Devil Summoner 2: Soul Hackers FAQ - ver 0.80 Started on October 17, 1998 Latest Version released on September 28, 2002 written by Robert Boyd rwb36@email.byu.edu This FAQ is copyrighted by Robert Boyd. All other products are copyrights of their respective companies. This FAQ can not be reprinted on any public medium (web site, magazine, etc.) without the express written permission of its owner. This FAQ is best viewed in WordPad with no wrapping options on. CONTENTS: I. About this FAQ i. Version History ii. Introduction iii. What is Soul Hackers? iv. Introductory Story v. Comparison to Persona II. Gameplay Information i. Mag ii. Loyalty iii. Personality iv. Moon Phase v. Status Screen Translations vi. Fusion Swords vii. Character Evaluations viii. Tips III. Walkthrough - CD1 i. Introduction ii. Vision Quest 1 iii. The Algon Soft Net Services Building iv. Your COMP and the warehouses v. The Planetarium vi. Vision Quest 2 vii. Airport viii. Your sister, Tomoko ix. Muuuisu x. The Island Factory xi. Six IV. Walkthrough - CD2 (under construction) i. Dad ii. Algon Factory iii. Vision Quest 3 iv. Main System v. Monolith V. Equipment Charts (under construction) i. Weapons a. Close Range b. Firearms c. Bullets ii. Armor a. Body Armor b. Helms c. Gloves d. Shoes VI. COMP Module Chart (under construction) VII. Spells & Skills Charts (under construction) VIII. Pet Shop List IX. Miscellaneous i. Soul Hackers Hyper Rearrange Soundtrack ii. Special Thanks I. About this FAQ: i. Version History: 0.80: Walkthrough up through the monolith. 9/28/02 0.50: Started the 2cd CD walkthrough. Added more to the gameplay section. Added a Pet Shop Trading list. Rearranged some sections. 6/26/02 0.40: Some minor fixes. Moved some information to the new gameplay information section & added information on monster personalities. I now know a good bit of Chinese (having spent the last two years in Taiwan) which should help in future updates. 5/31/02 0.35: Some story info (thanks to Zhou Tai An) scattered throughout the walkthrough plus a few miscellaneous fixes and additions. 11/6/99 0.30: Completed 1st CD walkthough. Updated lists and special thanks section. 8/10/99 0.20: Completed sections 8 & 9 of the walkthrough. Added more items and more details to the lists. Fixed some mistakes and added details to various parts of the walkthrough (since I had to start over due to battery failure). New gameplay details, especially for the Dorikadoman (iv of the walkthrough) and Pet Shop (viii). Information on the Soul Hackers Hyper Rearranged CD. 5/7/99 0.15: 2 New Walkthrough sections (the 2cd is only partially completed). Added the Special Thanks and Introductory Story to the 1st section, a COMP module chart towards the end plus general fixes and updates throughout the file. Moved the version history to the beginning. 1/8/99 0.12: 2 New Walkthrough sections; updated charts; minor fixes. 11/10/98 0.1: FAQ originally created. 10/17/98 ii. Introduction: Welcome to the Devil Summoner 2: Soul Hackers FAQ! For some reason, no one has made a FAQ for this great game yet, so I decided to step in. When this FAQ is complete, it should be the definitive guide to Soul Hackers, complete with a full blown walkthrough, story notes, gameplay tips, and charts galore. Of course, this is all still quite aways away so it may never actually come to pass, but I can dream can't I? As you will undoubtedly notice, this FAQ is very incomplete. There are several reasons for this. First of all, my Japanese skills are very limited. I'm working on this - my college (Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah) has an excellent Japanese program - but learning any language takes a lot of work and time and I'm still a long ways away from achieving full fluency. Secondly, I haven't completed Soul Hackers yet (it's pretty hard to write about things that you don't know). Finally, this is my first FAQ so I'm a bit new at this kind of thing. Still, I figured any FAQ is better than none, so I've uploaded this FAQ despite its noticeable shortcomings. If you have any information on Soul Hackers that I don't have or if you notice a mistake (excluding spelling and grammatical errors) or if you just have a comment (hopefully positive), feel free to give me an email at rwb36@email.byu.edu. Make sure to include Soul Hackers in the email title. iii. What is Soul Hackers? Devil Summoner 2: Soul Hackers is a science fiction RPG for the Sega Saturn (and now the Sony Playstation) that was created by Atlus. Unfortunately, none of the Devil Summoner games have been translated for the US (probably due to complexity and the lack of popularity of the Saturn here). The closest thing that we have is Revelations: Persona for the PSX. This FAQ covers the Saturn version, although it should be helpful for people playing the Playstation version as well. The story of Soul Hackers is very different from your typical medieval RPG plot. In the near future, a software company has created an exciting new virtual world called Paradigm X. Sounds like a typical day in the 21st century, right? Unfortunately, there's something seriously wrong, even evil, with this piece of software. As an amateur hacker, it's up to you to set things right. Gameplay is very unique as well. Instead of just mindless attacking every enemy that comes into your path, you can actually try to negotiate with them. Successful conversation can result in nice things like money and items. It's even possible (and often necessary) to talk enemies into joining your party! However, failed attempts at negotiation often results in your enemies getting a free attack on you. Other nice gameplay features include lots of weapons (2 types like in Persona), a portable computer with add-on modules, and a semi-permanent save feature that can be used anyway - perfect for long dungeons. Graphics aren't fantastic, but they work and fit the story of the game well. Unlike most Japanese RPGs, most of the graphics are shown from a first person perspective. Music tends to be well done and helps the mood a lot. There are plenty of neat FMV scenes that advance the story along. Good graphics, moody music, deep gameplay, and a very unique story - in short, Soul Hackers is a very good RPG. Hopefully, through this FAQ, players who were having trouble with this game, will find the help they need to enjoy this unique and fun game. iv. Introductory Story: Soul Hackers, Atlus' new Sega Saturn RPG, contains the same hard-boiled look and feel of the previous title, Devil Summoner. Set in the near future, Amami City is a sprawling oceanside metropolis. The theme of the game is the bond among human beings, and how their lives affect one another. In each household in Amami City sits a computer, all linked together by one big network. The flow of information is managed by the government, something that the people have grown accustomed to and no longer mind. In an environment such as this, it's only natural for computer hacking to become popular, and recently this has become a big pastime amongst younger males. The main character of Soul Hackers is one such person, spending many of his days hacking away at various government computers - so much so that he brings together a group of hackers called the "Spookies." One day, he accidentally gains access to a virtual city created in the network - Paradigm-X. Created by Algon Soft, Paradigm-X has been secretly created for one sole purpose - the collecting of human souls. The Characters Main Character 18 Years old. While he is very interested in and studies computer hacking, he is actually a good person and has a strong sense of judgement. While he may not look it, he is a skilled fighter, and has taken classes in the martial arts. The main character has been friends with Hitomi, a fellow hacker, since childhood. Hitomi 18 years old. Hitomi is a typical Japanese schoolgirl with an interest in computers. Her father is a researcher of ancient remains, and is the one connection between Soul Hackers and Devil Summoner: Hitomi's father is a student of Professor Gotsuma, who has appeared in previous games. The Spookies The Spookies are a six-member group of computer hackers, all of which have incredible knowledge and skill relating to computers. Each member has their own strong subject and area of expertise, forming a cohesive unit of varied personalities who compliment one another. v. Comparison to Persona: Since a number of people in the US have played Atlus' Revelations: Persona, a game that is a gaiden (side story) of the Megami Tensei series (which Soul Hackers belongs to), I thought it might be useful for those people if I described some of the major differences between the two games. The story, characters, and locations are different (obviously). The control is much better in Soul Hackers than in Persona. The isometric perspective in Persona has been removed. The town layout in the two games are very different (3D town in Persona, still shots in Soul Hackers). The FMV in Soul Hackers is more frequent, is of higher quality, and is better integrated into the actual gameplay (like FF7, but the transitions aren't quite as smooth) than in Persona. Battles are shown from a first person perspective (like Dragon Warrior/Quest) in Soul Hackers. The map command is a tad more functional in Soul Hackers (you can switch floors, for example). A 1 time load/save feature has been added. Six characters can be in your party (5 in Persona). The formation system has been simplified (3 characters in front, 3 in back). A character's actions in battle don't affect how much XP they receive in Soul Hackers. Guns in Soul Hackers have a limited number of bullets (they can be reloaded). The negotiation system is very different in the two games - in Persona, each character has 4 conversation options and the results of these interactions are shown through enemy emotion meters; in Soul Hackers, enemies talk to you and you have to select your response. Your main characters has a portable computer with a number of different abilities in Soul Hackers. Battles don't seem to take up as much time in Soul Hackers as they did in Persona. And of course, there's the really big gameplay difference between the two games - the persona magic system in Persona and the monster summoning in Soul Hackers. II. Gameplay Information i. Mag Mag (abreviated M$) is the amount that is listed right below your yen total. M$ can be won in battle and