Brandish: The Dark Revenant is a remake of the first entry in the Brandish
series by Nihon Falcom. This guide is intended to help out importers that
aren't fluent in Japanese by describing important game mechanics and giving
some general tips.
Also check out the excellent guide by Jax Aagar in the Gamefaqs SNES Brandish
section. It contains the SNES game script, which can give you a good idea of
what's going on in the story. There are however plenty of gameplay, item and
event differences in the PSP version, which are of course documented in this
guide.
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CONTENTS:
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~Controls~
~Combat~
~Magic~
~Stats~
~Items~
~Exploring~
~Ares Mode~
~Dela Mode~
~SNES/PSP Differences~
~Credits and thanks~
Skip to a section by pressing Control + F and type ~[section name]~
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~Version History~
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04/1/2009: Initial board version. Posted the final part of this badly formatted
wall of text on 4/6/2009. I was pretty fast back then!
08/7/2009: Submitted cleaned up version with expanded Ares Mode. Reformatting
was boring and took me forever.
12/13/2009: Ultimate version with expanded Dela Mode and completed differences
section. I'm proud and satisfied with the guide now.
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~Controls~
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When you start a New Game you'll be asked if you want to go through the
tutorial. It's not necessary, but it's short and easy to follow thanks to the
pictures.
L/R buttons are used to turn around, which you should get used to doing a lot.
The /\ button lets you interact with what's one square ahead of you. Use it to
open doors, open chests, read plaques, talk to characters, check walls etc.
The O button launches a melee attack at an enemy right in front of you or
pulls up the shield when there isn't an enemy in front of you.
You can perform a jump with the X button which will let you go over the square
you're currently facing. Not only handy for jumping over pits/switches, but
also for jumping over enemies to avoid getting cornered.
The select button puts you into Resting Mode. You'll recover your health and
MP, but you're literally defenseless when you get hit. It's a good way to heal
without using items when in a safe spot. There's no penalty or any kind of
limit to this function, so make use of it!
The [ ] button calls up the real-time item and equipment menu. The game doesn't
freeze, so it's not a good idea to fiddle around in it unless you're in a safe
spot. The top three slots are for your weapon, armor and shield. The three
slots below that are used for shortcuts: you can instantly use an item placed
there by pushing the analog nub [direction] + O button. The left slot is used
by pushing analog nub left + O, the middle is used by pushing analog nub down +
O, the right slot is used by pushing analog nub right + O. These shortcuts are
extremely handy, be sure to assign them to items you use a lot.
Below the shortcuts there's a 3x3 grid where you can store other items. You can
only use these items by going into the real-time menu and pressing the
O button. Later in the game you'll find Dimensional Boxes that you can access
by pressing the circle button while highlighting them in the [ ] menu.
These give you another 3x3 item grid each, but items stored in there are not
active. For example, a Revival Ring won't kick in if you die when it's placed
in the Dimensional Box.
It's important to save item space by stacking the items in your bag: most
multi-use items that aren't swords can be stacked. You can for instance stack
a pile of 3 H-Potions onto a pile of 10 H-Potions, forming a stack of 13
H-Potions. You can't stack 3 H-Potions onto a pile of 10 M-Potions, because
they're not the same item. Use the R Button to move items around and stack
them. You can throw away items by pressing the L Button when highlighting them.
It's important to keep your bag organized. You don't want to die trying to
unlock a door because you took too much time to grab your Master Keys.
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~Combat~
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When equipped with a shield, Ares will automatically go into guard mode if
there's an enemy right in front of him. As long as you don't move or attack,
every attack will be guarded. If the enemy is not on the square right in front
of you, Ares will not guard. So when faced with a mage or archer that attacks
from a distance, press the O button to manually pull up your shield. Remember
that Ares will start auto-guarding again when you're right in front of the
enemy, so pressing the O button at that time will make you attack.
Pressing the O button while the enemy is right in front of you will make Ares
launch a melee attack. If you're unarmed you'll throw a single punch, when
armed with a sword you perform a slash, which can be chained into a second and
third slash. A normal punch has a relatively high recovery time compared to the
first slash of a sword combo. Especially if you're unlucky and perform the
random 'lunge punch' which has such a high recovery time you're almost
guaranteed to eat a counter hit. Depending on the enemy you can usually perform
two hits with the sword without having to worry about recovering in time to
guard the enemy's counter hit. Chaining up to the third hit with the sword is
generally unsafe and should not be done carelessly on regular enemies, unless
you can finish them off with that last hit.
While using a sword is more effective, there are enough reasons to not use them
until you reach the Tower (second dungeon area):
-You do not get any unbreakable weapons until the end of the Ruins. All
breakable weapons should be sold so that you have enough money to buy new
armor/shields, and the Warp Magic scroll on the 8th floor of the Tower. Enemies
don't drop gold in Brandish, so selling items is your primary source of income.
-Your strength stat increases faster if you fight unarmed.
-Enemies don't have that much health or strength in the first area, and
you always have Fire Magic as a backup.
So it's best to use the weaker unbreakable swords than the strong and valuable
breakable ones. Bossfights are much more fun that way too.
Another thing worth noting is that you take significantly more damage when hit
in the back or from the sides as opposed to getting hit from the front. This
goes for enemies as well. Make sure you don't get surrounded or attacked in the
back, especially by bosses.
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~Magic~
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Like with swords, magic too comes in breakable and unbreakable variants. You've
got magic rings that disappear after a set number of uses, and magic scrolls
that use the MP bar. The rings should be sold, there's not much use to them and
they sell for some decent cash. Here's a description of the magic available in
the game, with the icon descriptions in parenthesis when needed:
Fire: Shoot a ball of fire forward that travels a fair distance. You'll find
this one in the Ruins area, you need it to solve a puzzle there. It's also the
best offensive magic available because of its low cost and range. You can walk
backwards while burning the enemy to crisps, take out enemies from a distance
before they reach you or counter archers. Your all-purpose low-cost must-use
spell.
Thunder: Call forth a burst of lighting that hits the tiles right around you.
Cool in concept, but ultimately flawed. You'll only be able to hit multiple
enemies when they're around you, but that means you're surrounded. And getting
surrounded usually results into a trip to the Game Over screen within seconds.
You can find this scroll for free in B3 of the Cave. Sell it.
Only useful for a puzzle in Dela mode where you need to hit some switches
simultaneously.
Ice: Shoot a wave of ice that travels the ground. Freezes the enemy for about
10 seconds, or until you hit them twice. Can be found in B10 of the Cave, it
works wonders against Medusa's.
It's a useful spell for Dela because you find it pretty early, and you can use
it to build up both her Intelligence and initially low Strength by freezing and
then hitting the enemy.
Barrier Magic (standing figure): Increases physical defense for a short while.
Too short to be of any consistent use, but you can tank the enemies that guard
doors/chests and are invulnerable to offensive magic in some areas of the
Fortress with this spell if you're having trouble with them.
Healing Magic (transparent bottle): Recovers HP when casted. You don't need
this with H-Potions and the Resting command around.
Warp Magic (wings): Warps you to any place you've explored before on the
current floor. Uses up the entire MP bar. It's quite useful, a great help for
getting 100% floor completion and a must-have in order to reach a chest or two.
You'll go through your M-Potions really fast when using it though, so make sure
you've got a decent stock. The first time you could have enough money to buy
this scroll is at the eight floor of the Tower. You can find it for free in the
final area of the game, but you won't get much use out of it by then.
Unavailable in Dela mode.
Quake Magic: Create a shockwave that damages all around you. Buyable in the
shop on the first floor of the final area, the Fortress. It has some decent
uses there, especially to safely kill those annoying fake chests when there's
no room to throw fireballs, and to do some nice damage to the ridiculously
tough lobster enemies.
Timestop Magic (clock): Freezes enemies for a decent amount of time. Buyable in
the same shop as the above. Could've been useful if the Fortress' door-guarding
enemies you'd want to use this on weren't resistant to it.
Double Magic (glowing sword): Doubles your arm strength for a short while when
used. You can find one of these on the seventh floor of the Fortress. It's
handy to have for the final two bosses because they're resistant to offensive
magic and only have short periods of vulnerability. Using it at the right time
will make the few hits you can give them hurt all the more.
I suggest having a shortcut for the Fire Scroll at all times, it's pretty much
obligatory to get through the game. In my experience, the easiest way to
trigger it is by using the analog nub down + O button shortcut.
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~Stats~
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When you perform an action that increases your stats, four bars will appear at
the bottom-right of the screen. When you open the [ ] menu, you can see them
too.
LEVEL increases by killing monsters and getting experience. An increase in
level earns you more HP and MP.
