over it as it gets close. Keep hitting him through all of this, and he'll fall. Be careful, though, when he dies: his scythe can still damage you when he flings it away in his death animation! After that tiring fight, you should head into the left chamber to get your Skula soul. Return to the save point from before the Death fight for a quick refresh plus save, then head all the way back to the room that's one room left from where you met Yoko. There's a crack in the floor there, with water underneath. Now that you have Skula, you can go down there! Equip the Skula soul, and go underwater. From here, head to the left, and left again (for map completion's sake), then right to the vertical room again and down to the lower-right entryway. Now, this hallway is VERY dangerous (spikes all over the floor, Medusa Heads flying about), but a useful sword is at the end. Equip your Katana, jump onto the pendulums, and attack while you're in mid-air if any Medusa Heads get close. Then, you basically just repeat that for all five pendulums until you reach the Burtgang (shouldn't that be Burthang?), then do it all over again in the other direction. Once you're safe and sound on the other side again, exit left and left again to reach yet another vertical corridor. Go through the lower right exit (you'll need to use the slide ability extensively here to avoid getting spiked, but it's really obvious where you need to slide and jump to avoid the sharp stuff), down yet another vertical corridor, and then through the lower left exit. Your reward for this trip is in this room: the Pitch Black Suit. Retrace your way back to the area where you used the Skula soul earlier. This time, you'll be wanting to take the right path in the water room. Head right twice (again, for map completion), then back left and down the vertical corridor to take the lower right exit. Take the lower left exit in this next area (again with the corkscrew paths), and the lower right exit here to reach another teleporter. Don't bother using it, however; in short order, you'll be back in the castle corridor anyway. Go back right, then continue right to reach a doorway that leads back to (surprise!) the Castle Corridor. If you want, you can go and see Hammer at this point to stock up and sell extra stuff, or you can continue on to the Underground Resivoir. There are two paths to the resivoir you can take, and it's a humongous area, so I'll be providing two walkthroughs there depending on which direction you enter it from. If you enter from the area where you got the Flying Armor, read Path 1 in the next section. If you choose the path near the start of the castle (you got the Pendant down there, remember?), then read Path 2. The two will meet up eventually, and you will be able to backtrack along the path you didn't take. Underground Resivoir [WRESIVOIR] ===-- Underground Resivoir Items: Elfin Robe, Rahab's Sword, Super Potion, Mana Prism, Pudding, Milican's Sword, High Mind Up, Armor of Water Enemies: Killer Fish, Merman, Needles, Man-Eater, Slime, Bomb Armor, Une, Arc Demon, Gorgon, Triton, Fish Head, Big Golem, Sky Fish, Uroback, Dryad, Cagnazzo, Bat, Green Worm, Venom Worm, Nightmare, Mandragora, Disc Armor, Imp, Medusa Head, Flesh Golem Special Souls: None As you can see, the Underground Resivoir is HUGE, and full of many types of enemies. Here's where to go depending on what path you took. PATH 1: Start out by equipping your Undine soul, and hop up onto the water in the trough. Equip your Flying Armor as well, and at the first waterfall, use the Flying Armor and your double-jump ability to reach the upper platform. Do it again to reach the platform up and to the left of where you land to get Milican's Sword. Return to the water below, and make your way down across the water. You'll have to do some more jumping on water, so keep your Undine equipped. It's all very straightforward, fortunately. Once you've reached the end, equip the Skula to drop down into the crossroads. This is where we meet up with Path 2, so either backtrack Path 2's directions, or continue on after Path 2 from here. PATH 2: Head down the vertical corridor and take the lower right exit. About 2/3rds of the way down this corridor, equip the Undine soul, and do a double-jump up into the upper area. Jump up onto the right side, however; the Mermen will just knock you back down. Either wait for them to all fall off the cliff, or do a few jump-kicks (if you have the Kicker Skeleton handy) to make things faster. The Elfin Robe is at the end of this room. Head back down, and continue right. Now, equip Skula and drop underwater. the lower left exit contains Rahab's Sword, but you'll have to get past a Man-Eater to reach it, so be careful. After you have it, backtrack and take the upper right exit to reach a long vertical corridor. For now, just keep going to the right; you'll be coming back later. You should now be in a very big room that's quite easy to navigate. Keep Skula equipped for most of it, though, as it's submerged, and don't forget to nab the Super Potion about halfway through. Once you've taken the lower right exit, you will be at the point where Path 1 and Path 2 converge. From the junction, take the right exit, then right again (watch out for the Slime), and down the corridor. Be sure to visit the middle right room in this area for map completion (and maybe an easy Killer Fish soul). The bottom right room is a save point, so make use of it if you wish. Take the lower left exit when you're ready. This room has a Big Golem in it, so be very careful (yet more recurring bosses...). Once past the big nasty rock man, you'll be in a large room. Explore every corner of it, then take the lower left exit. Past this corridor full of baddies, you'll reach the very bottom of that big shaft from Path 2. Drop down through the floor exit, and slide your way to the right to get a free Mana Prism, then slide back left and jump back up. Make your way up the corridor, visiting the middle left and right rooms for a Green Worm and a save point, respectively. Once you reach the top, take whatever path you see fit to get back to the big room beyond the Big Golem, and this time take the lower right path. Kill the Mandragora skeleton and continue right, and in this big room, continue to the right and take the lower right exit. Grab the Armor of Water at the end of the long hall, then return left to the big room again. Now you have