found in chests and is used with your summoned monsters. Each monster costs a certain amount of M$ to summon into your party and a certain amount of M$ per step to keep in your party (with the more powerful monsters obviously costing more). The decision between conserving M$ and having a powerful party is one that you're going to have to make throughout the entire game. ii. Loyalty Another important game concept that you might not understand immediately (I didn't figure it out for a couple hours) is the loyalty system. Each monster that you summon has a different loyalty rating. There are 5 major loyalty LVs, each of which has 4 colored bars underneath it for a total of 20 different loyalty ratings. Monsters you get from negotiations start out with a loyalty rating of 10 (right in the middle) while monsters created by uniting existing monsters will have a loyalty that is the average of the monsters that were united. Monsters with high loyalty are more likely to do what you tell them, may block the hero from fatal attacks, and some can be turned into items (later in the game). Monsters with low loyalty tend to disobey you and may even leave your party. Loyalty can be changed in combat by selecting commands that the monster likes (if a monster's attack is show in blue, their loyalty has gone up slightly; if it's in red, their loyalty has gone down slightly), and by giving your monsters gifts (select item, then gift). Be careful when giving commands to monsters with low loyalty as they tend to disobey you (which decreases loyalty further). iii. Personality Monsters can have one of 6 different personalities. Personality determines the monster's AI as well as how you raise it's loyalty. Each personality also gets a special advantage when it's loyalty is high. Here's information on the various personality types (translated to the best of my ability from the instruction manual). Violent - Likes physical attacks. Enjoys being given food. Damage increases when loyalty is high. Crafty - Likes magic attacks. Enjoys being given expensive items. When loyalty is at LV5, it will force itself into conversations and has a "Magic Crystal Change" (not entirely sure about that one). Friendly- Likes healing, defense magic, and defending. Enjoys being given flowers. When loyalty is high, it will protect its master. Cold - It doesn't have any particular command preference. Enjoys being given valuable items. Stupid - Likes it when you choose the [Go] command. Doesn't like presents. No Heart- Likes defending. iv. Moon Phases The moon affects the power of monsters (both allies and enemies). When the moon is full, the music changes and most monsters go crazy so you probably should avoid negotiations then (unless you have an appropriate COMP add-on). Also, some rare and powerful monster combinations can only be created when the moon is at a certain phase. v. Status Screen Translations 1st screen Left Side (top to bottom) - Sword Power, Sword Accuracy, Gun Power, Gun Accuracy, Magic Power, Magic Accuracy, Defense, Evade. Gun stats are omitted for monsters. Right Side (top to bottom) - Strength (Weapon Power), Intelligence (Magic Defense), Magic (Magic Power), Stamina (Defense,HP), Speed, Luck. 2cd screen - Defensive strengths and weaknesses are listed under the monster's alignment. Everything else is pretty self explanatory. vi. Fusion Swords Once the sword fusion shop is opened you can create powerful weapons by combining monsters with a special sword you get. The sword's strength is based on the monster's LV & Strength and the sword's Hit% is based on the monster's LV, Speed, and Luck. The monster's spells and defense bonuses will determine what kind of sword it is. Past fusions have no effect on the sword. The hero can use the elemental swords whereas Nemissa can use the negative status inflicting swords. I'd recommend making swords for the hero since he doesn't get magic. The ice and lightning swords are particularly nice since they also sometimes stun the enemy. vii. Character Evaluations The hero - The hero is a pretty good character. He tends to have the highest physical attack power in the game and that gets even better once he starts getting elemental swords. He's also the only one who can use the summon command in battle. He's the only character in the game who can't use magic though. Obviously, you'll want to ignore the magic stat since he can't use spells, but all of the other stats are worthwhile - strength and speed will make him more useful in battle, and stamina and intelligence will keep him alive (very important since if he dies, it's Game Over). Nemissa - In my opinion, Nemissa is the best character in the game. Her magic is very powerful (with much better accuracy than anyone else's) and she has a nice variety of attack and healing spells. She's also the only magic user who can learn more than 6 spells. And when she gains a new LV, her MP is automatically restored. Although she gets some nice weapons, you should have her focus on magic, intelligence, and speed to get the most out of her. Zhido - Zhido is the manufactured demon that you get early in the game. Like other demons, he doesn't gain XP, but instead he grows through combining with other demons (stealing the stats and magic of those he combines with). He can't use every ability in the game though. Zhido is rather different than other demons - he always has 100% loyalty and he doesn't require any Mag to summon. Take advantage of this by combining him with expensive Dark demons. He is also immune to several types of status inflicting spells. Zhido has one weakness though - when the moon is new, he becomes incredibly weak. Demons - It all depends on the demon. :) viii. Tips: Formation - Physical group attacks usually hit the top left position for the most damage, so stick a demon with high defense against physical attacks there. When you're caught in surprise attacks, your original formation is NOT restored at the end of the battle. Be sure to fix it manually. Diplomacy - If a monster doesn't have a happy face next to it, don't even bother trying to talk him into your team. Conversely, if you see the happy face, you've got a good chance of gaining a new ally. Talking to monsters that you currently have in your party (they don't have to be summoned, in your COMP is fine) is an easy way to get out of battles. Often, you'll receive a small prize as well. High levels are the easiest way to get good results when talking to demons. So head back to some of the earlier dungeons (or the training dungeon) and stock up on monsters when you're low. If the allignment (Law/Chaos) of monsters you currently have summoned conflicts with the monster you're talking to, you won't have much success. Combat - Nemissa's Hama spells basically have about a 99.5% chance of killing any monster that is weak to them (use analyze to find out which ones are weak). Later in the game, you can find monsters with spells that will create a reflect magic or physical attacks field on your party. This is obviously very useful, but it only works on the turn that it's cast so make sure the user has high agility. Try to always have a good monster with a party heal spell at all times. It'll make almost any boss encounter easy. Loyalty - A very easy way to maximize monster loyalty is to use the personality modification items purchased at the wine store. One of the items will temporary switch a monster's personalty to friendly. Use that item on the desired monster, find an easy battle, and just have everyone defend until loyalty is at max. Great on those cold monsters. Items - The drugstore sells a very useful item that restores dead characters to full HP. Be sure to pick up a lot of them as they're vital in hard boss battles. Also pick up a variety of status healing items; they're usually a lot more convenient than trying to find a monster with the appropriate spell. Modules - These are the most useful COMP modules in my opinion: Debidas99 (figure out which monsters you haven't found yet), Hiroemon (find items after battle), Gibo Eyes (avoid having your powerful attacks reflect back on you when fighting new enemies or bosses), Dark Man (talk Dark monsters into joining your team), BackUp (save anywhere), and KoperuNikusu (find hidden monsters when making combinations). CapsuleLock and Neo Clear are also rather useful, but you can get the same effect by using certain spells and items. And none of the conversation or uniting modules are a bad choice. Unions - Some trades at the Pet Shop will give you information on how to create monsters of the more advanced class types. The pet shop trades can be made multiple times as long as you don't currently have the reward monster in your COMP. This is a great way to get monsters of the rarer classes for unions. Combining two monsters of the same class will result in a monster of the elemental class. Combining elementals with other monsters will create a new monster with the same class as that monster. Combining 2 elementals will result in a spirit monster. This monster when combined with other monsters will raise that monster's stats slightly. Probably the easiest way to get the monster necessary to trade for the useful KoperuNikusu module is to combine the Sukaaha monster that you can get from Mr. DNA at the Pet Shop with an elemental. Misc. - Learn Japanese. :) It makes the game a lot easier and more enjoyable if you know some Japanese. Even if you don't know much, you'll find the game a lot easier if you at least can recognize the characters for the different magic types and what level of resistance monster have to those types. III. Walkthrough - CD1: i. Introduction: Upon starting a new game, you'll see some dialogue and then a news report on Paradigm X. After this, you'll find yourself outside where you're trying to hack into Paradigm X. You will meet your best friend, Hitomi, at this time. Eventually, you manage to break into Paradigm X's user database (nice FMV here) and will replace one of the user's name and code with your own. Enter your name (family name is first in Japan) and your code name and then select the choice on the left (for those of you who know absolutely no Japanese, the word on the left is yes and the word on the right is no). After this, someone named Redman will call you from the terminal. He seems to know you, even though you don't know him. Then, you'll get a phone call from your sister, Tomoko, who