STR increases by attacking enemies with physical attacks. The Strength stat
directly influences the amount of physical damage dealt to enemies.
INT increases by attacking enemies with magic attacks. The Intelligence stat
directly influences the amount of magical damage dealt and MP recovery rate.
MGR increases by getting hit by magic attacks. The Magic Resistance stat
directly influences the amount of damage taken from magic attacks.
You can press start and access the first tab for some additional information.
The first six stats are obvious.
The seventh stat is your Luck. Luck fluctuates with every action you take, like
hitting an enemy, getting hit, using a potion, etc. At a high level of luck,
your attacks do good damage and your defense is at its fullest. At low levels
your attack power will fluctuate more and more, and you'll take harder hits
too.
You can fix this by using the Amulet of Protection, found in the 7th area of
the Ruins. Using this item will raise your luck to the max of 101, so it's a
good idea to have it with you at all times and use it when you notice a drop in
your capabilities. The icon for the item looks a bit like a brown rugged
carpet, the description starts with the Japanese symbol for 'luck', it's the
same as the seventh stat in the start menu, so check it with that.
The eight and ninth stats are 'physical attack power' and
'physical defense power'. Note that your physical attack power is your
arm strength added to the power of your weapon. Your physical defense power
relies solely on your armor and shield, there's no level-able stat connected
to it. The only way to increase it is to get a better armor and shield.
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~Items~
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In this section I'll cover the function of the various items you'll come across
during your journey. Stacking items usually increases their total selling price
a bit. Item icon description is in parenthesis when necessary. An item can be
used by pressing the O button while highlighting it in the [ ] menu, or by
using one of the three shortcut slots.
Sledgehammer: Used to break crumbling walls. Essential item for the Ruins,
Tower and Cave. Always keep it on a shortcut there and make sure you've got a
decent stock. Even though the Dark Zone and Fortress do not have breakable
walls, you still need hammers to break the Completion Stones.
Steel Balls (bag of steel balls): Used to check the floor ahead for pits.
Extremely useful, another item that should always be kept on a shortcut when
exploring. Even though you can see when the floor has a pitfall if you look
carefully, or just use the /\ button to check, throwing a steel ball will not
only reveal the hole but also mark the pit on your map. Having marked the pits
is a big help if you walk through an area again. An invaluable resource
especially in the Dark Zone.
Keys: Used to open certain doors/chests. You've got Master Keys, these usually
come in a bunch as indicated by the number. There are also unique keys that can
be used only once. You don't have to worry about using the wrong key for the
wrong door: there's always only one key that fits a certain door, you can't
screw up game progress by using the wrong key or by using up your Master Keys.
Amulet of Protection (brown charm): Raises luck stat to the maximum of 101. Has
infinite uses. An important tool, use it before entering a bossfight. You'll
notice its effect best in the Fortress, where you'll easily fluctuate between
dealing 2 and 50 points of damage when not using it.
Breadcrumbs: Using a breadcrumb will create a continue point. If you die on the
same floor you'll go back to this point instead of the beginning of the floor
or the last save. You can just save anywhere with the same result, but it's a
bit faster than going into the menu and creating a save. It's never a bad idea
to use one of these if you feel there's a suspicious situation ahead.
Gold bars: These are to be sold, gold bars go for 1000 gold each. As opposed to
most other items stacking them does not increase the value, 40 bars will still
go for 1000 each.
Revival Ring: Once killed, this brings you back to life if kept in the bag
(not Dimensional Box). You start the game with one in your bag, and you'll find
quite a few more scattered around the dungeons. They're not stackable, but
don't be afraid to sell a few if you run out of storage space. You probably
won't need them anyway.
H. Potion (bottle with blue liquid): Restores HP completely. Put this on a
shortcut when in a boss fight.
M. Potion (bottle with red liquid): Restores MP completely. Put this on a
shortcut when in a boss fight.
H. Poison/M. Poison: Looks completely identical to their Potion counterparts,
but drain HP/MP instead. When stacked on potions in the menu, they decrease the
total amount. Carefully read what's on the bottle before drinking!
Invisibility potion (bottle with purple liquid): Become invisible for a while.
Stack and sell these for some decent cash, there's not much use to them. You
may think you can use it to kill some enemies quick and clean, but because they
don't see you they don't stand still when you hit them. You'll just waste a lot
of time chasing after them for single hits.
Hardening potion (bottle with yellow liquid): Increases the amount of times the
currently equipped breakable sword can be used. Use this on your strongest
breakable weapon to increase its value, then sell it with a huge profit.
HP Mantle: Increases HP recovery rate when resting. Works only when placed in
the active bag, not when inside a Dimensional Box. Ares can buy this in the
Casino for 5000 Medals (50.000 gold).
MP Mantle: Increases MP recovery rate when resting. Works only when placed in
the active bag, not when inside a Dimensional Box. Ares can buy this in the
Casino for 5000 Medals (50.000 gold).
Attack Bracelet (red bracelet): Sacrifices defense power for an increase in
attack power. Like the mantles, they'll take effect when placed in the active
bag, not a Dimensional Box.
Defense Bracelet (blue bracelet): Sacrifices attack power for an increase in
defense power. Takes effect if placed in the active bag, not a Dimensional Box.
Experience Scroll (rolled up scroll): Increase experience gained for all
attributes. Ares receives this from wounded warrior Gadie on Tower F9 if he
returns his repaired sword. Dela can buy this from the shop for 80.000 gold.
Having this item in the active bag pretty much equals to playing the game on
Easy Mode. Not really recommended if you want a bit of challenge.
Winged Boots: Decreases amount of damage you take when falling into a pit. Only
works when in the active bag.
Treasure Eye (gold casing with red diamond circle in the middle): Shows
location of all chests on the map. There are only two of these in Ares Mode and
one in Dela Mode, but you don't need them at all.
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~Exploring~
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Brandish is all about wandering through dungeons while making due with little
resources and keeping your wits about when faced with enemies and traps.
To fully enjoy the game you need to take it slow and explore every nook and
cranny of each floor. Keeping this up will result in finding all chests which
means more resources to help you buy new spells and armor, so it's the
"correct" way to play the game. Your map will be a big help.
It's possible to mark the map from start menu, second tab. Pick the color with
the analog stick and mark the square with the d-pad and O button. This is a
handy function that makes it easier to find certain points of interest again
like locked doors, split paths or holes that lead to unique places on the floor
below. Make use of this.
New to The Dark Revenant are Completion Stones, they contain a bonus for
achieving 100% completion of a floor. Every floor has a Completion Stone that
you can only break with the hammer after getting 100% map completion for the
floor. You can check your current rate of completion by looking at the right
corner of the map in the start menu. You'll encounter the first Stone at the
end of Ruins F1, right before the doorway leading to Ruins F2.
These things usually contain a rare/useful item for that point in the game,
so it's a good idea to mark Completion Stones on the map after finding one.
When the floor has been completed you can then easily find your way back to it
and take the item inside.
Only tiles that you can walk on count towards the floor completion rate, so
plunging yourself into large pits to get a few more squares on the map is a
waste of time. This is especially useful to know for the Cave section of the
game.
There are a few corpses of less fortunate predecessors scattered around. You
usually find an item on their body after examining them a few times.
You can prevent undead Skeletons from reviving by dropping an M. Poison
on them.
Look out for the set of powerful Dark equipment. They're easily recognized
because they're much stronger than the equipment you currently have, and are
all dark and ominous looking. Do NOT equip this gear unless you're in the
Dark Zone, because you'll suffer all kinds of deadly status effects when
wearing them outside of that area. But be sure to store them in your
Dimensional Box until you reach the Dark Zone, as you'll probably need their
power to deal with the vicious enemy assaults there. You should sell the
equipment once you're out of that place.
When you're exploring, I recommend your shortcuts to be set up like:
[Steel balls] [Fire Magic] [Hammer]
When you're in a bossfight, I recommended your shortcuts to be set up like:
[H. Potion] [Fire/Double Magic] [M. Potion]
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~Ares Mode~
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Apart from the first floor, this isn't a step by step walkthrough. But you will
be provided with everything you need to know to beat the game and the solutions
to the harder puzzles including the few you'd be unable to solve without
knowing Japanese.
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RUINS
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F1:
Because this is the first area of the game I'll put some more effort in guiding
you through. I suggest you just skip reading this, but if you're still unsure
about how the game works play along to see the mechanics described in the above
sections in action.
Start by walking around a bit and getting used to the turning. Pick up your
sword and shield with the /\ button. Go into the [ ] menu to equip your shield.