the chance to visit the Forbidden Area, if you happen to have a Curly, Manticore, or Devil soul handy. If you wish to do this, then take the upper right exit (you'll have to ride lifts, so get rid of the Arc Demon and be ready to deal with Medusa Heads on the way up), and across the long hall right to the waterfall. Read the next section for details on how to enter the Forbidden Area. Once you're done with that, or if you decide to give that area a miss, read the next paragraph. Take the upper right exit of the big room to find another teleporter, and if you want, return to Hammer to buy and sell stuff. Once you're satisfied, return to the big room once more, and take the lower left exit. Go down the very long corridor to the left exit, and all the way down the vertical shaft. Attack the lowest left wall at the bottom of the shaft a few times to reveal a secret room with a Pudding. Once you've got that, head right into the Underground Cemetary, as detailed in the section after the Forbidden Area section below. If you want to skip the cemetary (it's also optional), then continue to The Arena section. Optional - Forbidden Area [WFORBIDDEN] ===-- Underground Resivoir New Items: Eversing To enter this area, you'll need the Undine and Skula souls, and either a Curly, Manticore, or Devil soul. Equip the Undine and appropriate guardian soul, then stand in the small alcove where the pond starts. If you look above you, there's a small carving of a Curly there. Actually, there are carvings of a Manticore and Devil further into this area. How appropriate, hints. Anyway, hold down the R button until Soma is past the waterfall. Grab Eversing (very good armor that you should equip right now), and head on into the Forbidden Area proper. Forbidden Area Items: Claimh Solais, Joyeuse, a lot of small-value coins Enemies: Mudman, Dryad, Werejaguar, Gargoyle, Alura Une, Cagnazzo, Flame Demon, Ripper, Mimic Special Souls: None Make your way to the right, slaying all in your path. In the next area, take the upper exit, and press the button. Now you can reach the Forbidden Area from the Study (which you should probably visit now, so you can go and save your game). Return to the area before the switch, and head to the right this time. Continue right (be careful of the Alura Une, she can do a lot of damage), and then go down the vertical corridor through the floor exit to reach the sunken ship. From here, equip your Skula soul and go to the lower left part of the water. Past the Fish Heads, there's a wall that you should attack. Do so, and then grab quite possibly the best weapon in the game, Claimh Solais. Equip it, and watch as all difficulty fades away. Anyway, return to the sunken ship area and take the lower right exit. Go down through the floor, then through the left exit. Here, fight your way left, attacking the treasure chests to get a few hundred in coins. Be careful, though; Mudmen sit in wait near these chests, and are easy to miss if you're too focused on the money. Anyway, in the vertical corridor to the far left, be careful of the chest there, as it's full of Rippers, not money. This can be a good spot to gain easy experience. Anyway, take the upper right exit, kill the Mimic (it looks like a $500 bag), then claim the Joyeuse for yourself. Congrats, you've completed the Forbidden Area! I suggest you sell Joyeuse, as Claimh Solais easily outmatches it, and it's worth 90,000 (which is a good chunk of the price for a Soul Eater Ring). Optional - Underground Cemetary [WCEMETARY] ===-- Underground Cemetary Items: $2000, Super Potion, Gold Ring Enemies: Werejaguar, Biphron, Flame Demon, Ripper Special Souls: Galamoth The cemetary is short, optional, but definitely worth going through. As you enter, fight your way right, then head right again past the eerily walking corpses. In this next area, take the upper left path to reach a $2000 bag, then backtrack and take the upper right exit to find a very useful save point. After you've saved, head back and take the lower right exit, and the right exit from there to face off a boss. BOSS: Legion Strategy: Legion is hardly what I'd call difficult. As the fight starts, focus on attacking the shell surrounding Legion, while it pursues you around the stone framework. Be sure to also attack the corpses it drops, as those can actually hurt you now. As pieces of Legion's shell fall off, small tentacles will start waving around, shooting lasers in random directions; these can mostly be ignored. Once you have all of the shell pieces off of Legion, focus on attacking its core, but not before then. If you kill Legion itself before its shell is defeated, you won't get Legion's soul, so it's in your best interest to destroy the shell. After the fight, continue to the right, right again, and take the upper left exit for a Super Potion. Backtrack, and take the upper right exit for a Gold Ring (at the end of another long hall, of course). Backtrack once again, and take the lower right exit. Another long hall full of monsters, which you should continue going right down. The room at the end has the Galamoth soul, which will allow you to get past the section in the Inner Quarters that the Chronomage is guarding. We'll deal with that at the end of the next section, though. Backtrack, save if you wish, and return to the Underground Resivoir where we left off. The Arena [WARENA] ===-- Technically, we're still in the resivoir, but anyway... At the top of the vertical corridor, head to the left, and witness a rather disturbing scene. After it's over, continue left, and take a dip in the water there with the Skula Soul equipped. In the lower right corner of the water, there is a path that leads to a High Mind Up. Grab it, then backtrack and enter the Arena proper. The Arena Items: High Potion, Olrox's Suit, Balmung, Silver Gun*, Rare Ring, Black Cloak, Laevatain, $1000 Enemies: Beam Skeleton, Skull Millione, Dead Crusader, Erinys, Lilith, Succubus, Killer Mantle, Gargoyle, Gladiator, Medusa Head, Lubicant, Arc Demon, Red Minotaur, Weretiger Special Souls: Giant Bat * - This item only appears in Hard mode. From the entrance of the arena, head left into the first really big room. Fortunately, there's only one way to go here (the exit in the ceiling in the upper left part of the room), so you can't possibly get lost. Up here, take the right exit to find a teleporter (last chance to trade with Hammer for a while), then return to the