says she has "Big news!" and wants you to come back home quickly. At home, you'll meet your father, sister, and mother. I think Tomoko's big news is that you now have access to Paradigm X (which of course, you already knew). When you head into your room, you get a coded message from Spooky, the leader of your hacking group. The message tells you that he has changed the location of his base to throw off anyone looking for him. Next, you'll find yourself in one of the area maps. While on an area map, you can talk to people (people are represented by colored dots; a message will appear in the corner when you're close enough to talk), enter buildings and other locations, look at the locations you can enter (press L or R), and look at the main menu (press C). The main menu is pretty self explanatory (all the commands are in English-yeah!) so I won't spend too much time here. You can look at, equip, and use items (you only have 2 story items at the moment), look at your status (LV1 for you and Hitomo), change your characters' position in battle, change the settings, and do a temporary save (select Quit and yes). Temporary saves will be erased when you restore them so they are useless as insurance against death, but if you want to take a break in the middle of a dungeon, they are quite useful. Talk to the people in this area if you want and then leave the area by walking to one of the edges and pressing C (I love the "TV off" effect when you do this). You'll now find yourself on the city map. Only two areas are currently selectable; the bottom one was where you just came from, so choose the top selection. You'll find yourself in another area. There's a mall in this area, but all the shops are closed right now, so ignore it. Go to the rendezvous point with Spooky (the other location that you can enter besides the mall). After a short FMV, you'll find yourself in the Spookies' semi-truck. Spooky is there and he'll show you your portable gun-style computer (COMP for short). After some conversation, he'll leave, and you'll be a given a list of things to do. The top left item is to save, and the bottom left item is to leave (you can't do this right now). Select the top right item twice and you'll logon to Paradigm X. The receptionist and "Captain Paradigm" will greet you and tell you about Paradigm X. Now, you'll find yourself in the 1st person perspective mode. Holding B while pressing a direction will cause you to move instead of changing directions (like in Shining the Holy Ark). Explore if you like, but there are really only two things you have to do here. First, go all the way down the alley and watch a news report. Then go to the VR building (Hitomi will comment when you're in front of it) and enter it. You don't actually have to do anything here (you can try out different VR worlds if you want), but if you don't go here the next event won't be triggered. When you're tired of Paradigm X go back to the room that you first entered Paradigm X. Instead of seeing the cheerful receptionist, you'll find that there is no one there. Hmm, this is odd. An unidentified voice will speak to you, a burst of energy will emit from your monitor (FMV), and then you'll find yourself face to face with a talking coyote named Redman. Reddman will tell you that you have multiple souls in your body (ala Persona), teleport you to the VR building and then you will experience the first Vision Quest. In the vision quests, you will experience firsthand some of the experiences (usually the final experiences) of one of the souls that you have within you. ii. Vision Quest 1: After a few FMV scenes and some dialogue, you'll find yourself in the Algon Soft Net Services building. Instead of controlling yourself and Hitomi, you're now in charge of a man name Urabi. Urabi is a defect from Algon Soft who got disgusted with their methods and actual plans and left. You can be attacked in the NS building, but don't worry, Urabi is at LV20 and he has three monsters to help him. There are two new commands in your main menu now - Magic and COMP. Magic is used to heal your characters (two of your monsters can use healing magic; take advantage of this) and COMP enables you to use your portable computer. Only use automap for now; you shouldn't mess with the summoning commands right now. Battles aren't very hard here - commands are in English, and your characters are powerful. The back of the Soul Hacker manual has a map for this building so you shouldn't have much trouble with it. On floor 1, go up the elevator to floor 2. On floor 2, the elevator has been locked off so go up the stairs to floor 3. On your way there, there's a room where the coyote will save your game and restore your HP and MP (it's marked T on the map). You can also pick up two items near the stairs. On floor 3, go up the stairs to floor 3 (you'll meet a security guard on the way; ignore him). On floor 4, go up the stairs to floor 5. On floor 5, go to the only room that isn't locked. Here, you'll get the data you're looking for, the Nemissa Program. However to make room for the program, you had to delete all of your summoned monster data making you completely defenseless. A man named Finnegan will show up, forcing you to flee. You'll automatically try to escape the building, but unfortunately the path back down has been blocked off so you'll be forced to go to the roof. Once there, you'll need to enter in a password to lock off the contents of your COMP. Any password will do so make it simple, since you'll need to re-enter it soon. Then, Finnegan catches up to you, the screen goes black, and Vision Quest 1 is over. iii. The Algon Soft Net Services Building Now, you're back in the Spookies semi-truck. Take out your COMP and enter the password that Urabi entered. The summoning functions (including the new command, Unite, which combines two monsters to create a more powerful one) have been activated on your COMP. However, this is not the only thing that happens. A ball of energy flies out of the COMP and into Hitomi. Now, Hitomi is possessed by the female devil, Nemissa. Hitomi's appearance will change to let you know who is currently in charge of her body. Hitomi and Nemissa don't get along very well at all initially, but eventually they learn to coexist and even cooperate. You'll meet two more members of the Spookies group at this time, Six and Lunch. You'll also get a phone call from Spooky. Turns out, he's calling from the Algon Soft Net Services building. After seeing what you just did in the Vision Quest of that building, you're worried about him and decide to go after him. Six and Lunch will follow you, but they won't show up as party members. Around this time, your LVs should go up. It's up to you to decide what stats to allocate your points to. As far as I can tell, the stats are (from top to bottom): Strength, Intelligence, Magic, Stamina, Speed, and Luck. Strength increases the power of your close range weapon. Intelligence and Magic both affect the power of your magic and your MP total. Stamina affects your defense and HP total. Speed and Luck both affect your evade %; Speed also affects the accuracy of your close range weapons and who goes first in battle, while Luck affects the accuracy of your guns. I personally focus Nemissa's stats towards Intelligence and Magic. Have your main character focus on Strength and Stamina (if he dies, the game is over, so you need defense and HP). Speed can also a good choice for either character. Go to the city map and select the 3rd area. Go to the NS building. You'll talk to Six and Lunch here; Lunch will stay with you, while Six will stay behind. The enemies here are much weaker than before, but so are you so be careful. Thankfully, you aren't as weak as you were at the start of the game - you should be at around LV6, you now have some equipment, and you should have some HP+40 items and a decent supply of bullets. In battle, try to talk monsters into joining your team. I don't have any suggestions here - if you can't read Japanese you're just going to have to rely on trial and error like I've been doing. If there's a smiley face next to the monster's name, it's easier to get good results out of your conversation attempts. Also, this is a good time to explain moon phases. The moon affects the power of monsters (both allies and enemies). When the moon is full, the music changes and most monsters go crazy so you probably should avoid negotiations then. Also, some rare and powerful monster combinations can only be created when the moon is at a certain phase. Your path in the NS building is going to be different than it was while you were Urabi. Go to the 2cd floor via the elevator. Here, go to floor 5 through the locked elevator (Lunch will unlock it). Go to the previously locked door on floor 5. Lunch will leave you here. Go to the area beyond the door and make your way to the elevator (picking up an item on the way). Take the elevator to floor 4. On floor 4, you'll get a phone call from Lunch. Go down the stairs to floor 3. On floor 3, you'll get a phone call from Six. Make sure to pick up M$300 on this floor; it's in a chest in a small room. Go down the stairs to basement 1. A boss encounter is in the small room at the west end of basement 1 so make sure you're ready before going there. Your HP and MP are fully restored when you LV-Up so if you're almost at a new LV, you might want to fight a few more battles. If you haven't already done so, summon a monster or two to help you out; if you don't, the next battle will be very hard. When you're ready, go to the small room in basement 1. You'll meet (of all things) a guitarist named Carol J, and a member of the Phantom Society. After some conversation, he'll summon 4 monsters and attack you. None of the enemies are particularly hard, but there are 5 of them, so be on your guard. Use healing items and magic when necessary and attack when you can. If Nemissa has learned the spell, Agi, use it; it is very useful here. Make sure none of your characters die, especially the main character and Nemissa. If the main character dies, the game is over, and if Nemissa dies, she will miss out on the very large EXP reward that you get for winning this battle. Monsters don't gain EXP so it is less important (but still a good idea) to keep them alive. After defeating the guitarist, you'll find Spooky. With him, you'll leave the building (the game will do this for you) and regroup