Move the sword and Revival Ring out of the shortcut slots to the empty grid
below it with the R-Button, that's your active bag. Note how you have only 1 HP
from falling down, so press the select button to rest which heals your HP.
There's one chest behind you and two in the front. The front-right one needs a
key and can't be opened yet. Hug the walls here for map completion and ignore
the stairs, then step on the switch to open the door.
After talking to the guy, hug the walls and pull the lever to open the next
door. Step on the switch in the center of the room to open the doors on the
left and right. Notice the cracked wall in front of you, this indicates that
it's breakable with a hammer.
We'll go through the door on the right now, where you'll encounter your
first enemy. Head directly left from the doorway and hug the walls, notice
another cracked portion. Now go back to the doorway and follow the path. Take
the dead-end to the left and then continue until you hit another closed door.
Open it with the /\ button to see a split path. Head down the right dead-end
path first. Go back and take the left path now, you'll need a key to open the
door in the middle path. At the end of the left path you'll find a set of
Master Keys, place them on the middle shortcut. The square behind the keys
looks slightly different because there's a pitfall, don't step on it just yet.
Now take the middle path. Open the door with a Master Key by pressing circle
when highlighting the keys in the menu or by using the input for the shortcut
slot it's placed on. Open the two chests containing gold and go back to step on
the pitfall I told you about before, it leads back to the starting point.
You can now open the top-right chest in the starting area which contains a gold
bar. Move forward to the room with the switch in the middle and head to the
left this time. You'll notice a switch and a pitfall here. This pitfall doesn't
take you down a floor, but instead hurts you when you fall in. Step on the
switch, head to the right. Open the door with a key and enter a large area with
three enemies. Kill em, then hug the walls. Open the locked door with a key,
and the locked chest too. It contains a Sledgehammer, assign it to a shortcut
slot. The other path leads to a chest with five H. Potions.
Head back to the room with the pitfall and switch, and go left now. The second
switch in the corridor closes the door, so you need to jump over it. Go right
after the door to find a switch that opens another door. Go through it and head
to the left. You'll end up at a spring, drinking the water will replenish your
health. Don't forget to hug the walls left and right. Walk out, head to the
left and step on the switch to open the door.
You'll find a couple of shops in this area, Item shop is straight ahead,
Weapon shop is at the second path to the right and Magic shop at the first.
The options when entering are:
[BUY] [SELL] [TALK] [EXIT]
Sell your gold bar and the two swords you should have (with 50 and 40 uses).
Buy the 10 use Sledgehammer and 20 Steel Balls from the Weapon shop. Stack the
Sledgehammer with the other set you have and put the Steel Balls on a shortcut.
Once you visited them all, take a right from the Magic shop. It seemingly leads
to a dead end, but don't step on the last square yet. Instead use a Steel Ball
to reveal a pit. You can use Steel Balls like this to check the area in front
of you. Now jump into the pit and we're back at the start.
Head to the room with the switch in the center and break the wall in front with
the Sledgehammer. Which leads to another wall to break. Look carefully at the
floor in front of the chests in this area, throw your Steel Balls to reveal
three pitfalls. Open the three locked chests with Master Keys and head back.
Take a left at the switch room from this point of view (facing south), and head
immediately left again. We'll end up at that crumbled wall from before. Smash
your way through, kill the enemy and destroy the crumbled wall to the left.
Open the door, use the switch in the left pathway and go through the other
door. Follow the path and open the chest for some gold.
Head back to where you smashed through the wall, go left and open the door with
a key. Follow the path, note the Completion Stone. Head one step past the
doorway, and you'll find a chest with breadcrumbs. Now go back to the pyramid,
and you should be able to smash it if you followed the directions.
Congratulations on completely completing this floor! Now go for the next one!
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-There's a secret to this floor. Remember the pitfall at the place where we
found the set of Master Keys in the middle-right part of the map? Jump into
that hole, and hold the /\ button. You'll end up in the secret basement!
There's a Casino and some minor exploring to do. You can't reach 100%
completion just yet, there are some stairs on F3 and F4 that lead down to
different sections of this area which you need to explore first.
F3:
You'll find your first Dimensional Box here in the chest next to the Skull Key,
in the room where the rolling boulder came from. The Fire Magic scroll is
located in the northeast part of this floor. You can hit the switch in that
section by hurling a fireball at it, which will allow you to explore the
final section.
F6:
You can't rest on this floor. There are lots of springs hidden behind breakable
walls as an alternative.
F7:
This floor is themed around warp panels. As a reference, the exit is located in
the northeast of the map, but the keys you need to open the doors are located
in the southeast. You should also find the important Amulet of Protection
on this floor.
F8:
The boss battle against the Sorcerer has been moved from F10 to this floor.
He can be defeated easily without getting hit once, but equip your H. Potions
because it hurts hard when you do get hit. Stay out of his line of fire or
shield the shots by pressing the O button. Your Arm Strength will probably
level up quite a bit here if you fight unarmed.
-Note that when you defeat him he tricks you with another fake and flees.
I wonder if we'll see him again in one of the sequels?
F9:
You'll encounter enemies with attacks that hurt even when guarding for the
first time. Step away or jump over them to avoid damage.
F10:
The first room has more warp panel madness. Top-right warp leads to the key
needed to open the door. Take note of the ghost girl in a room before the exit,
we'll have to get back to her after the bossfight on the next floor.
FOOT OF TOWER:
You'll enter a bossfight when you head through the closed doors, make sure to
have your Potions equipped. You need to hit one of his minions who then turns
into an explosive ball. Slam the ball into the boss when he runs around. Hit
him three times to knock off his armor and stun him. You'll be able to beat him
up a bit, and then the cycle starts again with him moving faster.
After you defeat the boss, go back to the ghost girl on F10. You'll need the
item she gives you. Head back to FOOT and explore until you reach an ominous
door. Use the item in front of the door to undo the spell, if you open it
without using the item you'll get blasted for 255 damage.
Proceed to head into the same Tower you saw in the cutscene on F1.
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TOWER
-----
F1:
Don't worry about 100% completion on the next two floors, you'll take a bunch
of stairs down from F3 to fill in the missing areas.
F2:
There's a monster here that offers you some information in exchange for 5000
gold. Pick the second option to decline. The information is that fake walls
make their debut in the game from this point on: if a wall looks a bit lighter
than normal you can walk right through it.
F3:
In the southeast corner there's a girl in front of a chest. Talk to her, then
open the door to the right with the key in order to find her boyfriend. You'll
enter new sections of F2 and F1, and find the guy at the end. When you head
back up you can take the chest the girl stood before, which contains your
second Dimensional Box.
F5:
The top-left room on this floor has a switch in the middle surrounded by four
pillars. Put the Potions on shortcuts and save before stepping on the switch,
as you'll trigger a boss fight. Equip a strong breakable sword because you
don't want the first part of the fight to drag on too long, with them killing
you instantly. The first phase is all about jumping at the right time to avoid
their attack, then counter with two hits of your sword and get ready to jump
again. It'll probably take a few tries before you get used to the timing.
When you kill one of them they'll split up, and things get a lot easier.
Your sword is probably broken by now, but you can take them down without any
weapons in this phase. Just focus on one at a time and don't forget you can
jump over them when cornered. If you really can't get past the first phase's
instant-kill punching action, you can use an Invisibility Potion before
stepping on the switch to skip that part completely. Though that kinda sucks
the fun out of the fight.
The treasure chest has a piece of Dark equipment, store it in a Dimensional Box
for use in the Dark Zone.
F6:
One key, three doors. You can only pick one path, but fall through certain
holes on F7 to explore the other two paths and the area behind the locked door
in the upper part of the map.
Don't flip the switch with a spiked floor in front of it, not only can you die,
it doesn't do anything but block your way with a pillar.
You'll need Warp Magic to complete this floor 100% because there's an otherwise
unreachable chest in the middle right of the map behind a fake wall. The
Completion Stone holds Winged Boots, an item that will cut down the damage you
take from falling into pits.
-There's a bug on this floor that keeps you stuck at 99.80 map completion.
Remember the switch on the middle path where you had to stand on a spiked floor
to flip it? Doing this will erect a pillar on a normal tile in the middle of
the map, right behind a pitfall to F5. Even if you walked on that spot before
the pillar was put there, it will no longer count towards the map completion
rate. So if you're stuck at 99.80%, just go back to the switch and pull it up
again. You'll probably need to teleport there unless you opened the middle door
at the start. The pillar will disappear and the tile will count again, bringing
you to 100% completion. The Completion Stone on this floor contains the
Winged Boots, a handy item that reduces damage taken from falling into pits as
long as it's placed in the active bag.