previous area and take the ceiling exit. Go up this corridor, and take the middle left exit to reach a long hall full of baddies. Through the exit at the end of the hall to the left is the Laevatain sword. Backtrack to the vertical corridor, and take the upper right exit for a High Potion. Drop back down to the area before the teleporter, and head left. Go left through this next room as well (careful of the Gladiator, they're a pain), and then down (as up isn't an option... yet). To the left is a save point (which you should definitely use), and to the right is the elevator that leads to the arenas. If you want to skip the arenas entirely, just read the fourth paragraph down. The arenas are all optional, but have useful items in them. Save after each arena, as the first and third are very dangerous. The first arena requires some patience and maneuvering. There are Lubicants in it (shouldn't that be Rubicant?), and the statues will damage you if you walk into them via their hands and feet, so you'll want to do a lot of jumping about here, and moving around between statues to avoid the Lubicants' spears. At the end, hit the ball on the chain from opposing sides at the appropriate times (ie. when the ball is heading in the direction you're hitting it) until it breaks the wall. Head into the bonus room, wait for the spiked ceiling to drop, then jump over it to claim your Orlox's Suit. Exit the way you came, but be sure to wait for the ceiling to either drop or be in mid-rise before you try to cross! The way back is the same as the way in, so keep those dodging skills up! The second arena is the easiest of them all. Hop onto the platform, and stay on it the whole time. The platform will stop at a few pillars, which will then light up on a little directional pad of sorts. Press the control pad in the direction that's indicated each time. You'll want to re-center yourself after each of these, so you don't fall off when complying with the left/right instructions. After the last one, the path to the treasure room will be revealed, and you can claim your Balmung. Backtracking through this arena is a pure slaughterfest, as the Beam Skeletons are very slow to attack, and very easy to kill. Just don't touch the spikes. Return to the elevator and go save. The third arena is the most annoying of them all. If you have the Gargoyle soul, EQUIP IT NOW! The key here is strategic attacking and evading, as well as pressing the switch about halfway down the path; don't forget, or you won't be able to access the treasure room! There are a few Erinys enemies to kill, as well as an Arc Demon, and of course a constant stream of yellow Medusa Heads, so you've got your work cut out for you. The prize at the end is the oh-so-nice Rare Ring. Backtracking could be difficult, so don't be afraid to use a High Potion to make sure you'll survive it. Good luck... Be sure to save after you finish this one, as repeating it is far from desirable. Take the elevator down to the bottom level, and enter the lower left door. Here comes the boss! ...Or not? It's a boss all right, but not the one you might expect. BOSS: Balore Strategy: Balore is very dangerous, to say the least, so you'll be wanting to employ the following tactic. When Balore's hands are rearing back, keep yourself up in the air attacking him, but drop down as soon as the hands stop moving, and do a slide beneath the closest one. Then, jump up on that hand to get in a few more hits, jumping off when the hand starts to rear back or lift up. Once Balore's done trying to squish you that time, jump on the hand once more and resume attack. His right hand will eventually stop attacking, so that should make matters easier. Once you've damaged him enough, he'll open his other eye, and start shooting fire at the floor. There are two things you can do now. You can either equip and use the Medusa Head soul (if you have one, that is), hitting him repeatedly while floating there laughing at his pathetic attempt to hurt you, or you can do a little double-jump dance while hitting his fire-blasting eye. If you opt to take this method, you really need to pay attention, and only double-jump when the fire is getting near you, or you'll get hit by the second flame wave when Balore's near death. Persevere, and he'll be gone in no time. After the fight, you'll attain Balore's soul. Take a brief trip to the left room, and grab yourself the Giant Bat soul. A lot of the castle has now just opened up to you, so that'll be covered in the next section. But first, you need to get out of this room. Return to Balore's room to see another scene with J, then head back up to the save point and save. From there, go back right, then head up twice (the second time via the Giant Bat soul) into another big area. This one is also pretty straightforward, but be sure to visit the lower right room to get the Black Cloak (and try to nab a Succubus soul there, too). Is it just me, or is there a rubber ducky in that room? Anyway, head to the top of the big room, and take the upper right exit. Go down the hall and slaughter all in it, and attack the candle for a $1000 bag. You can get this one repeatedly if you wish, but it's a bit of a long walk. Anyway, now you're at the point where you can pretty much go anywhere and do anything, so check the next section for what you can do, or just jump straight to the Top Floor section if you want to get this game over with. Sidequests [WSIDEQUEST] ===-- Naturally, most of these revolve around your newly acquired Giant Bat soul. I'll be listing the areas according to how they're listed in the walkthrough, so tackle them however you see fit. Feel free to skip this section if you're not interested in extra items. Castle Corridor New Items: Cestus, Vjara, Armor of Fire, Yasutsuna Our first stop is the long-neglected vertical corridor off of the teleport room of the Castle Corridor. I neglected it because you cannot reach the Vjara sword there until you have the Giant Bat, and because the Cestus is not a very good weapon anyway. Transform into a bat and grab the sword, then jump around manually to reach the Cestus. The Armor of Fire is in the section just before where you got the Scarf so long ago. Just fly up and nab it via the bat. The Yasutsuna is in the area just before the passage leading to the Chapel, and can only be reached by turning into a bat. Chapel New Items: Tallhammer The item in the Chapel is at the top of