with Lunch and Six. Then you'll return to the Spookies' semi-truck. Here, you'll meet the final member of the Spookies group, Yu-ichi. Your COMP will start emitting an error message; your next task is to fix it. iv. Your COMP and the Warehouses A new location has been enabled in this area - the cruise ship. Go here and after some dialogue and an FMV, you'll go to a secret underground room and meet Victor. Here, your COMP will be fixed and you will get 2 new COMP modules, Neo Clear and Davinchi. Neo Clear will enable a small map in the corner of the screen and Davinchi will show you all the possible results of the union command with the monsters you currently have (select unite and then the 2cd command). While here, you can combine unite monsters together (2 or 3 at a time) and there are some unions you can only do here (you can't do them on your COMP). If you have monsters with full loyalty you may be able to trade them for items. I was able to get some very powerful weapons for Nemissa (Acheri for Toigan Knife and Nekomata for Nyaoso 2 Claws) this way. Go back to the Spookies semi-truck. You'll get a new message from Summoner Net with the ominous message, "The Day is Coming." A new command has been added here. The bottom right command lets you insert and remove modules from your COMP. Change your module setup if you want (Neo Clear takes up 2 of the 5 slots in your COMP). Three modules are already in your COMP: Enemy Sonar (detect enemy activity in dungeons), Honey Bee (check multiple floors on your map), and Muun Adaruto (increases conversation skill when the moon is full). The shops in the mall have been opened so go there now. From top to bottom the shops offer: weapons, armor, special items, healing items, special items & gifts, HP/MP restore, and Mag<>Yen transfers. Get ready for the next dungeon by buying new equipment, items, and restoring your HP and MP. The last shop will enable you to exchange M$ for yen and vice versa - the exchange rate varies, but it's usually around M$10 for 100 yen. The shops will get new merchandise as the game goes on, so be sure to come here often. Go to the city map. A new area has been added; go here. The next dungeon, the warehouses, is in this area. Like the Algon Soft Net Services building, the instruction manual has a map for this dungeon at the back of the book. Try entering the middle warehouse; it's locked. Then enter the warehouse on the left. Make sure to pick up the Jaba foot; it's a useful piece of equipment that is in one of the side rooms. Go to the small room at the northern end of the warehouse. A guard is here; he'll talk to you and then give you some anti-ice armor. Now go to the warehouse on the right. There's a cure poison item in one of the side rooms. In the small room at the end of the hall is another guard. Talk to him and get another piece of anti-ice armor. If you've talked to the guards in both of the side warehouses, you should have the password to the middle warehouse door. When you enter the middle warehouse, it is quite obvious that something is definitely wrong here. Since the manual has a map for this area, you probably won't get lost. Many of the enemies here use ice magic so equipping that armor that the guards gave you. Summoning monsters that are strong against ice isn't a bad idea. On floor 1, take the elevator to B1F (either elevator will work, but the western elevator is quicker). On B1F, take the elevator in the NE part of the floor to B2F. At the beginning of B2F, there is a healing spot and a terminal room (you can save your game and switch COMP modules here). Take the southernmost elevator to B3F (picking up M$400 on the way). On B3F, go to the freezing room at the end of the hall. Here, you'll meet the second boss in the game. If you don't have both of the anti-ice armors equipped, it will give you the option of leaving the room and equipping them before the fight. If you don't have that armor on both of your characters, you're probably doomed as the boss has very powerful ice attacks. The boss has around 350HP. If you've been powering up Nemissa's magic like I have, you should have little trouble here (the boss is very weak against Nemissa's Agi spell). Once the boss has been killed, the mist in the warehouse will go away and the previously locked doors on F1, B1F, and B2F are now unlocked. Although you could take a short cut out of here via an elevator, don't. Instead go to all of the rooms that were previously locked for some items. On B2F, there's 1 item. On B1F, you can find M$200, a Chakra Pot (MP+), a healing item, and a Battle Fury Knife. The locked door on F1 is the most important. Here, you'll talk to a scientist, see a strange FMV (very reminiscent of Jenova from Square's FF7), and pick up a key item. After you've gone to the locked room on F1, you'll automatically go to the area map. You'll receive another phone call from Spooky. Go back to the Spookies' semi-truck for a story scene. After this, go to the secret room on the cruise ship. Here, you'll give Victor the item you just got in the warehouse and will receive a new item, the doriikadomon. This item can be combined with one or two monsters to create a very unique monster (it looks like an alien with a chain and its appearance changes based on its level). This monster will have the same LV, spells, and skills as the monster (or monsters) you used to create it, but its loyalty is maxed out and it doesn't have any summoning or maintenance cost! Stats are dropped, but you can continue to combine monsters with it until its stats are quite good. It can only have 6 spells or abilities at a time, so when you combine it, it may lose some of its old abilities. And you can name it, in English if you like (its default name is Zhido). Note, only Victor can combine Shido into more powerful forms; you can't do it on your COMP without a special module. v. Planetarium: You can access two new locations. You can go to the building near the warehouse (Shack?), but since almost all of the doors there are locked, it's pointless now. Go to the building near your house. This is the first dungeon that the manual doesn't show a map for, but it's pretty short. There's nothing on floor 1 except a couple of citizens so go up to floor 2. On floor 2, there are a number of small rooms with nice goodies. On the western side, you can find an engage ring, a XchiXXnoX, and a terminal room. On the eastern side, you can find a chest with M$1000 and a healing spot. There's a small room between the terminal room and healing spot called the Check room. You have to take a quiz here in order to open the locked doors here. You have to answer 5 questions correctly. The questions and answers are the same each time, but the order is randomly chosen. If you choose a wrong answer or take too much time on a single question, you'll be teleported to another part of the dungeon. I'm not 100% fluent in Japanese, so I can't tell you what the questions are, but I have listed some noticeable (to me) features of each question and its correct answer: The word "libra" is written in English - answer: top right choice All the answers are numbers - answer: top right choice (12) The first two characters are both shi - answer: bottom left choice The first word is kono - answer: top left choice Third character looks like upside down T - answer: bottom right Sorry, I couldn't be more precise, but that should be enough help to enable you to complete the quiz in a couple tries. After you've solved the quiz, save at the terminal room, and then go up the stairs at the northern end of floor 2. On floor 3, there are two small rooms, one has a Chakra Pot and the other holds a monster in a box (if you defeat him, you'll get an item). At the northern end of floor 3, there is a large room. If you've completed the quiz on floor 2, the door will be unlocked. Enter and you'll meet a guitarist named Carol J. After some dialogue, a mysterious voice will start laughing and Carol J body will become possessed and turn into an ugly demon. After some more dialogue, the third boss, the demon Muuuisu, will attack. Muuuisu has some decent attacks - a poison attack that, when successful, lowers your character's sword power (or a monster's attack power), a powerful single hit physical attack (Short Jab), and a couple of other magical attacks. But with a decent party, he shouldn't be too difficult. Muuuisu has around 550HP. When you defeat Muuuisu, he will drop some cryptic hints about Nemissa and tell you that he'll need to find a stronger body so he can destroy you. The light that possessed CJ will leave his body and fly towards you! The screen will fill with light and then you will hear Nemissa. Then the light and Nemissa will leave. CJ seems to be a normal person now and he will give you a new COMP module, the Back Up (2 slots; allows you to permanently save your game on the 2D or 3D areas). Nemissa will then call you and tell you that she's inside the Paradigm X computer! Now, you'll automatically go to the Spookies semi-truck. No one's there, but when you look at the computer, you'll see Nemissa. Somehow she manages to get out of the computer and back into reality. After some conversation, you are given a list of options. Save and then access Paradigm X. Instead of accessing it, Nemissa will hold your hand and physically teleport both of you into the computer system (FMV). Soon after entering Paradigm X, Nemissa will lead you to the clothing store, where she will get a new outfit. Hitomi gets rather upset over Nemissa's selection - a black outfit that makes her look like a gang member. After this, walk by the alley. Redman will appear (this time as a rabbit) and talk to you. Now go to the VR building. Vision Quest 2 begins. vi. Vision Quest 2: After some FMV and some dialogue (with references to Vision Quest 1), you'll find yourself in a large building which I call the Summoner Building. You'll be in charge of Yuda (LV25-great sword attack) and 4 monsters - Maruto (LV25-Lighting attacks), Tokebi (LV23- has the map spell), Oshirasam (LV21-Only useful when you need to cure bad conditions), and Shirukii(LV24-Excellent healer with good ice attacks). Yuda is a dark summoner and a member of the Phantom Society, but he's not too sure of his path or the society - a misgiving that proves to be chillingly well founded in the near future. On F1, try to go to the elevator in the north east area of the floor. When