F7:
There are four holes leading back to F6 here. Three are located in the first
room with the warp panels. The fourth one is in the top-left room of this map,
sneakily hidden between a bunch of normal pitfalls.
Also beware of the thief here, you can get back the item he steals by killing
him.
F8:
At this point in the game you should have enough funds to be able to buy
Warp Magic for 150.000 gold at the magic shop. Do so, it's an extremely handy
spell and essential to gaining 100% completion on some floors.
F9:
There are a few points of interest on this floor.
-You start out in an area with warps. There is one chest surrounded by warp
panels that can only be reached with Warp Magic, it contains the Treasure Eye.
-After this area there's a room with four fireball-throwing enemies. This is a
perfect place to max out your Magic Resistance. It's not necessary to do this,
but definitely recommended. Upon entering kill all but the right enemy, then
head to the right exit that does not have a hole in front of it. Stand in the
doorway, go into Resting Mode and take a few hits from the monster. Go back
into Resting Mode after every hit. You'll take more damage in Rest Mode, which
means the stat will go up faster. When almost dead, go back through the door
and hide around the corner, the monster won't follow. Go in Rest Mode again to
heal, and repeat the process. You can get from ~10 to 99 in fifteen minutes!
-The Armored Knight enemies give a big boost to Arm Strength when fighting them
barehanded. Take the time to beat them up instead of blasting them with magic.
-You'll find the wounded warrior Gadie on this floor, his location is easy to
re-find on the map because of the two chests in the room. He'll tell you about
how he got beaten up in the puzzle room and gives you the key to that room.
Open the locked door and kill the enemies. To solve the puzzle, write "3 5" by
walking on the switches when facing east. When the door opens head back to the
Gadie to tell him about it, he'll give you the armor from his other chest.
-Talk to him twice after the above to initiate a sidequest. He'll give you his
broken sword and request you to bring it to his armor shop owning girlfriend
Gayla over at Tower F1. Lots of backtracking to do, but it's not so bad using
Warp Magic. You can complete F6 in the process. Talk to her and she'll repair
it for you. It ends up being an unbreakable sword with 6 strength! Talk to her
again to receive 30 H. Potions as a thank you.
Go back to F9 and deliver the sword. You'll get an Experience Scroll in return,
an item that increases the experience you get from enemies as long as you keep
it in the active bag.
-You could also steal the sword by never returning it, it's the strongest
unbreakable weapon available to you for another 12 floors.
TOWER TOP:
You'll automatically fall through a hole leading to the missing area of F9.
As expected, you'll fight a boss on this floor. You can enter the room after
taking the warp. Not much to say, just kill the Rakshahsas and then hit the
evil summoning tower. Make sure to dodge their ground slam attack, it's slow
but unblockable. It's easy to fight them unarmed, but Rakshahsas drop a sword
with 5 uses when killed, which works well on other Rakshahsas. There's a
useless as always Barrier Magic ring in the down-right corner of the room, pick
it up after you finish the battle to sell.
----
CAVE
----
B10:
The exit on the top of the Tower surprisingly leads you into a Cave. It's a
good idea to equip a sword instead of going unarmed, if only to plow through
those Undead Skeletons faster. Use the unbreakable sword you found in the chest
before leaving the Tower.
-You can talk to the Sprite who tells you about a switch room occupied by
monsters, which is on the next floor.
-You'll find another piece of Dark equipment on this floor. The Completion
Stone contains the Ice Magic scroll.
B9:
You'll reach the switch room pretty fast. Let the water flow again and head
back to the Sprite, this will give you a reward later on B6.
-There's a Room of Wander on this floor. When you step on certain tiles here
you will automatically change the direction you were facing. Keep your eyes on
the map and you'll get through. Flip all the switches in the room to open the
door.
You can explore the final section of this floor by jumping into the first large
pit you encounter on B8.
B7:
You'll reach the other side of the crevasse by going down a stairway in the
northwest corner of B5. There's a Dimensional Box on the island in the eastern
part that you can reach from there, but the chest is rigged to a weight
checking switch. You'll have to leave an item in the chest to be able to leave
the island, warping won't work.
B6:
You'll meet the Sprite again in the middle-right part of the map, she thanks
you by giving you an armor.
The woman in the prison in the middle-left of the map asks you to save her by
getting the key from the Medusa's that locked her up. They're in the top-left
area of the map in the Room of Wander. This is the shining moment of Ice Magic
because freezing Medusa's before they freeze you is the way to go. The last one
will drop a key, use it to get her out of the cell and get a reward for helping
her out <3 !
You'll also find the last piece of Dark equipment in a chest here.
You can reach the final part of this area by dropping down a hole after living
through the boulder rampage on B5.
B4:
You get to the outer section of this area by dropping into a pit from B2. It's
the large hole encased by walls to the right from your starting point on B2, a
bit before reaching the door.
B3:
You'll reach the outer section of this area by walking up various stairs from
the outer section of B4.
B2:
This is an extremely annoying area to complete 100%. Every single pillar counts
towards your completion rate, so you have to jump near unreachable pillars to
'discover' them on the map. Use Warp Magic to ease the pain.
B1:
In the room with the 10 chests the first one can only be opened after the other
nine have been opened. The door will only open when you close all chests.
You'll fight the Ninja Master once you step into the room with a skeleton in
front of it. The best tactic is to drive him into the corner which will make
him attack with melees you can counter. Be aware that he can create clones once
you beat him half to death. He'll only create a clone when you attack him while
he is defending, so as long as you counter him with the right timing you can
prevent this from happening altogether. If he does create a clone focus on
getting rid of the clone before going after him again.
-You have no choice but to Warp to the Completion Stone to gain 100%
completion. It contains the Attack Bracelet.
---------
DARK ZONE
---------
Area 1:
After saving the pieces all this time you can freely wield your Dark Equipment
here. The enemies are pretty tough, take care not to get surrounded. Tread
slowly and use the walls as guidance, there are some pitfalls scattered around
that you can see by pressing the /\ button or unveil by throwing a Steel Ball.
Make sure you completely explore this floor, the Completion Stone here contains
99 Steel Balls. You'll REALLY need those for F2, I used about 150 steel Balls
there.
Area 2:
A unique area compromised mostly of pitfalls. Use the Steel Balls to mark a way
on the map.
-Don't forget to pick up the unbreakable 14 strength sword, the warp panel
takes you close to it but you need to take a different path to pick it up.
-There's a casino hidden here, it's behind the locked door near the stairs
leading into the Fortress. You can open the door by standing on a switch at the
beginning of F2, you need to end up on the tile that has the breadcrumbs on it
and walk forward a bit.
The grand prizes at the casino are mantles that increase the speed of your HP
and MP recovery when resting. You could gamble to get them, but you could also
just pay for the 10.000 Medals required to buy them both. It will only set you
back 100.000 gold, which should not be a problem at this point in the game.
--------
FORTRESS
--------
It's the final stretch, explore it!
F1:
You can buy Stop and Quake magic in the shop. You should at least get the Quake
and maybe Barrier magic. Sell your Dark equipment, there's no use for it
anymore. I recommend putting Quake and Ice/Barrier Magic on your shortcut slots
in addition to Fire Magic, enemies can get really tough.
Certain monsters guarding doors or chests are immune to all magic, you can only
'side-zag' bait them to create safe openings or use Barrier Magic to tank them.
~How to Side-Zag~
|1| |2| |3| |4| |A = Ares M = Monster
A-M- -AM- --M- --M- |M attacks at panel 2
> > >
---- ---- -A-- --A- |A dodges at 3 and safely counters at 4
The final area of F1 is a large room with a few pillars and enemies. There are
floor switches at every wall. When you step on any of them you'll notice that
a few corpses have fallen down. You need to examine the right one to reveal a
warp circle, if you get the wrong one they'll all disappear. When facing north,
for me it's always the skeleton facing downwards near the original warp circle.
F2:
The Eraser Eyes that appear here after you flip the switch eat up your map!
Dispose of them quickly.
F3:
Another floor switch puzzle here, the first thing to do is to fail it: just
walk to the locked door and fall into the trapdoor. Here you'll find the final
area of F2, and a note on the dead body that tells you how to solve the puzzle.
F means to move forward, L/R mean to TURN the camera left or right, J means
Jump. Go back to the puzzle room, and stand on the rightmost square before the
switches. Then follow the instructions on the note to complete the puzzle,
which says:
F2 L1 F2 R1 F2 R2
F1 L1 F2 L1 F1 J1
L1 F3 R1 F2 R1 J1
You'll be able to stand on the trapdoor if executed correctly.