the room where you fought the Manticore way back when. Be sure to explore the whole area for map completion as well. Study New Items: Ancient Book 1 If you do the Forbidden Area section, then you don't have the Ancient Book 1 yet. Below the Study's save point, there's an area you can slide into. Do so, and nab the book. No problem. Dance Hall New Items: Sherman Ring At the point where the Dance Hall joins with the Inner Quarters (the hall full of Minotaurs with a part that you have to slide under), attack the ceiling closest to the door to the Inner Quarters to reveal a hidden area. You could've found it earlier, true, but you couldn't access it until now! Anyway, fly up and claim your Sherman Ring. Inner Quarters New Items: High Mind Up, Dainslef, Ancient Book 2 New Enemies: Arc Demon, Lightning Doll Since you're probably already at the Dance Hall entrance to the Inner Quarters, enter it from there, and get the High Mind up via the Giant Bat soul. Then, if you completed the Underground Cemetary, enter the area that I told you earlier not to go into, the one with the Chronomage. The area beyond has a room with an exit in the upper left ceiling that leads to the Dainslef, an Arc Demon, and the Ancient Book 2, in that order. Clock Tower New Items: Death's Sickle*, Death's Robe* * - These items only appear in Hard mode. If you're playing a normal game, just ignore the Clock Tower. If you're playing in Hard mode, then feel free to return. On the path up to Death, you'll find his robe trapped near some yellow moving platforms, and you'll find his sickle in the room just before where you fought him. Clumsy old Death, leaving his stuff lying about... Underground Resivoir New Items: $1000, Ancient Book 3, Rune Ring, Osafune, Ronginus' Spear, $2000, Super Potion x2, Handgun, Osafune Lots of stuff to get, which befits an area so large. Return to the Underground Resivoir, via Path 1. Go back to the part where you found Milican's Sword, but this time, head over to the upper right exit. Keep going right, and you'll be in a big, empty room. Explore it thoroughly (you can find a $1000 bag, as well as a candle that drops $100 coins), then take the middle right exit. This leads to an area that is fairly easy to navigate, and nets you all but three of the items listed above. It's easy to explore, and there's only one secret in the whole lot (the lower right exit to the large area has a hidden wall at the bottom that leads to the Osafune katana). Once you've gotten everything, item- and map-wise, return to the waterfall cavern that leads to the Forbidden Area and fly all the way to the top along the left side. In the room up there is Ronginus' Spear (uh, shouldn't that be Longinus' Spear?). Back in the waterfall room, take the ceiling exit on the right to reach the Handgun, then drop down and take the middle right exit to find a Super Potion (and a Flesh Golem). That concludes the sidequests! Top Floor [WTOPFLOOR] ===-- Top Floor Items: Satan's Ring, Gungner, Super Potion, Kaladbolg, Mana Prism x2, Tear of Blood*, Dracula's Tunic Enemies: Gargoyle, Succubus, Red Minotaur, Final Guard, Buer, Basilisk, Iron Golem, Erinys, Stolas Special Souls: Hippogryph, Black Panther * - This item only appears in Hard mode. Enter the Top Floor from the Inner Quarters, and use your recently acquired Giant Bat soul to fly up there into the area proper. The Top Floor branches here, so I suggest you take the left ceiling exit to reach Satan's Ring (and a Final Guard protecting it; yikes!). From there, you can either return to the lower level and go right, or continue left from the Satan's Ring room. Both eventually lead to the same place, so I'll outline them below. Left Path: Make your way up past the Final Guard, and attack the upper left ceiling of this area to reaveal a room with a Gungner in it (again with the misspellings; should be Gungnir). You'll need to use the bat to reach it. Anyway, back in the room below, take the upper right exit, and continue to the right to reach the meet-up point with the Right Path. Right Path: Make your way around the room, and eventually to the lower right exit. From here, head right again to get a Super Potion, then up to the middle right room to find a teleporter. The upper right room has nothing in it, but visit it anyway for map completion. Take the upper left path to meet up with the Left Path fork. Backtrack down the path you didn't take (for map completion, items, etc.), then head up to the next area. It's a winding path up, but not too hard to navigate; just be careful of those Succubuses (Succubi?). At the top, take the ceiling exit, and visit the lower right exit up there to find a ball on a chain. Strike it in the appropriate directions to knock out the wall, and you can now access the Top Floor from the Clock Tower, as well. Return to the previous room, and take the upper right exit this time to find a much-needed save room. From here, go out into the large courtyard to the left (you can take the entrance either above or below you), and make your way to the big pit in the middle of the courtyard. Fall down there, and head right. If you don't have a Killer Mantle soul, then just avoid the Iron Golem; if you do, kill it via the Killer Mantle. Either way, attack the right wall repeatedly to reaveal a hidden room with the invaluable Hippogryph soul. Now you don't need to use the Giant Bat any longer! Backtrack to the courtyard, and explore it thoroughly. The Kaladbolg is in the upper left corner, and about midway across the ceiling of the courtyard is a hole that leads to one of the Mana Prisms. Explore the area for the map percentage, then return to the area before the save point and head up. Visit both of the right-side rooms (one is empty, the other has a Mana Prism), then go save the game. Now you're at a decision point. If you want to see the normal ending, just go fight Graham now with any souls you want. if you want to get the good ending, you'll need to solve the Ancient Text riddles. The solution is listed in the next paragraph, so if you want to solve it yourself, just skip that paragraph. The souls you need to equip are as follows: Flame Demon as bullet soul, Giant Bat as guardian soul, and Succubus as enchanted soul. If you're missing Flame Demon or Succubus, go hunt them down (they surrender their souls very easily), and then come back here. Once you're prepped, go on up to the top of the top floor area, and take