you reach the locked door, go back, and you'll talk to a summoner. Then go to the counter room (in the middle of the floor) to unlock the door. Now, you can go to F2 via the elevator. On F2, you can meet Redman (in the Terminal room) and restore your HP, MP, status, and save the game. Xs on the floor map are damage zones; stepping in these will lower your HP. In the terminal room on this floor, you'll meet an anti-Society girl named Ray. She will attack you and she is EXTREMELY powerful. After you do around 700HP of damage to her, the battle will end (you won't actually defeat her), there will be some conversation, and then she will leave. The locked door on F2 will now be unlocked so now you can take the northern elevator to B1. On B1F, go to the counter room in the middle of the floor to unlock the door on F3. Go to F3. Go to the room at the northern end of F3. Here, you will fight the fourth boss, the monster Uinpe. Uinpe isn't very powerful, but he does have one dangerous spell that can turn your characters to stone. It took me about 3350HP of damage (he healed twice) to defeat Uinpe. After defeating Uinpe, a pink mist will appear, some dialogue will occur, and then Vision Quest 2 will be over. Uinpe is the spirit of electricity of the airport - he's not really evil. The Society struck a double blow by using Yuda to kill it so they could regain control of the area and eliminate a possible threat, Yuda, because they knew Uinpe's explosion would kill him. vii. Airport: After some conversation and a message from Summoner Net, go to the fourth area on the city map. There's a new location here, the airport. As you might have guessed, this is the same building you were in during Vision Quest 2, but many things have changed here, both in appearance and in layout. As you explore the building you will hear voices in your head. This is Yuda telling you not to make the same mistake he did; destroy the Society. There is a chest with M$400 on the east side of floor 1 and a chest with a Chakra Pot on the west side. Go down to B1. On B1, you can find M$1000 (northwest part of the floor) and a potion that restores life (northeast part of the floor). Now go to F2. Here, you can find an item, M$800, and a healing spot (with Redman, now a rabbit). There is a small room in the northeast part of this floor, go there for a necessary story scene (darkness and then a voice). Now go back down to B1. In the southeast part of the floor, is a very important room. Here, you will find Yuda's saxophone, the Power Memory item (a key item that enables you to hold 12 monsters at a time), and the 4 monsters that Yuda had in Vision Quest 2. Wonderful! Now, you can go to floor 3 (if you tried early, you would have been stopped at the entrance of the floor). Go to the room where you fought Uinpe in the Vision Quest. Uinpe will disappear without a fight and then you will run into Finnegan (from the Vision Quests). After some conversation, Finnegan will summon 4 monsters and then leave. The monsters are strong (the one in the back heals everyone each turn), but you just got Yuda's strong monsters so it shouldn't be too difficult. Afterwards, a man dressed in purple comes and talks to you. He then shows you a picture of Ray (from Vision Quest 2). Now go back to the Spookies' semi-truck. Spooky and Lunch are there. Go with them to a new location in this area, EL-115, the COMP module shop. It's run by two gay hackers who are impressed with the Spookie's skill and offer to help out. You can now purchase new COMP modules here (right now they have 6, each for 480 yen). viii. Your sister, Tomoko: When you leave the COMP module shop, you'll receive a phone call from your mom. Apparently, something seems to be wrong with your sister, Tomoko, so go back home. You'll also get some mail saying that the Pet Shop is open plus the password necessary to access it. When you get home, it's obvious that Tomoko isn't feeling well - she isn't responding to anything! It's as if someone has stolen her soul... She's on a vision quest, but a malignant type of vision quest. Looking at your computer, you see she was currently accessing the VR Palace of Paradigm X. Go to Paradigm X. The Pet Store is open now and it functions as a type of trader outlet for summoners. You give summoners monsters that they want and they give you something in return. The first summoner wants monsters with particular types of spells or abilities. The second summoner wants monsters with particular stats (1st option is Str&IQ=10 or higher, I think). The third summoner wants monsters of particular types (1st option is dark type). The fourth summoner wants specific monsters and the fifth summoner wants a monster with full loyalty (more options after you give him one). You'll want to be sure to give the fourth summoner a Siruki (one of the monsters you got from Urabi) for the Debidasu '99 - a very useful and interesting software module that will give you a new command under analyze which will help you figure out which monsters you haven't seen or obtained yet. There's a lot of really good stuff here so be sure to experiment with different trades (but save first!). Go to the VR palace and enter the museum/art gallery. On the first floor, there is a person who seems to be in the same condition that Tomoko is in. On the second floor, go to the picture with dolphins in it. You can hear a human voice, Tomoko's voice, from the picture. And to your amazement, the picture sucks you into it! There are no fights in the Aqua Dolphin picture area. If you walk forward, you'll soon notice that you don't seem to be getting anywhere (if you walk long enough, Hitomi will speak and I'm guessing she says something to this effect). If you are attentive, you'll notice that as you are walking forward, the scenary seems to jump at one point. It looks like there's a barrier preventing you from going further. Leave the picture. When you exit the painting, someone named Juggler will come and talk to you. You're trying to get to Tomoko (who is in the dolphin picture), but to do that, you'll first need to find 3 chess pieces. First go to the first floor of the museum and enter the only picture that you can enter there. You'll find yourself in a cave. There are three items in this small cave - a poison cure, a sword that will attack a row, and a chess piece (a bishop). The chess piece is in a locked room to the north. In each of the four corners of the cave, there is a room with an old man in it. First go to the locked room, then go talk to each of the four men. Then talk to them again. Then go to the man in the southwest room and talk to him again. When it gives you a choice, pick the top one. He'll give you a key to the locked room and you'll finally be able to get the bishop piece. Next you need to go the "Strange Place" picture on the second floor of the museum. You can't use your map here so it's easy to get lost if you don't pay attention. If you want to make a map yourself, this area is a 16x16 size grid that never ends; think of it as a very small globe. The chess piece you're looking for is in a room near the entrance. Use the warps scattered around the area to get to it. Using a warp will usually change your direction so don't become disoriented. In addition to the chess piece, you can also find M$1000 and Roman Sandals. Once you get the two chess pieces, go to the chess board picture. In the big room, only step on floors with a chess piece on them, otherwise you'll get warped back. In the small room immediately past the large one, you'll fight a battle with Juggler (unless you don't have the 2 chess pieces in which case, you'll get warped back). Juggler himself isn't especially difficult, but he has two monsters guarding him who are very strong physically and have fantastic defense against all non magical attacks. Defeat them quickly with magic, because Jaguara casts an anti-magic spell on the first turn. You can use the 2 items you got right outside of his room to dispell the anti-magic spell, but he'll cast it again soon after so act quickly. Grenades might be useful here although I haven't tried them. After defeating Juggler, you'll get the final chess piece. Keep on exploring the chess board picture until you find the room with a chess board in it. You'll use the 3 chess pieces you have to get a checkmate and then the magic barrier in the dolphin picture will be dispelled. Save and heal and then go to the dolphin picture. In the dolphin picture, you'll find Tomoko and a dolphin demon. You'll have to fight the dolphin demon in order to rescue Tomoko. It primarily uses Ice attacks and its most powerful move is an Ice All/ Sleep All combo. The equipment you got in the warehouse will absorb and reduce ice damage so be sure to use it. It absorbs magic and has very high defense so it'll take a while to defeat it. However, there is a secret way to defeat it - just keep on using magic attacks on it and eventually it will absorb so much power, it will die. Iruku (dolphin in Japanese) has about 630HP. When you defeat Iruku, Tomoko will go back to normal and will leave Paradigm X. You'll automatically go to the Spookies' truck. There's some mail telling you that EL-115 has some new software modules for sale. Go there if you like and then go back home to check up on Tomoko. She seems well. After talking to her, go to your room. Your dad is in there, but what is he doing? ix. Muuuisu As you leave your house, you are stopped by Muuuisu. He wonders why Nemissa doesn't remember her past and then attacks. He's more powerful now then he was in the Planetarium and has around 2000HP and several powerful attacks, but is a little weak even so. Just pound him with your best moves and he'll go down quickly. After defeating him, you'll get a story item and automatically head to the Spookies' truck. Everyone's there and they join you. There's a new area on the city map now (it's the third choice) and a new location, the Leon Manufacturing Plant. Go there. When you first get there, the electricity is off and there are no enemies. Go to a room to the northwest, to turn the electricity (and the monsters) on. Soon after you do this, you'll meet Ray, the girl from the second Vision Quest. She notes your COMP and wishes you good luck against the Phantom Society before leaving. Go to the elevator. You can go to floors 2-4. There isn't much to do on floor 4 other than talk to Six so you can skip it for