F4:
Once you've opened the locked door using the Sapphire Key, prepare yourself for
what's probably the toughest bossfight in the game. In this small 3x4 arena
surrounded by poison and pitfalls, three giant Lobsters are attempting to make
you their dinner. None of the offensive magic spells effect them, so all you've
got is your sword and H. Potions. Jump over them when you're about to get
surrounded, or just walk into the poisonous marsh which is still better than
getting hit by them. You can always retreat to the entrance when things get too
tough to save the game and heal up.
F5:
The following three floors are heavily connected, but not terribly complicated.
F6:
In the northeastern section of this floor you'll encounter a locked door and a
switch in the wall. The switch does not correspond to the door, but to the warp
circle a few steps further. You'll be warped to a different place depending on
the position of the switch.
F7:
At the end of F7 you'll find yourself before a magic circle that does not work.
The plaque on the wall tells you to "Not move!", and that's exactly what you
have to do. Stand still on the warp circle for a few seconds, and you'll get
warped to the end of the floor.
TOP:
You can jump over the blue beams that are shot at you when you step on the
trap switches. Head up the stairs behind a fake wall to enter Backbone.
BACKBONE:
Here you'll fight a boss to gain the right to brandish the strongest weapon in
the Brandish universe, the Planet Buster. There's not much to the battle, just
jump up to him, activate Double Magic and start twacking him.
When you've picked up the Planet Buster and Elmef Key head back to finish up
the rest of TOP. You'll eventually have to use the Btowl and Elmef keys to
enter the final area of the game.
BTOWLS:
Time to face to the nefarious king's cursed form, God Bistall. Ready yourself
by putting Double Magic and Potions on your shortcuts. Put all Revival Rings
you still have in your active bag, this is the last chance to get some use out
of them! One thing to note is that the boss area counts towards map completion
rate. I recommend jumping into the warp, then hop around after the scene to
fill up the map. Take the warp back, save the game and then take the Bistall on
for real. Using the Amulet of Protection before starting would be a good idea.
The first phase of the battle consists of Bistall shooting at you while some
platforms try to push you around. Use Double Magic and hit him while you stay
between his two blasters. There are moving warps that teleport you back a bit,
just take a step backward when you see them coming.
The second phase starts when God Bistall protects himself with a barrier. You
need to destroy the three pillars for it to go down. Once the pillars are down
or you take too much time, Bistall will fire his BISTALL BEAM which really
hurts. Be sure to walk to the side once you see the string of light form.
Bistall is vulnerable for a short while after this attack is over, so get
yourself in a good position and use Double Magic, then strike once the beam is
gone. You'll probably have to go through this twice.
His final form can dish out some insane damage, the spread charge shot has OHKO
potential. Use the Amulet of Protection and Double Magic to maximize your
damage. Approach him with caution, don't go near when he's charging and keep
moving when you're assaulted by lightning bolts. Eventually, you'll make him
fall to the brilliance of the Planet Buster...
Which concludes Ares Mode! Enjoy the ending. Don't forget to save your clear
data, it's first option in the menu after the credits.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~Dela Mode~
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loading your clear data from the main menu will start Dela Mode, where you'll
not only play as Dela, but do so in 10 floors of completely redesigned Ruins,
aka RUINS EX!
Going unarmed is not a good idea with Dela because she'll take damage when
guarding without a staff in her hand. Her melee startup speed is notably slower
than Ares', but her third hit comes out rather fast. She can wear several kinds
of headgear instead of a shield.
There's no Warp Magic in Dela Mode, instead all floors are connected by a
basement with Warp panels. A lot of areas can only be completed 100% by pushing
forward and dropping down a hole or finding a Warp circle on the next floor.
I'll let you know how and when you'll be able to get 100% completion.
--------
RUINS EX
--------
F1:
Even though it's the innocent looking Ruins, be on guard! Dela Mode is only ten
floors long, but the difficulty starts out the same as Ares' endgame! You start
with a Fire Magic scroll in your inventory.
F1 houses the only shop in Dela Mode. You can upgrade his stock twice by giving
him a Blue Crystal.
The locked door near the shop can only be opened from the other side, which you
can reach by taking some stairs down in F2 and using the Warp in the basement.
There's another locked door west of the shop that can't be opened until you hit
F6. So it'll be a while before you can get 100% completion on this floor.
For now head to the topright area where you can find the first Dimensional Box
and the way to F2.
F2:
No resting allowed on this floor.
Stepping on the switch in the first room will start a mini-boss fight. It's
just three waves of four enemies, but they can kill you if you let yourself get
surrounded. Keep H. Potion on a shortcut just in case. Defeating them unlocks
all four doors.
The room west from the mini-boss room has tons of pits. Beware of the frogs as
they can attack from two spaces away, take them out with magic. You'll find the
Green Key here. Compare the B2 and F2 maps to find the right pit to fall into
in order to grab the 3000 gold in the basement. It's the one next to the
lantern.
The following area has a bunch of blue blobs blasting beams at you. These beams
hurt a lot, so you need to move fast when you've got your back turned to them.
When moving up you can jump over the beams. The timing is pretty tricky, try
focusing on the sound effect.
You can find a secret 20 gold bars in a chest here. The catch is that you can
only obtain these when all slugs are still alive, the chest will be empty
otherwise. It's in the back of the rightmost path, so you'll have to take at
least two hits. Equip an H. Potion to make it out alive.
You can find the mantle that increases your HP recovery behind a crumbled wall
on the leftmost path of the same area, but this can be grabbed after killing
the blobs.
Next up is another mini-boss room. Same as last time. After defeating them all
you can use the 6 Hammers you should have left on the crumbled wall to the
left of the exit for a chest.
Final area of this floor is one giant pillar puzzle. Don't take the staircase
down in the upper part just yet. First open up a path to the chest in the
middle of the area, which contains a Blue Crystal. From here you only have to
flip the switch in the upper left corner to reach the Completion Stone, which
contains 10 more gold bars.
Once you have this, take the staircase going down. Welcome to the Warp Zone!
For now you can only head back to F1, but you'll eventually connect eight more
floors to this shortcut system. If you choose to visit F1 you can give the Blue
Crystal to the merchant by talking to him. This will upgrade his stock once you
re-enter the store. By selling the 30 gold bars from before you should be able
to buy a new infinite weapon, better armor and a stupid bird hat.
Take the shortcut back and head to F3.
F3:
Head north for a scene and a room that has four locked doors, four opened
chests and four switches. You need to place the right items in the empty chests
and then step on the switch to operate the doors. The items necessary are:
-Lower Right Door: Shield of Darkness
-Top Right Door: Sword of Darkness
-Lower Left Door: Armor of Darkness
-Top Left Door: Skull Key
Alright then, first up is the Shield of Darkness, which you can find in the
area to the east of the entrance. One of the treasure chests near the room with
the log traps contains the blue Defense Bracelet. This item sacrifices some
attack power for an increase in defense, put it in the Dimensional Box if you
don't want it to take effect.
Put the Shield of Darkness in its place to open the door leading to the Armor
of Darkness. You'll run into the famous 3x3 switch puzzle that somehow makes it
into every other ARPG. Like always, solve it by standing on all four edges and
then jump on the middle switch. Past here is the Armor of Darkness and Freeze
Magic.
Drop the Armor in the lower left chest to open the door that leads to a Yellow
Key. This fits the locked door you found in the area to the east from the
entrance. Grab the Sword of Darkness from the chest and put it in the top right
chest.
Explore further to find the Skull Key, which is not used for the locked door in
the top right of the map, but for the final top-left chest. That's it for this
floor for now, you can only reach the top right area from the end of F7 so
it'll be a while till you can complete it. Take the new basement warp shortcut
to F1 and unload your stuff.
-Make sure to buy Thunder Magic, you'll need it to open a door on F4.
F4:
This area is themed around lighting torches. Shoot a fireball at the torch and
step on the switch before it goes out to open the door. You'll encounter other
variants of this puzzle that require you to light multiple torches before
stepping on a switch.
In the southwest of the map you need to light three torches with lots of water
and doors around. This will net you a second Dimensional Box upon completion.
It requires some practice to complete though, so mark the torch-pillars on your
map and get familiar with the area.
Look at the map and start with the one that's most left. Strafe left and jump,
turn right and make your way to the middle switch. Light it, strafe right, turn
right, jump, go around the corner and jump all the way up to the third torch.
Light it, go back how you came and go out the door, strafe left and you should
have succeeded. It's especially important to strafe left and jump after the
first torch, without using this shortcut to the middle torch you'll never make
it in time.
You need Thunder Magic to light both torches fast enough in the northern room.