the upper left exit (the upper right, you may remember, had a Mana Prism in it.) If you're playing Hard mode, change into a bat and claim your Tear of Blood from the upper right ledge. If not, then just Hippogryph-jump about to get map completion, and enter the boss door for a showdown with Graham. BOSS: Graham Strategy: Graham has two forms, so be prepared for a long fight. In the first form, he behaves like a classic Dracula, disappearing and reappearing to launch off fireballs or meteor balls. You can always tell where he will appear, so it's no trouble to track him down and beat him senseless. Just be sure you duck when you do this, or he might slam you with a four meteor ball attack. Once Graham's taken about 1,500 damage, he'll teleport to the middle of the room and continuously summon meteor balls to move in a circular pattern. Just attack him repeatedly, ducking and standing as is appropriate to avoid getting hit. If you're going for the good ending, make sure you have the appropriate souls equipped before you beat him in this state. Once he's lost another 1,500 HP, he'll morph into his ultimate form. This one has 2,000 HP, so this could take a while. Equip an arc-striking weapon like Claimh Solais, and duck down near one of his hands and attack. If you see the ring above center on Soma (it does this on a regular basis), move away quickly either by sliding or standing up and walking (the latter is risky if Graham's hands are about to attack). After enough hits, Graham will go down, and depending on your soul set, the game will either end now or continue. This paragraph assumes you were properly equipped for the above fight to get the good ending, so if you didn't do so, don't read it. After the meeting with Arikado, head to the left and get your Black Panther soul and Dracula's Tunic. Go and save your game. From here, read the next section to find out what to do next. Chaotic Realm [WCHAOTIC] ===-- The entire castle is basically open to you at this point, so there are some things you might want to do, as this is your last chance to do so. One of these things is collecting all of the souls. Why, you ask? Well, you can get a very nice item if you do so. It will take about 3 or 4 hours to collect all of them, though, so if you're not patient enough for that, just skip the next two paragraphs. Soul collecting is very tedious, but it can be made easier via the Soul Eater Ring. The downside is, you have to have $300,000 handy to buy it. There are a number of things you can do at this point to remedy the situation greatly. The first thing you'll want to do is get a Tsuchinoko soul. Remember how I mentioned them in the Dance Hall section? Go back to the area where you fought the Big Golem, in the room where you got the Skeleton Blaze soul, and keep entering and leaving until one appears. It should be easy to kill one at this point, so just keep it up until you have a Tsuchinoko soul. Now you'll be needing the money itself. I highly suggest you complete the Forbidden Area if you haven't already, as this will get you the Joyeuse, which is useless as a weapon but sells for $90,000. That's almost half of the purchase price with the Tsuchinoko equipped! Anyway, you'll also have to go to the Forbidden Area to get the key to making money fast. Get a Mimic soul (this can take a while, be patient), and then go save in the Top Floor save point. Equip the Mimic soul. Now, here's what you do. Drop down to the lower level of the courtyard, and get petrified by a Basilisk. Let it walk through you until you're down to about 200 HP, then unpetrify yourself and Hippogryph-jump back up to the save point and heal. Repeat as necessary. This will get you about $5,000 to $6,000 a minute, which means that you'll have to do this for about 20 to 30 minutes to get enough cash. That's pretty fast, all things considered; the alternatives take from five to twenty times longer. Equip the Tsuchinoko soul, teleport to Hammer, and buy that Soul Eater Ring. With it equipped, go hunting souls, area by area, until you have as many as you want. You can skip the Stolas, Gladiator, and Giant Skeleton souls if you want; there will be easier places to get these monsters from soon enough. There should be 3 unknown monsters by the time you're done, and you should have all other souls (or all save those three I mentioned having an easier spot to get them). Once you're prepared, head back to the Floating Garden's secret area (the spot where you found the Kicker Skeleton; enter the floating area from the upper right side to get there quick). Equip a good sword (not Claimh Solais; I suggest either Balmung or Dainslef), save at the save point, then descend to the area below. The black door will open, letting you go into the Chaotic Realm. But first, you'll have to deal with a Belmont. BOSS: Julius Belmont Strategy: Julius is no walk in the park. Depending on your souls, this could be very easy or very, very hard. If you have a Kyoma Demon soul, then you can easily take care of most of the fight by activating it, hitting Julius two to four times, then zooming off via Black Panther to re-activate it and attack him again. If you don't have it, then the Black Panther soul is your friend. Use it to zoom away, and when Julius closes in jump-attack then zoom off again. Eventually, Julius will lose enough HP that he'll activate the Holy Cross attack. When he does this, zoom off via Black Panther to be as far as possible from him, and hold down in the direction opposite of Julius until he stops sucking you towards him. From here, the fight actually gets easier, as Julius all but stops using his whip, and focuses on sub-weapons. The hit-and-run tactic mentioned above works like a charm now, since Black Panther is infinitely faster than any sub-weapon. Before long, Julius will give up. Alternative Tactic: Equip the Handgun (Silver Gun for hard mode), and shoot poor Julius a few times, then zoom off via Black Panther. You'll do less damage per hit, but will be in almost no danger of being hit yourself. It is quite possible to beat Julius in under 3 minutes using this tactic, without taking a single hit. That'll teach him, bringing a whip to a gun-fight... Now, make your way into the room to the left, and into the Chaotic Realm. Chaotic Realm Items: Mana Prism, Super Potion, High Mind Up, Chaos Ring** Enemies: Beam Skeleton, Lubicant, Dead Crusader, Succubus, Erinys, Stolas, Shadow Knight, Alastor, Demon