PrinceWatercress plays Brave Fencer Musashi - Part 16 of 33

We take on the last area of the dungeon beneath the restaurant, then find out what all those ghouls were released for: an ugly belt.

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Now for the last area, which is opposite the door we entered last time. Jump on the floating platforms and watch where they go so you don't fall into the abyss. You'll be dealing with a lot of Vambees here, too.

You'll see some puzzles where you have to move a red block. Move it to the glowing red eye to continue on. Thankfully, the eye block puzzles aren't that hard.

The white cubes will either run into you or crush you. You obviously want to avoid them.

Jump down and left on that platform that slowly rises up and down.

After that part, you'll enter a maze area. Assimilate the nearby ghost to get the temporary Sublime ability. You'll have an out-of-body experience where Musashi's soul jumps out of his body, allowing you to fly through the maze and memorize the path through this maze, because once you return back to your body (either after taking damage or after enough time has passed), the room will get dark and those dark brown squares in-between the lighter ones won't be there. When I played through this game, I didn't even know you could do this, so I just jumped from one platform to the next and hoped I landed on the other side.

After crossing the upper road in the room where you started, you'll reach another maze. The Bincho Field here contains Carpenter Cubey. The chest here contains a Bedpan, but you won't find out it's a Bedpan until you appraise the item inside. Take it and get the cash.

In the next room, you'll be dropping down in a darkened area, trying not to hit any spikes. Luckily, this part is even easier than the mazes.

You'll soon reach another maze. There is an area where you drop down. Take it and you'll save Knight Chucks, who will have another technique for you if rescue him from the Bincho Field. You'll then be able to teleport to the end of the maze after you rescue him. The chest you'll find in the maze on the way here contains a Helmet, which is going to be another useless item.

Now break the eye and get outta here!

Now that you've smashed all four eyes, you can now head to the door behind Mannick.

When you return to the eye door, you'll find out Mannick is missing. Inside the door is a treasure box, which is the reason why Mannick bought the restaurant but also let the ghouls out. When he opens the treasure box, he finds an ugly belt. After chastising Mannick for putting the village in danger and especially for putting Hilda and her son Tim through hell, Mannick promises to change his ways and hands Musashi the UglyBelt.

But first, head back to the castle. Talk to KnightB (Knight Lardwick) to learn Crosswise Cut, assuming you haven't already. Tap Triangle, then Square for a double sword attack. After you've talked to Knight Lardwick, talk to KnightC (Knight Chucks). You'll learn Desperado Attack. Press Square, Triangle, Square, and Triangle to do a devastating attack. 

PrinceWatercress plays Brave Fencer Musashi - Part 15 of 33

We've got two eyes down. Now it's time to go for the third.

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If you talk to the Bailiff now, you can start the rice field. You won't be able to buy rice until a little later in the game.

Now that we have two eyes lit up, it's time to head to the other two doors. These doors will be in the area opposite from where Mannick and the first two doors are.

Before you do anything, though, head to that area with Bowl and use it to break the cracked wall between the two doors. Inside are three chests, which contain an OldSword, Cloth and 300 Drans. The OldSword is just a Shovel you can sell for money, but the Cloth is the L-Cloth, which you can make into either the L-Quilt (which brings tiredness down to 0% in the wild) or the L-Gloves (which increases the chance of critical hits).

If you talk to the Knitter with the L-Cloth, you'll find out that you need Weaver Dineretta to actually make what you want. You won't be able to find her until a little later, however.

If you talk to Connors at the pawn shop, he will mention that Mannick may have bought the restaurant because of the treasure that is rumoured to be hidden below it.

Enter the door to the left in this area to start off yet another area. The rotating blocks are platforms, and it's pretty obvious you should be careful when traversing them so you don't slide off the sides due to them being too steep when you're standing on the blocks. Use your shadow so you can tell where you're landing.

The second area contains a Bincho Field to break. Inside is Librarian Brisketta. If you talk to her at the castle (Librarian), you'll find out that she has translated the books that you could not read at the beginning of the game.

The cubes become rectangular prisms in the third section. Again, you'll want to be quick here.

In the fourth section, you'll want to avoid falling in the lava. As for the rotating spike walls, tread lightly and be patient. Hold R1 to move more  At least the blocks here just spin horizontally.