One of the chests here holds the Amulet of Protection! You need it, enemies are
going to get a lot tougher soon.
The basement shortcut is located in the topleft corner of the map. You can
break a wall here which leads you to a swimming pool of gold.
F5:
This is what Dela's nightmares are made of. It's a fairly straightforward area
though, all you need to get through is some perseverance/paranoia.
Opening the locked door in the west part of the map is best done in stages. Put
the key on a shortcut, unlock the door, dodge, open it, dodge, and then get
inside.
The room in the east with the pits, boulders and treasures counts towards your
map completion rate. So you need to walk through all of it. It's not so bad
once you get the pattern down though. Step step, strafe strafe, step step,
strafe strafe is the key to get through.
You'll eventually reach F6 through the same basement that has the shortcut to
F1.
F6:
Before doing anything, head into the passage to the left. You'll end up at F1
and can finally complete the floor 100%. The Completion Stone just holds a
sucky breakable weapon, kinda bad after teasing us with that final 0.2% for
5 floors. Head back when you're done selling stuff.
Now prepare yourself for the most complicated area of the game. You can get
hopelessly lost here, so always pay attention to your map. You'll also find six
M. Poisons in this area, you need to have at least two separate (unstacked)
doses of M. Poison for the next floor, so don't throw them away or stack them!
Your progress is blocked by a pit. Fall into it and flip the switch in the
basement, which erects a pillar. There will be more holes you can cross this
way, so remember this mechanic. The left door here eventually leads to the Blue
Eyes key needed to open the middle door in this room.
The next room is filled with treasure, but again pits block the way. You can
only have a single pillar up at a time, so you'll have to drop down a few more
times to grab all the chests. I recommend leaving this area for later, or you
may have to go through it twice for map completion.
Take a right once past the room with the ninja and giant trolls. Jump past the
skeletons and take the stairs down. You'll end up at a closed door next to a
plaque and a switch. Flip it to open the door and... unleash 6 Eraser Eyes!
Three upstairs and three in the basement. Stay where you are and let them come
to you. You can put M. Poison on the Skeletons if they're causing trouble. The
Eraser Eyes hit pretty hard, and the timing to safely counter them is strict
due to Dela's slower melee startup. Hit O the instant you block their second
shot. Don't go through the door yet, but take the stairs back up, jump past the
Skeletons and take out the other Eraser Eyes from here. Now backtrack to the
beginning to fix up your map.
From here on out your goal is to lower the two pillars that block the doors
in the lower left area of the map by flipping the switches behind the locked
doors in the same area of the basement. You'll need the Twisted Key and Key of
Bone to reach the switches. It's easy to get lost with all the staircases, call
up the map and cycle between the basement and upper floor to see where the
staircases will lead you to or map out the way to your goal. Also be on the
lookout for pits that look a bit lighter as they likely connect to a new area
of the basement.
The Twisted Key is located in the middle of the basement. You can reach it by
jumping into a hole next to a plaque, past the big room with pits and skeletons
patrolling around.
The Key of Bone is found in the middle of the upper floor, at the place with
three weak walls. There's a pit and another weak wall behind the middle one,
jump in that pit and flip the switch. Then backtrack to the upper floor again
and smash the other weak wall now that you've got some solid footing. This
reveals a chest that holds the key.
Once you have the key head to the southwest end of the basement to open the two
doors and lower the pillars. If you're missing some part of the map look for
pits that look a bit lighter near the parts of the basement you're missing.
Take the basement shortcut back to the shop to clear some inventory space. If
you did stack or throw away your all your M. Poisons, you can buy some more
here. You'll find 3 doses in the basement of F7, so you just need to have 2
unstacked M. Poisons.
F7:
The skeleton here drops a key if you defeat him. Use it to enter the inner
section of this floor. The floor puzzle here takes some trial and error to
cross. If you head into the second outer section, there's another skeleton that
drops a key. Once you have it you can go explore the inner section further. The
enemies here are strong, so keep your guard up. You'll find another Blue
Crystal in behind one of the weak walls. Eventually you'll have to use the key
from the skeleton to open the door to the second batch of switch puzzles.
You're in a Room of Wandering with lots of pits, which alone is a deadly
combination. Add to that the fact that you have a time limit in order to reach
the switch to open the next two doors, and you're in for a lot of falls into
the basement. First take out the enemies, then step on the switch at the start
and navigate towards the door in the back. The door to the right is easier to
reach, but you're missing the key to fully explore that section. Behind the
door in the back is another skeleton with a key, and another bridge to
activate. Now go back to the switch in the previous room and go for the door to
the right this time. Another collapsing floor puzzle awaits you there.
The roundabout way is the safest one. From your starting position turn the
camera to the north and walk sideways three steps, one forward, then jump over
the pit and walk left immediately to avoid falling. From there on just follow
the path and stick to the walls, you'll reach a switch that stops the floors
from moving eventually.
Open the room to the outer part first using the Ebony Key. Another skeleton
with a key awaits you there. Move inside again and you'll reach a room with two
plaques and a warp circle blocking the way. You can open the door using the key
you just got to find another skeleton that does not drop a key.
Now then, how dow we cross the warp circle? The left plaque in the room tells
you that the potion that drains your magic power has the ability to stop the
resurrection of the undead. In other words, Put an M. Poison on a skeleton to
make it stop reviving. The right plaque tells you that the path will open when
all the undead bow to the ground. Pretty simple, right? Kill all the skeletons
patrolling around the walls, the ones that dropped the key. There are five of
them in total, so that's the amount of M. Poison you'll need. Drop it on them
with the L-button, and once they're all pinned to the ground you'll be able to
walk right through the warp circle. You cannot un-stack items, so I hope you
followed my earlier advice to save you a trip back to the shop!
Activate the basement warp shortcut and go to the shop on F1. Give the Blue
Crystal to the shopkeeper again, exit and re-enter to enjoy the upgraded stock.
You should at least grab the better armor.
When you take the stairs to the next floor, you'll end up at F3! At last you
can gain 100% map completion here, the Completion Stone holds a nice 50 Gold
Bars. Take the exit in the top-right corner to reach the next floor.
F8:
Total darkness. Just keep going until you reach an enemy in the room with the
Completion Stone. There's only one door you can open here, it'll lead you to
another locked door and a barely visible body of water with something in the
middle... shoot a fireball at it and you'll see it's a torch. This stage is
themed around that one source of light in the middle of the area. It'll go out
after a while, it's best to return and light it again before pushing further.
There are pitfalls arranged in patterns everywhere, but without the light you
can't see them. You can get some use out of your trusty Steel Balls again to
check the grounds when the light is out, or mark the pits when the light is
still on to prevent yourself from falling into them on backtrack.
Another hazard themed around opposites on this floor are the enemies that drain
your MP coupled with enemies that can only be killed with magic. Stay sharp,
prioritize killing the leechers and use some M. Potion when neccesary.
You'll find the final Dimensional Box hidden behind 3 crumbling walls in the
southern part of the map, before the shortcut to the second place from which
you can light the torch. If you're in the room with four Rakshahsas leading to
the third place from which you can light the torch, you're already too far.
And when you finally got used to the whole torch mechanic to survive, the game
cruelly forces you into a situation that blocks the way back to the torch while
you helplessly see the light getting fainter and fainter until it goes out...
that's Brandish for ya! Luckily there's an area with plenty of weak walls to
the south. Watch out for the Floating Sword, it's best to bait it away before
proceeding further. Use your Steel Balls to test the floor in the narrow
corridors, and you'll eventually make it to the fourth and last area from which
you can light up the torch again.
Warp Maze Time. If you're lost follow these directions to reach the exit:
-upon entry, face north and take the left warp
-turn left, jump over the water and take the right warp
-make an 180, jump over the water and into the warp
You'll reach the room with two Raskshashas and the way back to the Completion
Stone, a stairwell to the basement shortcuts and a doorway to the next level.
As usual, go back to lighten your load. You'll need Quake Magic to be able to
explore an optional area on the next floor. I highly recommend buying three
doses of M. Poison for a timed switch puzzle, so grab that too. Now then,
prepare yourself for one of the finest floors in the entire Brandish series.
F9:
You can consider this the final area of Dela Mode, in which the game throws
everything it's got at you. It's filled with tons of fun obstacles.
When you step on the lone switch you'll meet some familiar foes that are still
missing an essential part of their body.
You'll obtain a Black Orb after defeating them. These orbs are very important
on this floor, because they activate warps. The room with three empty chests is
your gateway, putting a Black Orb in either of them will warp you to a
different section of the floor. Putting a Black Orb in two of them also takes
you somewhere else, and putting a Black Orb in all three will take you to the
locked door leading to F10 and a basement warp shortcut. I'll indicate the
chests with [ ], and one with a Black Orb in it with [x] to make clear what
area I'm talking about.