Lord, Triton, Fish Head, Iron Golem, Final Guard Special Souls: None ** - This item only appears if you have a 100% soul collection and do not possess one already. Welcome to the madness, I hope we enjoy your stay. There's a save room off to the left, and the path you want to go after visiting that is straight up. The Chaotic Realm is built up of pieces of other parts of the castle, so navigation should be a snap. The only room of interest in this first vertical corridor is the one halfway up, on the left. At the top of the corridor, head to the left (through rooms with the best Gladiator soul- capturing spot and the best Giant Skeleton capture spot) all the way until you reach the pre-Death clock tower area. Fight your way down to the lower levels (first chance to get an Alastor down there), and take the lower left exit. Head down from here to the lower right exit, and then drop down to a mock-up of the Chapel area. The save point in the upper left exit, mercifully, is still here in the Chaotic Realm. Descend and take the lower left exit, then take the floor exit to another big room. This is your first and best chance to capture a Demon Lord soul, so feel free to do so. From here, take the only exit (middle right) into an exact replica of one of the areas of the Underground Resivoir, down to the weak enemies. Equip Skula and make your way through, exiting via the lower right, to an area mercifully devoid of enemies. Go on up, and make your way up the broken elevator shaft, making a stop midway up to the left for a Super Potion. Resume your journey up the elevator shaft, and take the upper right exit. From here, climb your way yet again, this time to the upper left exit, and up through the water to the junction. From here, take the right exit to find a High Mind Up (and an Iron Golem), then go left to find a Shadow Knight (first and best chance to get his soul). Continue left to find a Stolas (best place to capture its soul). At this point, if you have 100% soul collection, go AAAALL the way back to the part of the Chaotic Realm outside of where you fought Death in the castle (where the first Alastor is), and enter the upper left exit to get the Chaos Ring. Anyway... From the Stolas room, continue left yet again, then down the clock tower mock-up into a part of The Arena. Take the lower right exit, and from there, take the ceiling exit. Go left, then float up to the last area of the Chaotic Realm. Go right first to the save point, equip yourself, save your game, then enter the lefthand door for the final showdown. BOSS: Chaos (part 1) Strategy: The first part is rather tricky, as you're deprived of your souls until you can beat the part which is holding the type you're looking to use. The guardian soul holder will occasionally turn into a dragon to dive at you, the bullet soul holder will shoot out three diamonds at you at fixed intervals, and the enchanted soul holder will send a targeter at you that will drain MP if it touches you. The first one I suggest you beat is the guardian soul holder; it's the most dangerous of the three. Then, beat the bullet soul holder, and finally, reclaim your enchanted souls. For maneuvering, you have to pay attention to three different sources of attacks, which is really tough. I suggest you ignore the enchanted soul holder's attacks entirely (as MP is easy to regain and useless for now), and focus on dodging the bullet and guardian soul holders' attacks. This is quite easy; just jump over or duck under guardian's dragon lunge, and attack bullet's diamonds. Once all three are beaten, the second part of this fight will commence. BOSS: Chaos (part 2) Strategy: Now is where it gets tricky. The boss itself is the central orb, and the eyes along the walls give it extra defense. If you want to win this fight quickly, you'll have to beat the eyes first. To do this, attack them with an arc-swinging sword like Claimh Solais, or the Red Minotaur bullet soul. While you're doing this, Chaos will be trying to kill you, naturally. The large snake will move about semi-randomly, occasionally spitting a green orb that you can attack to deflect, and generally making a nuisance of itself. The central orb will send out four small green orbs which, if they touch you, will explode inside of you and do massive damage. It's in your best interest to knock them away, obviously. The core will also spit out thorns at you. To avoid this, slide in the direction which is opposite of your current corner, and then slide back once the first round of spikes has been shot at nothing on that side. Keep at the killing of the eyes, and then the killing of the core, and victory will be yours. After the fight, just sit back and enjoy the ending. Congratulations, you've won Aria of Sorrow! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= III. Game Data =-=-= Bonus Features [GDBONUS] ===-- After you win the game via defeating Chaos, you'll be able to access a number of bonus features. They are outlined below. Enhanced New Game: Any file you've completed by beating Chaos will have a bat icon over it. Selecting this icon will let you start an enhanced new game, with all of your items, equipment, and non-soul-keeper souls (minus Kicker Skeleton) from your play-through that you won with previously. Play as Julius Belmont: Start a new file and enter your name as JULIUS. Julius can go almost anywhere in the castle from the start, and gains power from the restoration orbs dropped by bosses. Play in Hard Mode: When starting a new game or enhanced new game, you'll be prompted to select either NORMAL or HARD mode. Hard mode reduces your base stats and ups the enemies' base stats, making the game more challenging. You can play in Hard mode for either Soma or Julius, as well as in an enhanced new game. Boss Rush Mode: Select Special from the main menu, and Boss Rush. In Boss Rush mode, your goal is to fight through all of the bosses up to and including Graham as fast as you can. The rewards for it are as follows: under 4 minutes gets you Valmanway, under 5 minutes gets you the Positron Rifle, under 6 minutes gets you Excalibur, and over 6 minutes gets you a Potion. You can only get one of any of these, so if you beat Boss Rush in under 4 minutes three times, you won't get three Valmanways; you'll get Valmanway, the Positron Rifle, and Excalibur. The best way to do Boss Rush is to have the Chaos Ring, equip the Red Minotaur, Black Panther, and