In the fifth section, the blocks are stationary but move in a circular pattern. You'll also meet the flying Vambee, who will keep the pressure on as he flies above you. If he lowers down, hit him with a Cross-Cutter.

In the sixth section, move past the guillotines where they're all the way to one side.

In section seven, you'll have to traverse across a maze of thin wooden platforms. At the lower-left corner of this maze is Solder Hanky-Flanky, trapped in a Bincho Field. Go free him. If you talk to him at the castle (he is SoldierB), he will try to shower Musashi with his love and devotion, but Musashi will have none of it.

There is also a chest in this maze that contains an OldPipe. Yeah, you'll definitely be appraising that. It's really a Flute. Sell it for money.

The exit is at the bottom center.

The eighth section has smaller platforms, fireballs that jump in and out of the lava and more guillotines. Time your jumps and movements carefully. You can stand between the two guillotines at the end.

The third eye is after this. Break it and take the teleporter out of here.

PrinceWatercress plays Brave Fencer Musashi - Part 14 of 33

In this episode, we take on our second chamber within the underground dungeon.

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Back at the castle, if you talk to Mercenary Stue (MercenA) or Mercenary Potrowst (MercenC), they will mention thieves. This will be important for later on.

The Shield is really a Frisbee, and the OddHat is really a PiePlate. Both are useless and should be sold for money.

Now it's time to enter the door to the right of Mannick. If you need to restore your HP and BP, just talk to him and he'll hook you up with some cake you'll eat immediately.

The first room has a ton of spikes and a bunch of moving platforms. You'll have to jump from one platform to another as they move in and out of the walls. If you drop to the bottom, you'll be forced to take the teleporter back to the top.

If you go across from the entrance, you'll be at a dead end. Instead, leap to the sides near that door to continue on.

Assimilating the Vambees gives you B.O., a powerful body odor that causes enemies to run away from you until it lasts.

Knocking or throwing the Vambees into the panels with the eye on them that are on the floor will close up the spike pits, allowing you to continue.

Don't let the Vambees get their hands on you. Otherwise, they'll bite you for a few seconds, leaving you unable to move for that time.

Going to the sides takes you to a pair of spike pits. You'll want to go to the right first. Avoid the spikes so you don't take a whole bunch of damage.

You'll want to go to the right side first. You'll be in a dark room where the blue fireball that bounces back and forth is your only source of light. Go up and right, then follow the path. Hit the Bincho Field with Lumina to rescue Bailiff Jerky. Go back to the first room and take the left path.

The path here is a mirror image of the path on the right side. The only difference is that when you follow the path to the second room, there's more spikes.

There will be two teleporters instead of a Bincho Field in the next room. You'll want to take the one on the right.

The bats with the lanterns will attack you by tossing the lanterns into the ground or ramming into you. If you Assimilate one of them when they get close, you'll get Firefly, which allows you to illuminate nearly the entire screen. You'll definitely want this power-up, even if it only last for a limited time.

The purple slimes will poison you if you touch them.

Take the left teleporter, then assimilate the Firefly technique again. Follow the path again. Take the left teleporter again. Take the left teleporter again. Enter the door nearby.

Now you're in a maze surrounded by lava! Block the arrows from the arrow shooters as you make your way down, then Assimilate one of the bats again when you reach the dark area. The chest here contains Powder, which you can take to the Appraiser.

You've found the eye! Now smash it and take the teleporter back!

PrinceWatercress plays Brave Fencer Musashi - Part 13 of 33

Now that Tim is safe, it's time to find out where the Vambees are coming from. It does not take long for us to get our answer.

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The OldGloves are really A-Glove (army gloves). They're useless, so you'll have to sell them. Also, if you talk to Connor the appraiser, he will tell you that he detests Mannick, the restaurant owner, because he bought the restaurant upon hearing rumors that there is a treasure in the basement.

Head to the cafe near the mountain path leading to the gondola in the evening when the restaurant opens at 18:00. You'll find Bakery's Towst banging on the door. He has a headache and is pretty aggressive due to eating too many pork chops. (In the Japanese version, it's alcohol.) He'll tell you to go talk to Wanda and Macho at the inn. (Wanda is the waitress at the restaurant.) He'll run away before the ghouls start showing up.

Head to the inn and make yourself at home, then select "Chat." Talk to Wanda and Macho. They'll tell you monsters came out from behind the counter.