now. Go to floor 3. Near the elevator, you'll find a key. With this key, you can enter a locked room on this floor and activate a second elevator on floor 2. Do so. When you do this, you can take advantage of the terminal room and healing spot that are located near the locked room. Now go to floor 2. The second elevator is on the opposite end of the floor and you can get there without being attacked since there are no enemies on the edges of this floor. But before you go there, jump off the ledge that is farther east than any other ledge. You'll jump down to a new area on floor 1 where you can get several items. Most of the items are mundane, but you can get M$2000 and a Luck+1 item. Use the second elevator to go up to floor 4. There are items on floor 3, but I'm not sure how to get them since there are invisible holes guarding them so skip that floor. On floor 4, if you jump off a certain ledge, you can get to a hidden central location on floor 2 with two items, but neither item is essential. On floor 4, go to the room in the middle of the floor (making sure to have a strong party before doing so). You'll meet Muuuisu again and he's much more powerful. At first, he'll waste a couple of turns doing nothing, but then he starts using powerful spells and techniques. He starts with the Mark command (focuses his single attacks on a specific character) and then starts to unleash powerful offensive spells (Fire and Megido), some of which will target both rows for immense damage. Megido is particularly dangerous as it is non- elemental in nature. Keep your characters alive and attack when you can. He's weak against electricity. He has 3800HP and it will take a while to defeat him. After defeating him, he'll turn into a ball of energy and enter the monitor behind. You'll automatically follow. You'll chase Muuuisu and get more cryptic Nemissa/Muuuisu dialogue. When you catch up to him, he'll disappear. You then will leave this virtual world and have a conversation with Ray who congratulates you and offers to take you to a friend of hers who can help (which she does despite Nemissa's suspicions). When she leaves, you'll regroup with the Spookies and leave the manufacturing plant. Go to the cruise ship. You'll meet Ray's friend and she'll give you a sword. This is a very special sword - you can combine it with a monster and it will take on the power and attribute of that monster. The sword fusion shop can now be accessed by your characters any time. x. The Island Factory: After the usual dialogue scenes, you'll be ready to go to the next dungeon. Before going there, stop by EL-115 - they have some new modules. Also, you can stop by your house for a short little optional story scene. Many people have trouble getting to the next dungeon, because you can't get there directly from any of the city screens. Remember the Summoner Building? In the southwest part of the basement, there's an underground shuttle. Go there. You'll meet some of the other Spookies members and get a phone call from Finnegan (who took Yu-Ichi hostage after his fight with Six) before taking the shuttle to the Island Factory, the next dungeon. You'll be doing a lot of switching floors in this dungeon. The basic format is this: take an elevator to the 5th floor, find the elevator on that floor and go to the 13th floor, find a switch on the 13th floor that opens up a new section on the first floor, go to the new section on the first floor, and repeat. The first switch opens up the A block, the second switch opens up B block, and the third switch opens up C block. There are plenty of items in this dungeon: on your way to switch 1, you can get a Chakra Pot, M$3000, a sleepcure, and M$2000; on your way to switch 2, you can get a map item, M$1000, and an SGEXX Mask; and on your way to switch 3, you can get 2 Chakra Pots, a heal potion, a magic item. On your way to the third switch, you'll find Yu-ichi's hat in front of an elevator. You'll meet her soon. But first, on the 13th floor (the part reached from C block) in a storage room, you'll meet Finnegan. Not surprisingly, you have to fight Finnegan. The top choice will result in a one-on-one fight whereas the bottom choice will result in a normal party fight. Pick the party fight so Nemissa will get some EXP for the battle too. He has 5 monsters with him and Finnegan himself has some powerful physical attacks; if you don't kill his allies quickly, Finnegan could easily kill you. Use Maha Bufu on his front row and Maha Ragi on his back row to kill his monsters and then use your most powerful attacks on Finnegan. He has around 1300HP. When you defeat Finnegan, you'll find Yu-ichi and leave the factory. After some dialogue with the other Spookies members, you'll need to go to Six's house (new location). Yu-ichi is zoned out for some reason... xi. Six: When you get to Six's house, you'll be greeted with an unpleasant sight. Six looks a lot like Tomoko did when her spirit was trapped within Paradygm X. Your Paradygm X ID has been erased by the Phantom Society, but the hackers at EL-115 will be able to provide you with a new ID. Go to the Horror House in the VR building. I found this to be a very tedious dungeon. The first floor has three rooms containing an organ; you'll need to go into each room, and try to turn on the organ (which teleports you to a different area). In this new area, some of the rooms will teleport you to the basement of the horror house. The teleport that you're looking for is in the northwest part of the area; it will teleport you to a secret part of the basement and will eventually lead you to a room with a boy in it (where a story scene will occur). The boy is actually Six as a child (this whole scenario is part of Six's past). After you talk to the boy, you'll return to the main floor of the horror house and one of the organs will have turned on. Repeat for the other 2 organs. If you fall into the main part of the basement, you can return to the first floor through a staircase in the northeast part of the basement (behind the cross). The teleports in each of the three sections are located in the same places, so after the first one, you should have a good idea where the bad teleports are. The items in the dungeon and organ areas aren't very good - the only interesting item is a cursed weapon that does a lot of damage to the front row, but also puts your character to sleep. You can find it in the northwest part of the dungeon, but you can't reach it directly; you'll have to head east, then north, and then west to get it. Once you've turned on the three organs, go up the stairs on the first floor of the horror house. Floors 2-4 each have a piece of armor for Nemissa, but you can skip them. Be careful on floor 5, the treasure chest holds a monster. If you decide to fight it, it's weak against guns. On floor 6, go to the mirror. It will open up revealing a hidden passage (it will only do this if the three organs are playing). Go straight through this passage to reach the room at the north end. In the room, you'll see the boy (Shingo/Six) that you saw as you were turning on the organs. He's grown up now and it becomes obvious it's Six. A girl named Erika will appear, trap Shingo in a block of ice, summon two monsters and then fight you. This is a fairly tough fight. The two summoned monsters aren't hard (use fire on the bear, just about anything on the insect), but Erika's primary attack is Maha Bufura which will do major damage to everyone in your party who isn't strong against ice. Have someone healing constantly as being hit with two of Erika's Maha Bufura spells unhealed will probably kill your entire party. Erika has around 2800HP and can reflect guns (so don't shoot her). When you defeat Erika, Six will reappear and you'll leave Paradygm X. Save your game and go to Six's house. Talk to everyone there and head back to the Spookies' semi-truck. After talking some more there, you'll go outside and meet a summoner named Mayone. She summons 5 monsters and attacks. This is a relatively easy battle. Neither Mayone nor her monsters have particularly good attacks except for the monster on the front row on the left. It has an instant kill spell that is quite effective so be sure to kill it as quickly as possible. Mayone has around 1200HP and primarily uses weak healing spells. After defeating Mayone, sit back and watch what happens. You've completed the first CD! Save the game when it prompts you and switch disks. If you're interested, I was at LV41 and had clocked in 31 hours when I finished the first CD. IV. Walkthrough - CD2 (under construction) i. Dad Right after starting the second CD, you'll get a call from home. Apparently, your dad has gone crazy! Head back home for more information and then head to the grocery store. As a side note, if you head back to the Spookies' base, you'll get a new message on the Summoner net that will open up a new optional dungeon. This is a very frustrating dungeon that has a lot of quizes (like the planetorium early in the game, but much harder). As far as I can tell, there's really no point to going there unless you're a masochist as I didn't get any good items for completing it. If you do decide to go, make sure you have the Capsule Lock module equipped; the dungeon has lots of easy monsters and the encounter rate is very high. The boss of the optional dungeon (a super intelligent monkey) isn't very strong, but he has several monsters with him that use suicide attacks so if you're unlucky, you could get killed very quickly. In the grocery store, you'll find plenty of crazies (as well as a few normal people). Talk to the guard in front of the entrance to the storage area for some information. The door is locked so head over to the east part of the building. In the wall, there are a couple storage boxes - one of them contains a key to that locked door. Use it to get to the main part of this dungeon; the grocery store storage facility. I thought this dungeon was kind of fun. The first two areas are made up of mazes of red, yellow, and blue doors. In the first area near the entrance is a lever room. You need to switch the blue and yellow levers to get through the maze. In the second area, switch the yellow lever in the southeast corner of the maze (don't mess with the blue switch in the southwest corner). Go through the yellow doors to get to the red switch in the northeast part of the maze. Then go through the red doors to