[x][ ][ ]
The second Black Orb can be obtained here. Take the other warp in the room and
you'll reach an area with four armored foes carrying flails. Defeat them to get
the Orb.
[x][x][ ]
You can get the third Black Orb here. Defeat the Skeletons and throw the
M. Poison on them, then you can easily reach the switch in time. Defeat the
flail carrying foes again to gain the final Orb.
There's a room with three switches and two boulders here, and you get only one
chance to do this right. You need to step on the top left switch first before
the other two in order to take the chest. Use the Master Key to open the chest
to the northwest of the room. There's an invisible fake wall behind that chest,
so jump over it.
The one locked door near the Skeletons also needs a Master Key to be opened, it
has a warp that runs on a Black Orb leading to a Treasure Eye.
[ ][x][x]
The goal of the collapsing floor puzzle is to find footing to kill the floating
swords, which will allow you to open the chests. The Master Key you find here
can be used in [x][ ][ ].
-I couldn't find a clean way to get past the trap alley. I did a step, wait,
jump over the projectile, get hit by next one, rest. You'll at least avoid the
floor spikes this way. But you shouldn't attempt it anyway till you get the
BTOWL Key, or you'll have a hell of a time getting out.
-You'll find the Elmef Key here, the one that opens the final door at [x][x][x].
-Before going there, you should jump into the more lightly colored pit. It
leads to the last part of B2, which has tons of breakable walls, empty chests
and gold. It's completely possible to clear the area without buying any
sledgehammers if you found all of them up till now. As long as you stick to the
right path at the three way split, you will always find some new sledgehammers
in a chest before running out.
[x][ ][x]
A room filled with switches, and not stepping on a switch will teleport you
back to the beginning. Once you know the trick, this puzzle is really easy:
take a good look at the switches. You'll notice that some of them are
different, and are pointing in a direction. Jump on these only and follow the
directions to make it to the door, where you'll find the Altet Key behind some
crumbled walls, which you can use in [ ][ ][x] to progress.
-In the next room there are three holes and a blue slug blocking the way. You
can only get past here by using Quake Magic. You'll end up in a room with three
switches that will cost money to flip. They've got some decent treasure behind
them, and are of course needed for 100% map completion. You at least need to
flip the one that costs 10.000 gold, as it has a chest with a Master Key.
-The last switch requires 500.000 gold, so you'll probably need to sell some
items first. You can sell the Quake Magic and other stuff you no longer need.
Potions, weapon/armor and Fire Magic are the only things neccesary for the boss
on the next floor. If you're somehow disappointed with the treasure behind the
500.000 gold door, be sure to jump in rage!
[ ][ ][x]
Use the Atlet Key here to open the door and get the BTWOL Key, which opens the
door at the end of the trap alley in [ ][x][x].
[x][x][x]
Once you have the Elmef Key you'll be able to open the door here. You may want
to go back to the shop first using the basement shortcut and sell some stuff
so that you can open the 500.000 gold door for 100% map completion. Don't
forget you have 100% completion in the warp basement now too, so you can break
the Completion Stone there for a nice 99 gold bars. Take the topleft warp to
get to it.
F10:
Jump over the dead guys to explore the small islet for 100% map completion.
Once you've broken the Completion Stone, cross over the bridge to face the
final boss of Dela Mode! If you have high MGR, he's a pushover. If you don't he
can inflict some deadly damage, but that's what you saved all those Revival
Rings for. There's a lot of attack variety, learning how to dodge them wins you
the fight. The spinning fire attack can destroy you at close range, so block it
instead of counter. The big freeze is hard to avoid, he seems to be able to
choose the range at which the first pillar spawns which can screw up your
dodge. But as long as you keep pressing buttons you'll unfreeze in time to
dodge the next attack. After coming this far, I'm sure you can destroy this
guy!
And that's it, you completely beat Brandish: The Dark Revenant! You did finish
both modes with 100% completion, right?
If you enjoyed the experience you should check out the SNES version of
Brandish 2: The Planet Buster, which got an English patch on the third day of
November in 2009, courtesy of Synchronicity Translations. A very worthy sequel
to this game that takes the Brandish experience to the next level by
introducing a dual-wielding combat system and a large world through which you
can freely travel. Check it out!
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~SNES/PSP Differences~
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Below you'll find a list of noteworthy changes between the SNES and PSP version
divided into a few sections. Brandish: The Dark Revenant isn't just an enhanced
port, it's re-imagining of the original Brandish 1.
------------------------------
GENERAL GAMEPLAY AND MECHANICS
------------------------------
-Completely new additions to the series in general are the Completion Stones,
Breadcrumbs and active bag items (Winged Boots, HP Mantle etc.), none of which
existed before The Dark Revenant.
-You could not mark your map in the SNES version. There's not even a mini-map
on screen, you can only call up the fullscreen map with the start button. You
really need to use the compass to navigate around.
-Sledgehammers not stackable in the SNES version, just like in the PC98
versions of Brandish 1 and 2. The SNES version of Brandish 2 however does
allow you to stack them.
-Warp Panels do not reveal themselves after you've stepped on them once,
making it a bit harder to keep track of which ones you've activated already.
Also, when you already stand on a Warp Panel and jump in place, the warp does
not reactivate in the SNES version like it does in the PSP version.
-Apart from updating the enemy designs (no more T-Rexes in the Ruins!), The
Dark Revenant also shuffled up enemy placements a bit. For instance, the room I
recommended for raising your MGR in the TOWER doesn't have those fireball
slinging monsters, but a few armored knights instead.
-Another enemy that did not make the cut to the PSP version can be found in the
Tower: a cloaked and hooded Magician. He attacks with Fire magic at long range
and when you get close he switches to Thunder magic and then Warps a few spaces
behind you.
-In the Cave, more monsters are immume to Magic in the SNES version. You won't
even scratch the skeletons or jellyfish with your spells.
-It's possible to sell your Dark Equipment and Revival Rings in the PSP
version. None of the shopkeepers would take these off your hands in the SNES
version, nor did they have a monetary value indicated in the info window.
-Dela mode has been added.
------
STAGES
------
RUINS
-The guy you meet after opening the first door in the PSP version was never
there in the SNES version. However, a guy with the same design is present in
front of the Ninja boss in the Cave in the SNES version. The PSP version has a
skeleton in its place. Kinda sad how he goes from badass that nearly makes it
to the Dark Zone to some guy that dies three steps into the dungeon.
-Both Casinos were changed to Sound Test rooms in the SNES version, complete
with a unique "What's that sound?!" message when examining the doors. They've
have been restored to Casinos in the PSP version. There's also no longer a
free Warp Magic scroll in the secret basement of the Ruins.
-The Ruins had some water spilling over tiles near fountains every now and
then, this visual detail did not make it into the PSP version.
-You no longer have a key left over on Ruins F3 to open the chest in the east
of Ruins F2 in the PSP version. They give you an extra key on F2 instead to
save you the backtracking.
-Getting slammed by the logs on Ruins F5 actually hurts in the SNES version.
Which makes sense, considering that you're violently getting thrusted in the
face by big pieces of wood. In the PSP version you just get pushed around, the
damage comes from falling into the pits only. The combination of push and fall
damage can easily kill you in the SNES version, making the area a bit harder.
-There's no Warp animation when you get teleported around at Ruins F7. Instead,
the SNES version uses the Room of Wander effect. Same goes for a few other
areas in the game too.
-There's no Sorcerer boss on F8 in the SNES version, there are two magic
enemies that aren't in the PSP version instead. They look the same, but one
floats around constantly and shoots energy balls when at a save distance. The
other stands completely still and casts a barrier when you attack him, then
lets it down for a second to hurl a ball of energy at you. The Sorcerer is
located in Ruins F10 in the SNES version, right beyond the room with the
Ghost Girl.
-The Old Stone Geezer at FOOT OF TOWER doesn't die after you open the gate to
the Tower. Instead, he'll keep on yapping about how you'll never make it past
the gates and will grow old with him forever even after you've unlocked and
entered the Tower.
TOWER
-In the SNES version of the Tower you had certain switches that opened doors in
places that looked just like normal walls. The PSP version just has generic
locked doors instead of the walls opening.
-There's no walking animation for the girl and her boyfriend which you help out
on Tower F3/F1. They just go poof the instant they finish their dialog in the
SNES version.