Head back to the restaurant at midnight. You'll see Vambees come out of the door. Enter the door as soon as it happen. Check out the opening behind the counter. You'll enter a dungeon-like area, with a trail of soda bottles (they're liquor in Japan). Go down the stairs and you'll meet Mannick. He will say he wanted to get rid of the ghouls, so he went down into this dungeon.

You'll follow Mannick to a door with four eyes. You'll have to light up all four eyes in order to open the door, and you'll have to go exploring to do that.

The door to the left of Mannick contains a dungeon. You may remember it from the Hard difficulty scenario from the demo disc. Balls of slime will drop from the ceiling, and large pink plants shoot bowling balls that quickly become bigger than you. You'll have to step out of the way, wait, or enter openings in the floor to avoid the bowling balls. If you Assimilate one of them, you'll get Bowl. Use it to blow down cracked openings in walls at 10 BP a shot. Press Circle to bring up an angle gauge, and use the gauge to control the straightness of your shot by pressing Circle when the cursor is at the angle you want to throw. You cannot move whenever you Bowl. 

You'll start seeing narrow paths here, too. Take it slow so you don't fall. 

The flaming Vambees are invincible. Use your block ability right in front of the flaming arrow shooters to get past the flaming arrows.

The cracks behind the huge flower before that wall you have to climb up hide a treasure box with a Shield. Take it for the money, because it definitely isn't a Shield.

The right wall in the room with the giant bowling ball flower that seems like a dead end contains another cracked segment if you look carefully. Use Bowl to break it.

You'll be doing some bowling at the bridge. If you can get all ten Vambees that stand around for you like bowling pins, you'll get extra experience to boost some of your stats up.

The platform with the eye that the Vambees stood on will take you up, allowing you to continue the area. Don't take it yet. Instead, jump to the platform leading to the doorway ahead. Break the Bincho Field to rescue Mercenary Potrowst. If you break the cracked wall to the right, you'll find a chest containing the OddHat.

Now you can take the platform. If you head to the right, a flamethrower will block your path. Going left will just take you earlier into the level. You'll have to trick it into facing one direction by having it hit you, then run around it and hit it with Lumina Rotation to get rid of it.

Next, you'll be avoiding crushing walls. Get to the other side and enter the opening in the first room, then jump on top of all the walls in the second. Break the cracked segment on the wall to the left with Bowl.

You'll do some more bowling. Once again, you can break the cracked wall ahead to find another Bincho Field and rescue Mercenary Stue. Just use Lumina Rotation or Bowl on those Vambees first.

The next elevator takes you to a blue crystal. Smash it with Lumina and you'll trigger a teleporter behind you. When you head back to the eye door, you'll find out one of the eyes is lit up.

PrinceWatercress plays Brave Fencer Musashi - Part 12 of 33

Now that we have the Misteria, we have to get back...and then we have to get the Aqualin, because of course there's no way Hotelo is making it to the summit.

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Now that you have Misteria (and all the useful things) go back to the fork in the road below the giant fan and climb the wall to the right. 

If you take the right fork, you'll enter the scrap depository. Assimilating the blue mushroom guys, falling into the pool of liquid Binchotite or getting hit by the worms will cause you to be poisoned. However, if you Assimilate the worms, you'll get Antidote. For 6 BP, you can instantly cure yourself. It's pretty much worth getting as long as you're in the mine. You won't be able to go much further to the right until later in the game, however, as the gap between the two wooden platforms above the liquid Binchotite pit is too wide to jump across.

When you climb up the wall, head to the right. Keep going right and you'll eventually enter another area with a liquid Binchotite pit. Use the elevators to climb up.

Watch out for the falling rocks, as they will definitely hurt if they touch you.

When you take the elevator, take care not to drop down to the mechanism at the bottom. You'll be hit by the unviewable gears at the bottom. (Use your imagination. It's a black space, I know, but that's what I'm assuming is happening.

Take the first platform on the left side of the elevator that you see, then head left to get out of this section. Follow the path and you'll be able to get out of the mine.

Back at the castle, talk to KnightA (Knight Brisket). He'll teach you Tenderize. To perform it, press Square, Square, Triangle and you'll do a three-hit combo with both Fusion and Lumina.