find an elevator to B1. B1 & B2 are really small, but the enemy encounter rate is higher than normal. Walk around B1 'til you find the second elevator. Take the elevator to B2. Near the entrance of B2 is another elevator; Use it to get some hidden items on B1 (a Stamina+1 item & Happy Sandles). One of the chests is guarded by a monster so be careful. When you're finished with treasure hunting, head to the computer room on B2 to finish this dungeon. Surprise! There's no boss in this dungeon! ii. Algon Factory After some story scenes, it's time to head to the Algon factory. On the first floor, there are manufacturing rooms in each of the floor's four corners, but right now, only the south-west room is accessible. A staircase to the second and third floor can be found in the eastern part of the floor. Head to the second floor and be sure to open a chest in the north-eastern part of the floor - it holds a very nice piece of armor for Nemissa. A healing room and terminal can be found just south of the staircase. Some of the doors on 2F are locked, but in one of the rooms, you can find a switch that will unlock the south-east room on F1. If you go back there, you'll see a short scene with Yu-ichi & Six (I'm not sure if you have to see this scene to progress). Go to the F3 (same staircase that took you to F2). On F3, you can find another staircase that will take you to those parts of F2 that you couldn't reach. Back on F2, you can find an item that raises your Magic stat by 1 as well as a few switches to deactivate locks. Most important is the switch that unlocks the north-west room on F1. Go there to see a scene with Lunch's dad. Now heal and save and then go back to F3. A wall that previously no access sign can now be entered. Go to the room past it to find out about the disease that was responsible for the crazy people at the grocery store (and your dad). And then, of course, you'll face a boss. The boss in the Algon Factory only uses magic attacks so bring out monster's with good magic resistance. He's immune to fire attacks so you'll want to have Nemissa use physical attacks or heal. He's pretty easy if you're characters are strong against magic and you heal every turn. I did about 6000HP worth of damage to him before he died. After defeating the boss, you'll head back to your base and get a message from Redman. Head to the theatre in Paradygm X; it's time for another Vision Quest! iii. Vision Quest 3: In this vision quest, you're in charge of Naomi. She doesn't have a cOMP so she's alone and she can't negotiate with enemies, but despite that, she rocks. Her stats are high, she has good equipment, and she has 6 very powerful and unique spells. Of special notice are her two healing spells - one raises her Max HP by 50% and completely restores her HP and the other spell completely restores her HP, MP, and fixes any status problems. Her physical attack spell is rather powerful as well (it hits 4 times). This vision quest is rather short and easy. With Naomi's powerful spells, you should blow through any monsters you run into. Just keep heading north and you'll eventually run into the boss. On the way, you'll pass a healing spot and a save spot. The boss can take a lot of damage (about 10,000HP worth) and is fairly powerful, but with Naomi's healing and offensive magic, you shouldn't run into any problems. iv. Main System: After the vision quest, you'll try to upload a virus into Algon's main system, but your attempt fails. Six, Lunch, Yu-ichi and the hero then appear on the news and are accused to be dangerous terrorists. Soon after, Spooky gets an email from the Algon president so the other members of the group think he's betrayed them. Hitomi still believes in Spooky though. Since your virus attempt failed, you then need to head over to Algon Main building. However, it can't be entered right now - it's surrounded by a strange mist. There's another way to enter it - through Paradygm X. Enter Paradygm X and choose the new option in the reception room to enter the Algon building. On the first floor, you'll run into Finnegan. He doesn't want to fight; he wants your help. There's a couple of choices here, I'm guessing it doesn't make a big difference what you chose. I told him that we'd trust him, help him out, and selected the red seal. Depending on what color you pick, the next area will be slightly different. For red, go to the door on the right; it'll take you to 2F. There's a terminal and healing spot on the 2F. There are several dark sections of the map. You can only enter the doors of the color you picked and you have to enter them in order (1-2-3). Each dark section has 2 rooms; one has an item, the other has a switch. Hit all the switches, and you'll open up a locked door. In that part of the floor, are a few Anti-Magic field dispelling items (necessary for the boss; you can also buy them at the mall), a room that will let you go back to Paradygm X and the entrance to F3. On F3, you'll see Finnegan again. He's hurt pretty badly. At the north end of the floor is a room with the dungeon boss. He'll start out by casting an anti-magic field; dispel it w/the items you just got. Some of his attacks aren't very strong (Fire Gas, regular attack), but some of his attacks are very powerful (such as a Slice All attack and a spell that targets your 2 human characters). He also can inflict bomb status on your characters. Like most bosses, as long as you have someone casting a good heal-all spell every turn, he's not too hard. Just be sure to dispel his anti-magic spells as soon as possible. He took around 9300HP of damage before dying. v. Monolith: After getting back to your base, you'll get a message from a brain washed Yu-ichi. Ray will come to take care of Yu-ichi while you go to the Monolith to rescue the other members of Monolith. Hitomi's having problems; I'm guessing because Nemissa has been in her body for so long that Hitomi's spirit is starting to disappear. The monolith is rightly named; this place is gigantic. It has around 40 floors (you don't go on most of them) and 2 bosses. Be sure to bring some "avoid random encounters" items to use when you get tired of gaining EXP and new monsters. The area is split up into a left and a right side; both sides are pretty close to identical. There aren't really any good items except for a Int+1 item on F39 (right side, by the save spot). F1 has a healing spot and terminal so use them whenever you need to. Start out by taking the left staircase up to F3. On F3, you'll find an elevator to F19. Take the staircase on F19 to F20. In one of the rooms on F20, you'll find Lunch. After finding him, he'll head to the control room on F20. No go back to F1 and take the right staircase. Make your way up to F20 and in one of the rooms, you'll find Six. She'll head to the other control room on F20. Go to the control room and Lunch and Six will give you some passwords. Some of the locked doors in the dungeon will be unlocked as well. Several of the floors have rooms with pictures in them. Behind each picture is a letter. What you have to do now is go to certain floors and reveal one letter on each floor thus spelling the passwords that Lunch and Six gave you. Here are the letters for each floor. Left Side - FLY 2:F, 3:L, 19:Y; TWIN 21:T, 37:W, 38:I, 39:N Right Side - WIZ 2:W, 3:I, 19:Z; PIXY 21:P, 37:I, 38:X, 39:Y Once you get all the lower level letters revealed, head to the control rooms on F20 to unlock the doors to the higher floors. Once you get all of the higher level letters revealed, head to the control room on F39 to unlock the final part of the dungeon (a center section between the left and right section on F39). There are also 2 switches on F39 that will unlock the doors to an express elevator (F1-F20-F39). F39 also has a terminal (right side) and heal spot (left side) that you can use. In the center section of F39, you'll run into Lunch and Six. In the conference room, you can find one of the leaders of Algon. After talking to him, you can take the special elevator in the center section to the top floor of the dungeon. Save before going there. The top floor is a good place to gain EXP since the monsters tend to be of higher levels than they are on the lower floors of the dungeon. There's only one room to go to and there you'll see a familiar location, a familiar face, and of course, a boss. This boss has rather good physical defense so use magic attacks. Another good option would be to use the reflect physical attack spells (if you've got it); if he uses a strong group attack, he'll take a lot of damage plus your characters won't be hurt at all. The boss has several good physical attacks and a spell that will critically wound or banish (but not kill) your summoned monsters. He has around 9300HP. Don't celebrate too soon. After defeating the boss, save your game and head to the healing spot if you need it. On the left or right side of F39 is a door that leads outside. Go there. You'll find Lunch and Six blowing up the antenna and you'll find a possessed Spooky. You're left with no other option, but to fight the demon (even though that puts Spooky in danger). Unlike the last boss, this one tends to focus more on magical attacks. His defense isn't especially good so any attacks (that he doesn't reflect or absorb) is good. He has around 13000HP. After defeating the boss, you'll watch several important story (you see Redman's true form, Nemissa regain her memory, and more) and probably gain 2-3 levels. Congratulations, you managed to defeat this monster of a dungeon! V. Equipment Charts (under construction): An X in the name represents a kanji symbol. i. Weapons: a. Close Range: Name Atk Power Hit% Gender Cost Comments Sukiauvooa 30 16 Male ? Hits Row. Igu Knife 9 4 Male ? Sukiandou 8 6 Female ? Razer Comb 11 18 Male 800 Half Pike 9 3 Female 980 Hit from back row. Butterfly Knife 14 8 MF 1600 Army Dato 16 12 Female 2400 XX mikisa 14 54 Male ? Syamashiiru 64 25 Male 16200 Some damage to back. Billy Club 20 3 Male 2600 Some damage to back. Torential Knife 22 24 MF 2980 XX Knife 22 4 Female 3500 Bagu Naku 22 10 Female 4480 Ninja Sword 28 58 Male 4480 Spinner 28 2 Female 5200 Hits Row. Toigan Knife 32 18 Female ? Luck+2. XXnoXXX 20 22 MF ? Hits Row. Fakiizu Horn 32 30 Male ? Firangi 31 68 Male 6800 KogarasuX 28 38 Male ? Iiru Sukinaa 28 24 Female 6800 Jairooiiru 30 34 Female 9980 Hits Row. Chakurama 41 18 Female ? Hits Row. Tokebi Knife 44 8 