Lubicant souls, and face backwards to the bosses while swinging the Red Minotaur's axe. As you take more damage, you'll do more damage, and you should as a result be able to finish Boss Rush in under 4 minutes easily. Sound Mode: Listen to the music and voices of Aria of Sorrow. Just select Special and Sound Mode from the main menu. There's no special features to it, it just lets you listen to the game's music and voices. Souls [GDSOULS] ===-- Bullet Souls Soul MP Effect Bat 5 Makes a small radius of ultrasonic waves that damage nearby enemies Skeleton 8 Tosses bones in a very tall, narrow arc Merman 14 Shoots a thin water stream Axe Armor 22 Throws an axe, which then boomerangs back Skull Archer 8 Shoots enemies with arrows Killer Fish 16 Spawns a fish that attacks other water-based enemies; will not do anything on land Blue Crow 10 Throws blue crows out a short distance ahead Zombie Soldier 14 Tosses grenades that blow up after a set time, or when they come in contact with an enemy Ghost 16 Launches two semi-seeking energy balls Siren 10 Sends out some musical notes to damage enemies Tiny Devil 18 Shoots out crescent blades in three directions Durga 20 Tosses a sword forward Rock Armor 22 Tosses a rock in a slight arc Winged Skeleton 12 Tosses a spear in a wide arc Student Witch 20 Tosses out a cat that will run straight forward and damage anything it touches, until it hits a wall Arachne 15 Throws a web that slows down enemies it hits Fleaman 15 Throws a Fleaman, who bounces about randomly Evil Butcher 5 Throws knives straight forward Waiter Skeleton 30 Throws a dish of hot curry in a small arc Killer Doll 20 Throws out a dall that enemies try to attack Nemesis 65 Makes enemies unable to see Soma Kyoma Demon 80 Makes Soma temporarily invulnerable Chronomage 96 Stops time for about 5 seconds; won't work on certain enemies Valkyrie 50 Summons a Valkyrie to attack straight forward once with her sword Altair 22 Throws an Altair straight ahead Cockatrice 24 Fires a beam that can petrify enemies Werewolf 28 Makes a small fountain of flame in front of Soma Disc Armor 34 Throws a razor disc forward onto the ground Harpy 25 Shoots feathers out in three directions Bomber Armor 80 Throws out an explosive in a small arc Lightning Doll 46 Shoots a beam of lightning straight forward Une 20 Plants land mines that blow up after a set period of time, or when an enemy touches them Needles 15 Summons a Needles to explode in mid-air after a set delay Man-Eater 22 Fires out multi-colored bubbles rapidly Fish Head 18 Shoots a fireball Nightmare 30 Tosses a Nightmare straight forward to damage enemies; will vanish when it hits a wall Slime 20 Tosses slime globules at enemies Dryad 33 Tosses out fruit seeds that will attack repeatedly when they hit an enemy Ripper 35 Tosses a blood-soaked knife that hits up to 5 times Werejaguar 40 Performs a quick straight punch Uroback 12 Lights fires wherever you activate it Biphron 35 Launches a long line of fire pillars straight in front of Soma Mandragora 110 Does heavy damage to all enemies on screen Weretiger 40 Performs a quick uppercut punch Killer Mantle 19 Exchanges enemy's HP and MP, does slight damage Mudman 20 Tosses mud balls in a wide arc Red Minotaur 150 Summons a comically huge axe to swing in a wide circle about Soma; does 300% of ATT stat for damage Beam Skeleton 28 Fires a limited-range beam that does heavy damage Skull Millione 25 Poisons enemies with straight-forward claw swipes Giant Skeleton 19 Throws gigantic skulls along the ground Gladiator 30 Throws wheels along the ground Demon Lord 38 Shoot out two or four meteor fireballs like Dracula Flame Demon 44 Shoots out three or five fireballs like Dracula Legion 66 Fires three lasers out from Soma's back Balore 120 Perfoms a slow but powerful striaght punch Guardian Souls Soul MP/sec Effect Bone Pillar 30 Radiates flames forward while R is held down Buer 5 Makes two rotating flames until R is pressed again Giant Ghost 5 Generates a barrier that reduces damage until R is pressed again Catoblepas 15 Breathes a petrifying fog while R is held down Creaking Skull 5 A bone arm attacks behind Soma whenever Soma attacks forward; lasts until R is pressed again Persephone 15 Activates a vaccuum cleaner machine damages enemies and heals 10 HP per hit while R is held down Witch 3 Makes a barrier that blocks projectiles from the front until R is pressed again Curly 30 Changes Soma into a gigantic Curly enemy while R is held down Devil 30 Changes Soma into a blade-footed demon while R is held down Imp 3 Summons an Imp to fight for you as a familiar until R is pressed again Manticore 30 Changes Soma into a big Manticore enemy while R is held down Medusa Head 10 Stop in mid-air while R is held down Great Armor 60 Boosts STR by 120% while R is held down Big Golem 5 Punches enemies when Soma attacks until R is pressed again Cagnazzo 5 A demon punches straight in front of Soma until R is pressed again Alura Une 60 Restores 10 HP per half-second while R is held down Sky Fish 60 Boosts STR and CON for a set duration, the amount depending on how long R is held down Alastor 3 Summons an Alastor to act as a familiar until R is pressed again Final Guard 60 Blocks enemy attacks while R is held down Shadow Knight 5 Summons a shadow knight that will attack when Soma does, until R is pressed again Death 10 Causes sickles to fly about randomly until R is pressed again Flying Armor 5 Causes Soma to fall more slowly while R is pressed Giant Bat 30 Lets Soma assume the form of a bat until R is pressed again Enchanted Souls Zombie - Boosts stats when poisoned instead of reducing them Peeping Eye - Reveals breakable walls White Dragon - Boosts CON by 4 Skeleton Knight - Boosts STR by 4 Minotaur - Boosts STR by 8 Quetzalcotl - Boosts CON by 8 Ectoplasm - Immunity to Curse Ghost Dancer - Boosts LUCK by 4 Zombie Officer - When knocked back by an attack, you can jump and recover your ability to move Wooden Golem - MP restoration rate goes up significantly Tsuchinoko - Gives a 20% discount at Hammer's shop Lilith - Boosts INT by 8 Red Crow - Boosts INT by 4 Dead Warrior - Cancel out of normal attacks when trying to use bullet souls Gorgon - Boosts CON by 12 Golem - Boosts STR by 12 Gremlin - Boosts LUCK by 8 Giant Worm - Recover 5 HP per second while standing still Triton - Boosts STR by 16 Poison Worm - Immunity to Poison Arc Demon - Recovers MP whenever HP is lost Flesh Golem - Causes Rotten Meat and Spoiled Milk items to restore HP Dead Crusader - Boosts CON by 16 Gargoyle - Immunity to Petrification Bael - Boosts INT by 12 Succubus - Restores 5 HP per attack to anything Mimic - Gives $5 per 1 HP lost Stolas - Boosts INT by 16 Erinys - Raises experience gained by 20% Lubicant - Boosts stats as HP gets lower Basilisk - Boosts DEF, but lowers STR Iron Golem - Causes Soma to not flinch or fly backwards when hit Headhunter - Gives a boost of 1 to all stats but LUCK for every 16 souls; maximum boost is 33 to all stats Undine - Allows Soma to walk on top of water Skula - Allows Soma to walk underwater Ability Souls Gravekeeper - Allows you to backdash by pressing L Malphas - Allows you to jump again in mid-jump Skeleton Blaze - Allows you to slide by pressing A while ducking Kicker Skeleton - Allows you to kick while doing a double-jump Galamoth - Makes you unaffected by Chronomage's time-stop attack Hippogryph - Allows you to super-jump by pressing L in mid-jump Items [GDITEMS] ===-- NOTE: Item prices for items that you cannot buy are there for reference; you can sell them for half that amount. Name Price Use Potion Restores 100 HP High Potion Restores 400 HP Super Potion Restores all HP Meat Strip Restores 29 HP Tasty Meat Restores 290 HP Mind Up Restores 20% of max MP High Mind Up Restores 50% of max MP Mana Prism Restores all MP Anti-Venom Removes Poison Uncurse Potion Removes Curse Potato Pancake Restores 400 HP Beef Curry Restores 800 HP Ramen Restores 500 HP Cream Sody Restores 200 HP Cream Puff Restores 180 HP Milk Restores 150 HP Coffee Restores 200 HP Tea Restores 180 HP Pudding Restores 200 HP Strawberry Restores 300 HP Melon Restores 600 HP Grapes Restores 150 HP Persimmon Restores 80 HP Rotten Meat Removes 200 HP Spoiled Milk Removes 800 HP Ancient Book 1 Gives a hint on the bullet soul necessary to get the good ending Ancient Book 2 Gives a hint on the guardian soul necessary to get the good ending Ancient Book 3 Gives a hint on the enchanted soul necessary to get the good ending CASTLE MAP 1 Reveals about 1/4th of the castle map CASTLE MAP 2 Reveals about 1/4th of the castle map CASTLE MAP 3 Reveals about 1/4th of the castle map Equipment [GDEQUIP] ===-- NOTE: Item prices for items that you cannot buy are there for reference; you can sell them for half that amount. NOTE 2: Any equipment with a CON boost will have 1 more DEF for every 2 CON points it grants. Weapon Price ATT Special/Notes Bamboo Sword 1 Arc-swing sword Handgun 1 Straight attack, fast Valmanway 2 Frontal area attack, very fast Knife 5 Short-range Mach Punch 5 Short-range, fast Short Sword 8 Kaiser Knuckle 10 Attacks 2 times per attack Rapier 14 Bastard Sword 16 Whip Sword 16 Long-range, long recovery time Spear 17 Long recovery time Baselard 19 Short-range Broadsword 20 Arc-swing sword Cutall 20 Short-range Cestus 20 Short-range Gladius 22 Combat Knife 24 Short-range Scimitar 25 Onikiri 25 Arc-swing sword Trident 28 Long recovery time Gungner 29 Long recovery time Kunitsuna 30 Arc-swing sword Vjaya 30 Thunder-elemental Hrunting 30 Causes poison on enemies Katana 31 Arc-swing sword Estoc 31 Lance 32 Long recovery time Claymore 32 Arc-swing sword Hammer 34 Very long recovery time Milican's Sword 34 Causes petrification on enemies Mystletain 36 Holy-elemental, fast Gram 38 Osafune 38 Arc-swing sword, wide range Partizan 39 Long-range, long recovery time Great Sword 40 Arc-swing sword, long recovery time Yasutsuna 40 Arc-swing sword Silver Gun 42 Straight attack, fast Muramasa 44 Whip Knuckle 49 Long-range, long recovery time Positron Rifle 50 Very long range, can hit multiple times Battle Axe 50 Very long recovery time Warhammer 50 Very long recovery time Burtgang 50 +2 CON Rahab's Sword 52 Ice-elemental Tallhammer 56 Thunder-elemental, very long recovery time Durandal 58 Arc-swing sword, dark-elemental Gabolg 58 Long recovery time Poison Fist 60 Short-range, causes poison on enemies Joyeuse 180000 64 Laevatain 65 Fire-elemental Kaladbolg 84 Dark-elemental Dainslef 96 -2 CON, -2 INT, arc-swing sword, dark-elemental Claimh Solais 90000 99 +7 STR, +7 CON, +7 INT, arc-swing sword, holy-elemental Balmung 100 Frontal area attack, long recovery time Ronginus' Spear 102 Holy-elemental, long recovery time Ascalon 102 Final Sword 108 Arc-swing sword, very long recovery time Excalibur 120 Arc-swing sword, holy-elemental, very long recovery time Death's Sickle 130 Arc-swing weapon, dark-elemental, very long recovery time Armor Price DEF Notes/Special Casual Clothes 5 Cloth Tunic 7 Silk Robe 9 +5 INT Leather Plate 10 Gym Clothes 11 +2 CON Ninja Suit 12 +2 STR, +2 CON War Fatigue 15 +3 STR Copper Plate 18 Samurai Armor 20 +3 STR Army Jacket 23 Soldier Uniform 23 +2 STR Iron Plate 25 Elfin Robe 26 +10 INT Steel Plate 31 PitchBlack Suit 32 +3 INT Armor of Water 33 Armor of Fire 34 Silver Plate 35 Blocking Mail 35 Sometimes stops attacks from hitting Soma Olrox's Suit 36 +2 STR, +2 CON, +2 INT Gold Plate 38 Dracula's Tunic 38 +6 STR, +6 CON, +6 INT, +6 LUCK Death's Robe 42 +4 STR, +4 CON, +13 INT, +13 LUCK Eversing 45 Demon's Mail 49 +9 STR Accessory Price Effects Pendant +1 LUCK Lucky Charm +3 LUCK Cape +1 DEF Heart Pendant +1 DEF, +1 LUCK Black Belt +1 DEF, +5 STR, +2 CON Scarf +2 DEF Red Scarf +2 DEF, +1 STR, +1 CON Skull Necklace +3 DEF, -1 LUCK Crimson Cloak +3 DEF, +1 INT Black Cloak +5 DEF, +2 INT Ancient Belt +5 DEF, +1 STR, +5 CON, +1 LUCK Satan's Ring +6 DEF, +2 STR, +2 CON, +2 INT Tear of Blood +8 DEF, +1 STR, +1 CON, +1 INT Sherman Ring +1 DEF; gives 1 experience per step when worn Gold Ring +1 DEF; makes enemies drop $500 and $1000 bags Rune Ring +2 DEF; ups MP restoration rate Flame Necklace +2 DEF; +1 INT, boosts fire defense Soul Eater Ring +5 LUCK; ups the rate of soul acquisition Rare Ring +5 LUCK; ups the appearance of rare item drops Chaos Ring +1 DEF, +1 STR, +1 CON, +1 INT, +1 LUCK; constantly restores MP very quickly Monsters [GDMONSTERS] ===-- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= IV. Conclusion =-=-= Special Thanks to [CTHANKSTO] ===-- These are the people who helped make my guide what it is today. * Phantasia Knights - Informed me of the existence of this game, and got me interested enough to try it out. Afterword [CAFTERWORD] ===-- So ends this guide. I hope it was helpful to you, and may your Aria of Sorrow experience be a fun one! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Copyright 2004 Sky Render