If you talk to CookA (Cook Mary-Nade), she will tell you that she and Bailiff Jerky are planning to grow a rice field together, but Bailiff Jerky. Keep in that mind, and remember to rescue the Bailiff later in the game.

In the daytime (as early as 10:00), find the Mayor, now that you've got the Misteria. He'll thank you, but tell you that Hotelo hasn't come back from Twinpeak Mountain. You'll have to head up the mountain again, and I have to admit, it's actually pretty fun to go through that area.

You'll find Hotelo after you cross that broken bridge. He's given up on himself, resigning himself to "fate." Pick the first option "What a let down!" He'll tell you that you have only 12 hours until Tim turns into a Vambee.

Your best bet to beat the clock is to climb the orangish-brown walls whenever possible. This will really help. Head to the place where you met Jon with the four logs, and use the Earth Scroll to reach the poles. Swing across, then climb up the pole. Approach the running water at the top here to get the Aqualin, then drop back down to the second cave and head back to Hotelo. 

When you hand the Aqualin over to Hotelo, he'll head back to the village and the timer will stop. This was a pretty easy mission as long as you get used to the jumping, to be honest.

Head back to the village. When you leave the mountain, you'll find out Tim is well. Regardless of what dialogue option you pick, you'll also head back to the grocery and get an Orange for Hilda. She'll sell them from this point on in the game.

Head back to the castle and talk to Clown (Clown Weinee). Now that you have the orange, he and Acrobat Sausages will perform. You'll learn Shish Kebab. Grab an enemy, then throw them upwards with Triangle. Hit Triangle again, and you'll impale them when they come back down.

PrinceWatercress plays Brave Fencer Musashi - Part 11 of 33

In this entry, we get the Mine Key and start looking for Misteria in the Binchotite Mines.

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While you wait, head back to the pipe area of the forest, head right and take the straight pipe. You'll find the Earth Crest. Use the Earth Scroll on it and the rock blocking your path up the wall will disappear. If you climb up there at night, you'll find a Wind Crest as well as a Minku up there, and you can get another Longevity Berry. There is an area past this, but we won't be able to go there...yet.

During the early morning, talk to Wid by knocking on the Windmill door. He'll give you the key and tell you that Misteria only blooms between between 3 AM and 7 AM.

If you head to Twinpeak Mountain now, Hotelo will shoo you away.

If you talk to Knitter Lunchetta (Knitter) at the castle, she will tell you that the Legendary Cloth will be in a place with some old ruins. You'll find it eventually.

Now that you have the Mine Key, you can unlock the door to the mine across from the Inn. Smashing the door with Lumina does nothing, and if you have the Mine Key, Musashi will use the key instead, anyway.

Once you enter, you can head left to the Grillin' River, or right to the Binchotite Mine. Take the right path to the Binchotite Mine.

The blue mushroom enemies are just like the brown ones, but they just poison you instead of making you tired if their powder attack connects. Be sure to bring some Antidotes or just avoid them altogether. Absorbing them will give you Toxin, which will poison you temporarily.

Avoid the glowing green blob monsters that will try to steal your BP, and watch out for the falling rocks. Assimilating the glowing blobs will give you the Rip-off ability. It uses 10 BP at the outset, and as long as the balls of light spin around you, you'll have the ability to turn hits into BP gains. Whenever you take damage, the damage is nullified and you regain 10 BP instead. Rip-off disappears when the lights stop flying around you.

You'll need to wait for the fan blades to come to a stop before you can drop down to what is below them. If you need to get back up, you can climb the nearby wall. There is a Memory Box underneath the first fan. From there, head left to the underground lake.

You'll be crossing conveyor belts in the next part of this area. At the fork in the road, take the conveyor belt that leads down. You'll find a Bincho Field, which allows you to free Knight Brisket. He'll tell you to come to the castle later to learn a technique from him. You'll definitely want to do this.

There's another Bincho Field to break near the first one. Get back on the main path and walk upwards on the conveyor belt that leads to the wooden platforms stuck to the wall. (At least you can change the direction you're going in mid-jump.) Breaking the Bincho Field here will allow you to free Carpenter Dicey.

You'll finally enter the underground lake that leads to Misteria. Carefully jump on the platforms that spin around this mini-mountain, and watch out for the fireballs that the black eel in the water spits at you.