Male ? Fusion Sword 14 2 MF ? Before Fusion. Nyaso 2 Claw 56 56 Female ? Hits Row Speed+2. XXNihuru 51 21 Female ? ? Gradius 46 30 Male 9800 Gai Bolg 56 45 Male Fuse Sukaaha. Ranged. XX no Cutter 62 28 MF ? Hits Row. Cursed. XX ni Spoon 80 56 MF ? Cursed. XXX 66 44 Male Fuse Thunderbird. Splash. XXX 52 54 Male 12000 Naginatu 58 38 Female 13200 Ranged. Furanberuzyu 50 68 Male 16200 Hits Row. XXXX 64 56 Female 19800 Splash. Buryuunaku 66 13 MF Some damage to back. OOguma Star Bow 90 68 Female Naomi's Weapon Kotetu Blade 60 58 Male 22000 Queen Whip 68 42 Female 26000 Hits Rom. Ranged. XXX 64 59 Male Row. Seitentaisei. b. Firearms: Name Atk Power Hit% Gender #Bul Uses Cost Comments AKS74 34 12 MF 20 Shot 5980 Lousy K*K 14 4 MF 3 Shot ? Rugaa P95DC 17 8 MF 10 Shot 1200 Sutekki XXXX 18 2 MF 10 Shot 2200 Muzzled SR93 42 22 Male 20 Shot 12800 Sookomu Pistol 25 24 MF 10 Shot 3980 Annihilator 18 4 MF 30 Shot 3600 Hits Row XpipeXXXX 20 2 MF 5 Shells 3400 Arukusu-96 28 52 Male 30 Shot 8800 Hits Row Side by Side 40 8 Male 5 Shells ? Aaruza Lock 43 29 Female 50 Shot ? Hits Row Number 199X 54 6 Male 10 Shot 17800 Ingram M140 38 32 Male 30 Shot 17800 Hits Row Beneri M1S90 30 58 Male 10 Shells ? Sutea-AMW 55 40 Male 20 Shot 22000 Pierce Zirionium Gun 54 54 MF -- Lasers 22000 Pierce Mosubaaku 48 52 Male 5 Shells 26800 Splash SPAS15 38 66 Male 10 Shells 25000 Center L-Destroy 28 44 Male 10 Shells 24800 All c. Bullets: Name Atk Power Hit% Type Cost Comments NormalX 1 1 Shot 10 Bad Shot 3 8 Shot 30 XXX 8 4 Shot 90 Sleep Shack Killer 10 14 Shot 120 S Force 16 25 Shot 280 XXX 10 16 Shot 150 Paralyze Bad Shell 6 6 Shell 60 Biker Shell 8 14 Shell 100 Lucky Shell 10 10 Shell 100 Critical Hit%+ Corona Shell 12 12 Shell 200 Lightning Stun Shock Shell 6 8 Shell 200 Shock Happy Shell 14 16 Shell 280 Causes Berserk ii. Armor: a. Body Armor: Name Def Power Eva% Gender Cost Comments Brigandine 32 11 Male 5980 Keburaabe Suit 8 5 MF ? Padded Armor 10 8 MF 780 XXX 8 6 MF ? Ice Def+ High Leg Armor 12 8 Female 1600 Ice Def+ Fire Def- Hide Armor 20 12 Male 3480 Str+2 Strong Ice Weak Fire PuchibruXXXX 16 10 Female 2300 XchiXXnoX 11 9 Male ? Vit+2 XXX 22 16 MF 3480 XXXXXX 26 24 MF 7450 XXX 42 19 MF 7600 Requires Vit=15 Immune Lightning Weak Wind xxnoxx 46 20 Female ? Immune Lightning Weak Wind Makusimirian 50 18 MF 16500 Demonzu Skip 49 22 Female 19800 Vit+4 Weak Punch Immune Sword b. Helms: Name Def Power Eva% Gender Cost Comments "Urabi's Hat" 6 8 MF ? Nokkuauto X 2 2 MF ? Fleece Helm 4 6 MF 680 NBC XX Mask 7 2 Male 1300 Vit+1 Metal Taaban 8 6 MF 1180 ? XXmaik6X 7 12 Male 1600 ? Furufuiisu Helm 12 14 MF 2980 Bareru Helm 20 12 Male 3980 Luck-4 SGE XX Mask 14 14 MF 5500 ?? Barubyuuta 18 15 Male 6980 Tooten Koppu 15 18 Male 6980 XXXXnoXX 15 16 Female ? Robustaateiru 18 18 Male ? Immune Spirit Weak Mystic 178 Gun Ear 37 38 MF ? Luck+4 Aametto 25 20 MF 12500 Dolphin Helm 22 18 MF 16000 Int+2 Immune Spirit Weak Mystic b. Gloves: Name Def Power Eva% Gender Cost Comments Rattle Snake 8 8 MF 1280 Razer Glove 2 3 MF ? XXXX Ring 4 2 Female 600 Jamming Arm 7 9 Male 1100 IQ+2 Engage Ring 3 8 MF ? Gauntlet 13 10 Male 2200 XXXX 1 12 Male 2400 ? G-Radaazu 1 15 Female 3480 Str-2 Magic+3 Immune DeathCurse XXnoXX 8 1 Male ? Str+3 Magic-4 Kaiser Ring 15 12 Male 4980 Str+1 Guard Angel 16 18 MF 4980 Intel Guard 18 14 Female 6480 XXXnoXX 20 8 Male 7200 Str+2 XXXXnoXX 12 10 Female ? Raurin no XX 24 20 MF 9800 Str-2 Magic+2 Immune DeathCurse b. Shoes: Name Def Power Eva% Gender Cost Comments Escape Shoes 7 24 MF 1580 Speed+2 Razer Boots 2 2 MF ? Crime Boots 4 1 MF 980 Jaba Foot 5 15 MF ? Ieroo Chapusu 6 12 MF 1200 XXnosuneXte 12 24 MF 3980 Dashing Heels 10 15 Female 2980 Engineer Boots 11 10 Male 2780 Roman Sandals 8 16 Female ? Hesian Boots 14 28 Male 5980 Metal Boots 17 24 MF 7800 XXXXnoXX 15 28 Female ? Happy Sandals 16 32 MF ? Speed+3 Roller Blades 22 36 MF 9800 Speed+3 Mirage Boots 26 40 MF 12800 VI. COMP Module Chart (under construction): (* after name means module takes up 2 spaces) Name Type Received/Cost Effect Enemy Sonar 3D After VQ1 Detects Presence of Enemies Honey Bee Map After VQ1 Look at every floor Muun Adaruto Talk After VQ1 Conversation+ w/full moon Neo Clear* 3D Cruise Ship Shows surrounding area Davinchi COMP Cruise Ship Informative command under Unite Back Up* COMP Planetarium Enables permanent save anywhere Grab Magic 3D $480 HP increases as you walk Time Gaoru 3D $480 Shows time Hiromon Battle $480 Find more items after battle Nurse Call Battle $480 Heals demon when summoned Lady Killers Talk $480 Conversation+ w/female demons Arubato Union $480 Stabilizes monster unions Debidasu '99 COMP Pet Shop Extra Analyze Command Frost Panel Battle Pet Shop Picture on status bar Lantern Panel Battle Pet Shop Picture on status bar Oni Mark Battle Pet Shop Picture on status bar Panpu Bokkusu 3D $720 Shows EXP to next LV Nightingale Battle $720 Avoid auto attack command XXX Battle $720 Back Attack doesn't change formation Moon Palace Battle $720 Shows lunar influence on allies Double Value Talk $720 Increases effectiveness of Mag$ Sustainer COMP $720 Enables unions w/certain demon types Capsule Lock* 3D $980 Avoid encounters with weak enemies Scanning Zero Map $980 See Dark Zones Mr. Surprise Battle $980 Suprise Rate up Gibo Aizu Battle $980 Indicates enemy defense strengths Dark Man Talk $980 Conversation+ w/dark monsters Jibe Talking Talk $980 Translates foreign languages KoperuNikusu* Union Pet Shop Union Mistake Rate Up VII. Spells & Skills Charts (under construction): (Note-LVs are approximations in some cases) Nemissa's Spells Name Target MP Learned Effect Deia 1 2 LV 1 Restores HP Agi 1 3 LV 7 Fireball Medeia All 6 LV 15 Restores HP Roman Candle 2Rows 6 LV 18 More Damage w/lower HP Hama 1 4 LV 21 Destruction-based Kill Rikamu 1 8 LV 23 Restores Life Maha Ragi Row 8 LV 27 Fireball Deia Rama 1 4 LV 30 Restores HP Agirao 1 10 LV 34 Fireball Deia Rahan 1 10 LV 40 Restores HP Petra Deia 1 3 LV 43 Cures petrification Sabatoma 1 18 LV 45 Free summoning Hanma Row 6 LV 50 Destruction-based kill Megido 1 6 LV 52 Ultimate Attack Nekuroma 1 24 LV 56 Undead Summoning Me Deiarama All 12 LV 58 Restores HP Naomi's Spells Name Target MP Effect XXXnoXX 1 8 Max HP+50%, HP+. SoomaXXX 1 6 HP,MP=100%. Cure status. XXX Row 12 Physical attack. Hits 4 times. Kurikara Dragon Row 12 Fire. 24000 Evil All 8 Ultimate Attack. Full Moon Queen All 4 Ultimate Attack. VIII. Pet Shop Lists (under construction) Numbered trades must be done in order (i.e. doing all of the #1 trades will enable you to do #2 trades). Trader Rokusuke: Any Monster with Diarama for a Neutral Monster with Poison Cure Any Monster with Pararama for a Neutral Monster with Rakukazya Any Monster with Desubaundo for a Neutral Monster with Me Deiarama Any Monster with Hamaon for Seitentaise (LV49) with tarukazya Any Monster with Rosutoundo for Trader Mr. DNA: 1-Any Monster with Int>=10 for Sukaaha (LV36) & Info 2-Any Monster with Str>=20 for Ruugu (LV51) & Info 2-Any Monster with Luc>=25 for Trader Timing X: 1-Any DARK monster for Poltergeist 2-Any GoblinBeast for Judge Devil (LV27) 2-Any Evil God for Random Dark monster Trader Mrs. Ryooko: Jack Frost for Frost Panel Module Arch Angel for Oni Mark Module Jack Lantern for Lantern Panel Module Sirukii for Debidasu 99 Module Orutorosu for Reaper Module Forutouna for KoperuNikusu Module Trader Ameen (all trades require Max Loyalty): 1-Any Monster for Seere & Info 2-Stupid Monster for Mo Syoobo & List1 2-Friendly Monster for Tyureru & List2 2-Crafty Monster for Nekomata & List3 3-Kaso for Thunder Bird & List4 3-Kuruusuniku for Anubis & List5 3-Sureipuniru for Suzaku Trader Dr. Suriru (after getting a fake ID): 1-Heketo for B Hawai Frost 1-Perseponee for 1-Mahaamayun for 1-Oribaakun for 2- for Trader Hazama (Disc 2): 1-Any Spirit Bird for 10,000 Yen & Info 2-Any Death God for 50,000 Yen & Info 3- for IX. Miscellaneous i. Soul Hackers Hyper Rearrange Soundtrack For those of you who are interested in video game music CDs, I thought I'd give my impressions of the Soul Hackers Hyper Rearrange CD. Not the best music I've ever heard, but not bad. You should be able to order it at any internet music store that carries a wide selection of Japanese music. I ordered mine from Game Cave which I wouldn't recommend as they still haven't sent me all of my order yet. Here's a song by song review of the CD. 1-Soul Runnaz: If you like rap, you'll probably like this, but I don't like rap so I didn't. I liked Redman's part though. English vocals. 2-Hard F: This song would go well in a Wipeout game. Not bad, but not great. Instrumental. 3-Shoot, I Should Have "Dear" Ed - Ugh. This isn't music; this is torture. English vocals (actually English screaming). 4-EL115: I don't like rap as a rule, but I found this song pretty good anyway. English vocals. 5-XX: The werewolf song. Pretty good. Instrumental. 6-Mad Poco: Not enough variety to be interesting. Instrumental. 7-Le Monde a Glace: Probably my favorite song on the CD. Very moody. French vocals. 8-Snow in Jamaica: Very weird with a catchy tune, and probably my second favorite song on the CD. ? vocals (I can't make out any words). 9-R-Amb Remix: A nice pleasant song. Good background noise as you're doing something else. Instrumental. 10-Transvestite: Though I can't say I approve of the message of the lyrics, the song itself isn't bad. English vocals. 11-Home: The lyrics may be corny, but the music is nice and catchy. English vocals. 12-Amami-city: Decent. Instrumental. ii. Special Thanks: Special thanks go to the following people for the help they've given (sometimes without realizing it) to this FAQ. Zhou Tai An - lots of story info, some fixes, and has made his own secrets FAQ to Soul Hackers (a good companion guide to this guide). Alan Wortham - for being a good Japanese teacher. Russel-sensei - another great Japanese teacher. My 3 Japanese TAs - for being awesome. Jason Harlan - for helping me with the Chess board and providing most of the Intro Story section. Be sure to check out his Megami Tensei website at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Alley/5928/persona.htm Drexle - Some corrections and module info. Re-Miel - Lots of Megami Tensei info and has translated some of the 16-bit Megami Tensei games. Atlus - for making such a great game. and to everyone who has offered encouraging words, thank you. Thanks for reading the Devil Summoner 2: Soul Hackers FAQ! Robert Boyd rwb36@email.byu.edu