-The sidequest with Gadie and Gayla in the Tower didn't exist in the SNES
version. It has probably been added in the PSP version to add more value to
their appearance in Brandish 2.
CAVE
-As far as I can see, fake walls in the Cave have no different graphic in the
SNES version, so they're invisible till you check them or walk right through.
-This one's interesting. The puzzle on the little island in the Cave where you
find the final Dimensional Box has been changed a bit for PSP. This is due to
the Dark Revenant not having a separate EXAMINE function like on the SNES,
instead the /\ button acts as a mix between the EXAMINE and INTERACT functions.
So the PSP version has a wall with a plaque that you can only jump through, not
walk. The SNES version uses the difference between EXAMINE and INTERACT to
throw you off here. When you see a plaque, you'll automatically switch to
EXAMINE to read it. But what you have to do is to touch, aka INTERACT with the
wall to make it crumble. Despite how simple it sounds, it's not something you'd
think of doing because the game has taught you that INTERACT has no function on
a wall with a plaque! Brandish 3 has a similar puzzle with plaques that are
actually switches when you interact with them, I look forward to the way
they'll chance that one in the inevitable remake.
-The room behind the Ninja Master boss is guarded by another ninja, with lots
of health. Luckily he doesn't spawn clones if you hit him while he blocks.
The little ledge here that has the Completion Stone on it doesn't exist.
DARK ZONE
-There's no cutscene when you enter the Dark Zone in the SNES version, the PSP
has a little CG here.
-The SNES Dark Zone has an interesting mechanic when it comes to its enemies.
You won't find as many Swords of Darkness, so they're more valuable. There's
this thing with the knight type enemies based on that: some have over 100 HP
while others have only 10. But the ones with 10 HP have incredible defense, so
much that even the Sword of Darkness hits for 1 or 2 points of damage. Hitting
them with your bare fists does the same amount of damage! So if you don't check
their HP before engaging them, you might just waste an entire Sword of
Darkness. The high HP enemies die in about three hits, but without the sword
they take forever. I found this pretty cool.
-There's no breadcrumb hinting the location of the switch to open the door to
the Sound Room in the SNES version, that is of course a Casino in the PSP
version. They didn't change the graphic of the door in the SNES version, so the
(weird) PC98 name of the Casino, "BE", is still written on it despite it not
beinga Casino.
FORTRESS
-The puzzle in the big room with all the switches on Fortress 1 doesn't work
with corpses falling from above, but with pillars shuffling around.
-The area on F2 where you learn the correct steps for the switch puzzle on F3
has no body with a note on it. You'll just have to write it up yourself!
-The shops ran by monsters have a proper door now, in the SNES version they
just sat on the ground. Also, the one on F7 doesn't sell any spells. There
are more changes to shopkeepers' stocks, but this one really jumped out for
me.
-The warp square you have to stand still on to activate on F7 isn't indicated
by a magic circle in the SNES version, it just looks like any other meatground.
-The unblockable beams from some traps look exactly like normal arrows on SNES,
but they still inflict heavy damage when you try to block.
-The boss themes start playing the instant you access the floor on BACKBONE and
BTOWLS in the SNES version.
-You can't walk around in the deserted room with the book on the table in the
SNES version, it works the same way as a shop. You see a closed door (reading
Mystery Door) and when you enter it you just get the scene with the story.
-There's no fancy teleport cutscene for when you enter BTOWLS in the SNES
version.
-God Bistall does not have any dialog at all in the SNES version, not before or
after battle.
-The part after beating God Bistall is a cutscene, you don't have any control
over Ares in the SNES version.
----------
DELA DELON
----------
-Dela only leaves a letter twice in the SNES version, and they're always in
chests. The first one is after the encounter in the Ruins, the second one is
the letter she leaves behind in the chest that held the Elmef Key.
-Her many letters are collectable and re-readable items in the PSP version. Not
that there's any use to that, as far as I know.
-Dela got four more appearances during Ares mode in the PSP version:
Ruins F7, quick scene of her being lost in the Warp maze too.
Dark Zone 2, ambushing you after the fake wall at the start.
Fortress F3, assault after you complete the correct steps on the floor switch.
Fortress F6, falls through hole from F7 to drop on the switch on F5.
-You can no longer kill Dela on Fortress TOP in the PSP versions. It'd be bad
for the sequels!
------
BOSSES
------
*SORCERER
He's a bit harder because he and the clones actually turn around to shoot you
when you approach them from behind or the sides! The clones cannot be attacked
either, you just walk right through them. Only the real one is solid, which is
a nice touch. If you defeat him in the PSP version and have the door on screen
you can quickly see him poof away, implying he isn't dead. This doesn't happen
in the SNES version.
*CRABDEVIL
You'll fight him right after heading up the stairs after the Sorcerer battle
due to their placement in the SNES version. His behavior is completely
different, there's no more breaking the armor with eggs while he frantically
runs around trying to ram you. He's just a normal hit and run boss.
*HEADLESS
You can not avoid their team attack by jumping like in the PSP version. I used
Warp Magic to get out of their trap, I assume some Invisibility Potion would do
the trick too. They don't act cool and sink back in the ground if they kill you
with their quadra-punch in the SNES version.
*RAKSHAHSA
There's no evil summoning tower that produces more Rakshashas or tries to
flatten you. You just fight two Rakshashas and win once they're dead. They
bounce back magic in the SNES version, so you must go full melee on them.
*NINJA MASTER
Almost exactly the same, he only lacks the teleport flying kick attack in SNES.
*LOBSTER
They don't run around in patterns, or have any coordinated movement at all for
that matter in the SNES version.
*AZITAKAHA
He only breathes flames in the SNES version, no headbanging or blowing away.
This makes him even an even bigger pushover if you have high MGR.
*GOD BISTALL
Even though he only has a single form in the SNES version, the battle doesn't
feel like an anti-climax at all. There's no BISTALL BEAM or barrier, but the
screen is still crowded with all kinds of magic shots bouncing around. There
are a lot more warps that teleport you back to the beginning, counted at least
four at some point. He also attacks by making spikes appear on the tiles you
stand on, which is hard to avoid in the midst of his crazy barrage. The overall
chaos here got toned down in the PSP version, but the second form and
lengthened theme more than make up for it.
-----
MUSIC
-----
-'Tradition', the song played during the first part of the opening, did not
exist in the US SNES version. Brandish PC98 has an oddly similar song as intro,
but it was not until Brandish Renewal that we got the 'Tradition' that the PSP
version is based upon.
-'Tradition' got promoted to main theme status by being incorporated into the
final boss theme and the new 'Ending 2'. I really like this change as it's a
beautiful piece of music.
-The song known as 'Ending 2' that played in the second part of the ending of
the SNES version has been changed to the opening theme in the PSP version.
Probably to make the overall intro more similar in style to Brandish 1/2/most
other Falcom games that usually feature a slower piece of music during the
backstory/legend part of the intro, followed by an upbeat song during the
awesome cool character introduction part.
-Because of this there's now a completely new piece of music that takes the
place and name of the above tune called 'Ending 2', based on 'Tradition'.
-For some reason the shops in Ruins F8, Cave B5, Fortress F3 and F7 have the
Casino music playing instead of the normal shop tune in the SNES version. I
have no idea why they did this, there's nothing special about these particular
shops.
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~Credits and thanks~
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First of all I've got to thank Jax Aagar for his excellent SNES guide. The game
script and item descriptions came in really handy when I started the game.
Mass_Carrier who I really owe one for translations of a few items and the
plaques in Ruins EX F7. Thanks for still taking the time to do it even though
you don't care about Brandish.
jeffx for clarifications on the floor puzzle on Tower F9, invisibility potion
for Headless strategy and typing up the instructions for Fortress F3. An
appreciated fellow wanderer in the world of Brandish.
hysoong, who pointed out the way to reach the secret basement on Ruins F1.
FwugRadiation, for correcting me on the availability of Timestop and Quake
Magic in the SNES version, and explaining the origin of 'Tradition'.
Synchronicity Translations for the English patch of Brandish 2, a deed
appreciated by the many millions of Brandish fans across the globe! Updated a
few names in the guide based on the patch, like BTOWL > Bytohl.
The members of the resident board for their support. Another thanks to the
folks from Ancient Land of Ys, without that place I probably never would have
discovered this series in the first place. And finally Synchronicity, the home
on the internet for us Brandish fans: synchronicity.animeontheweb.com
Well, that's it. I love the game and hope this file helped a few more people
discover and enjoy the series. If you have any questions, suggestions or other
feedback, you can mail them to [sardien AT live DOT com]
Now sally forth, wanderers! Explore more, and never forget about your
adventures in Bytohl!
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