If you stick around on the first platform, you'll find an area will a Minku will be. Thankfully, I manage to get to the Misteria area while it's night. You'll also find a Bincho Field containing Chief Gravie, and you'll want to free him. There's also yet another area to jump off to which has a treasure chest containing the OldGlove, which you'll want to appraise.

Don't forget to break the Bincho Field underneath the main path on the way to the Misteria flower. You'll be able to free Cook Mary-Nade.

When you reach the Misteria plant between 3:00 and 7:00 when it is blooming, walk up to it and press Square to get Misteria. You can now head back to the village.

PrinceWatercress plays Brave Fencer Musashi - Part 10 of 33

In this video, we take on our first Crest Guardian and take our first step towards getting all of the Five Scrolls, but once we do, things start getting worse at the village.

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Head back to Hell's Valley. It's the path to the right after you enter the road to Twinpeak Mountain. Use the Earth Scroll to roll the boulders into the spike pit to continue on. You'll also be able to rescue Knitter Lunchetta (Knitter). She'll tell you about the Legendary Cloth, which has magical powers. If you talk to her at the castle, she will want you to get it for her.

Once the door to Hell's Valley is opened, you'll enter the arena and face the Skullpion. Avoid the stomp by running away from the Skullpion when it jumps at you, the charge attack by running away from it, and the earth breath attack by moving around in a circle while staying near its tail. Your four helpers will put things in a basket, such as bombs and rocks. When the basket is directly above Skullpion, you'll want to use the Earth Scroll to bring the objects down and hurt Skullpion.

After enough of this, the Skullpion will be stunned and you can hit the blue sphere in its mouth with Lumina. You'll need to be fast at doing this which each phase of the battle, as Skullpion recovers faster after the first two hits than it does before.

If Skullpion spins around and then climbs the walls, use the Earth Scroll to knock him back down to the ground or else he'll hit one of your helpers. If any of your helpers are hit, they'll be temporarily stunned, and you won't be able to get bombs and rocks in the basket unless everyone affected recovers.

If Skullpion smacks its tail on the ground, it is going to hit you with a spin attack. Be ready to jump over the tail.

Sometimes Skullpion will spin its tail around and dig into the ground with it. If its tail hits you, you'll be poisoned, as indicated by Musashi's face turning grey and purple in the lower-left. Use an Antidote to cure Poison. If you don't have one, you can use one of the herbs that your helpers will put in the basket from time to time. To avoid it, run around the arena in a circle so the tail doesn't hit you.

After enough damage to Skullpion's core (which takes three strikes to the core with Lumina), Skullpion will be defeat. You'll get Skullpion's core, liberate the Earth Crest, increase your stat limit level, increase your BP by 25 and restore all of your health.

After the battle, the Thirstquencher Empire will be irritated that you've liberated the Earth Crest. Fuhrer Flatski is irritated with Rootrick, but Bubbles tells him that Mission Vambee will not fail. Her sister Gingerelle teases her, but Flatski is in with the plan and hopes that Bubbles and Colonel Cappriciola will not let him down.

Chapter 3: Mission Vambee

At the start of the chapter, Musashi has a bad feeling that something is wrong with the village. If you head to the village, you'll advance the plot

If you go back to where you fought the Skullpion at night, you'll be able to catch a Minku for another Longevity Berry.

If you go back to the top of the mountain, the raft will be gone, and it will stay gone for the rest of the game. If you want to get the chest in Hell's Valley that involves getting back to the top of the cliff near the entrance that involves getting to the other side of the raft ride, you'll have to wait until later when you have another means to do so.

For this next part, it will need to be daytime. Head back to the village and talk to the Mayor near the water fountain. He and Hotelo will tell you that Tim has been bitten by a Vambee, and he doesn't have long until he turns into one. The only way to save him is to make Remedy, which uses the herbs Misteria and Aqualin. Aqualin is found at the top of Twinpeak Mountain, while Misteria is found in the mine. Hotelo will have to get the former, while Musashi has to get the latter.

A man named Wid lives in the windmill, and you'll have to get the key to the mine from him. Ask him about the flower. Hotelo will tell you to talk to him during the night or in the early hours of the morning, as Wid sleeps throughout the day. The Windmill is on the edge of town.

If you head to the Grocery at this point in the game, Hilda will be upset, saying it's all her fault for locking him out for staying past his curfew.