I'd say ink bottles are more immediately necessary, since you can still upgrade health by seeking out those Sun Fragments. Maxing out your ink early on (and acquiring an item through Demon Fang trading that rapidly refills your ink bottles) helps out tremendously.

Plus, if you need to restore health, just equip the wood mat and heal yourself when you lay down.

I recently completed this game and I have had it since it's release date. I actually put it aside for a little while because I knew the ending was coming up, I was simply putting off the inevitable. I just didn't want such a beautiful thing to end. Unfortunately, it did and the ending was just tear jerking in my opinion.



I'm very distraught that there will be no sequel due to the disbandment of Clover Studios. Hopefully there will be some sort of a resurrection of this group of developers in the near futue. Here's to hoping.

Hey, can anyone give any hints on how to draw that Kanji symbol over in the Capital.

Are you doing the side quest with the little girl who keeps drawing stuff? Be sure your stroke order is correct.

Strike order? I keep it at 4.

1. First horizontal line, the longest one
2. The second horizontal line, the short one
3. Left downstroke starting from the middle of the first line down and to the left
4. Right downstroke starting from the middle of the second line down and to the right

That's 4, just like the demonstration the little girl's thought bubble gives, and I keep doing it and nothing. I'm wondering if the thickness has to be just right, or maybe the space between the lines is too small (or too big?). Sadly, this is probably something I'll never get to finish because I've searched and there doesn't seem to be a picture of a player-made version that I could copy.

I'm not kidding, I tried doing it about sixty or seventy times, and each time come up empty. It doesn't help that the guy blabbers on before/after each attempt.

Well, it took me several tries to get it as well. It's certainly not impossible. Whatever you do, don't give up. You absolutely must get all of the stray beads on your first playthrough.

I'm about 11 hours in right now. Got the game from a friend for Christmas.



It's a really fun game. I'm trying to get as much as I can in terms of items on my first run through. For the beads and such, do I have to get them at exact times or can I go back before the final boss and collect them?

I'm glad to this this thread finally get the recognition it deserves. Great game. Too bad I sold my PS2, or else I'd go over it again. =/

All I want is some sort of hint or anything to tell me when I close to drawing the symbol correctly. I'm already drawing the brushstrokes in the correct order, but it sems like the game is being nitpicky about some part of it. That's the irritating part, not knowing where you're screwing up.

Oh and...

The beads do carry over, but the prize you get for getting all of them is so awesome, you don't want to have to do a second playthrough just to get them all.

I do not believe there are any missable beads. They are all either in the overworld or in areas that you can return to later. (Or from sidequests.)

Has anyone had trouble getting all the cherry blossom trees in the big city? The old man there says I have one left, yet I searched all around and the only ones I have are the cursed trees that need the other Cherry blossoms blossomed. I tried consulting GameFAQs but nothing. So I don't know if I'm missing something, or if it's a glitch or what.


That game is pretty cool, but after the first half of the game, when it seemed like it was over, I was getting a bit bummed out on it, especially Issun. He would say the most obvious things that would seem like the game is trying to hold me by the hand. I get what's going on, you don't have to do that.

Check this out.



Just put in spoiler form in case anyone wanted to figure it out for themselves.

Ah, got it. Don't worry about that challenge, Piccolo. I blindly walked into one those things when I first got to Ryoshima, and didn't get killed. Some enemies are fucking bastards though, as in they wallop you something fierce.

Thanks for the heads up on the beads. That finally got me to stop worrying about it, as I've been doing while playing. Oh, I have 4 Gold Dust right now (from the wanted monsters lists), do I get any more? I was counting the weapons and all I need is a few more until I can upgrade what I have and still have some left over for the rest.

The final spider cave is nothing like those. It is harder than anything you have seen. It took me nearly an hour to beat it, I used 13 Golden Peaches, all of my astral pouches, all of my inkfinity stones, and just barely scraped by with 3 health units left at the end. The attacks never stop, and you're constantly bringing up the canvas just to deflect all of the projectiles. You're lucky to even get a chance to attack. The enemies have a huge amount of health and take very little damage. It is by far the most difficult part of an otherwise fairly easy game.

Jesus, sounds like madness. I'm guessing there must be more projectile-happy enemies coming up, eh? That was the only "round" in the one I did that gave me trouble. Looks like I've got something to spend my money on now. How many peaches/stones/godly charms do you think I should bring?

I would bring no less than 15 peaches, 10 inkfinity stones, at least 10 godly charms, as many Holy Bones as you can buy, and be sure you maximize your astral pouches and fill all of them beforehand. Exorcism Slip "L", and Steel Fist/Soul sake are also very helpful. A shield is a must, especially when there are multiple enemies summoning flaming swords (5 swords at once, I think), one of which can easily take off half of your total HP. One of the harder parts is where you must fight several evil Raos and Wakas, (all at once) both of which are far, far more powerful than they were when you fought them as bosses. The Wakas are just annoying, but the Raos have very high defense and can easily kill you in one or two hits. And they keep respawning over and over again. Sometimes, it seems like it will never stop.

Of course, there's a chance you just might breeze through it, but it is best to go prepared. It would suck to make it to the last round, and then die.

Edit: Be sure to buy the two super expensive techniques from the dojo. They make getting large amounts of Demon Fangs much easier. They're as funny as hell to watch, too.

Wow...I never caught that. Thanks.

I found the symbol online (it's the one on the right):

http://z.about.com/d/japanese/1/0/i/m/tengoku.jpg
http://japanese.about.com/bl50kanji5_tengoku.htm

What the hell, I just copied that thing down to the shape/size and strokes the game is giving me and... nothing. I'll say it right here: I'll probably complete that final challenge before I get this right.

You know, I think I may play through to the City again, just to help you out. I have the super secret ultra power up with me, so it won't take long at all.

Thank God. This, a like 5 or 6 other beads are all that I need to finish the stray bead search. I've been sitting here for a good hour and a half, maybe two, just repeating what the little girl has in her thought bubble. Still coming up empty. I try the one I posted above, which is literally the exact same thing, nothing. If I were one of those folks, I'd say something's wrong with my game.

Oh and I found out that there's a way to completely drain the challenge out of the continuous Demon Gates. Have everything else (Peaches, stones, etc..) but get a ton of vengeance slips and steel fist sake. From how it was explained to me, if you have enough, you're essentially super-powered and invincible.

Sounds like hot stuff, but the only downside to this is that it's extremely costly to use it (since the slips and sake cost a ton).

Weird...I swear I got this on my first time. It's the one on the right you say? I could have sworn it looked a lot more like the one on the left...maybe I still have a save from around there. I'll check it out.

Whoops, you're right BB. It's the one on the left. That's why I'm baffled as to why something so simple could hold me up so badly, especially when I've been replicating both the example AND her thought bubble over-and-over again.

Fear not, Metal Sphere, for we Occuria have chosen you, and you alone. Now take this helpful quicktime video, and use it to destroy Venat. Or solve the Kanji puzzle, if you want.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/wx27tu

MS, if you're still collecting Stray Beads, have you gotten to the Demon Gate where...

Sonuvabitch. That took me over two hours to beat.

That's the one I've been telling him about. Hard as shit.