Utawarerumono Strategy-RPG translated!

[Nicky]

Hiya. I pretty much registered here to get some help with the PC game. Kinda lame huh?

Anyway, I played about a third of the game on the easiest setting. Now I'm restarting on difficulty 5. I figured if they added it, it has to be beatable. I see some of the people here got further with it than I have. I could use some advice because I can't get past the second battle, where you have to trap the tiger beast. I have been stuck there for a while now. (Um, I don't know if that's considered a spoiler or not.)

Unfortunately I keep getting surrounded by those annoying monkey creatures. When that happens the four of them kill the main character just in one round. On rare occasions I have been able to distract some of them using the axe guy in my party, but since the other monkeys walk just about as fast as the main character, they always catch up with him.

I tried to engage in combat to break a hole through the monkeys (lol), but taking even one of them down usually requires 2 combat rounds, sometimes even when my characters are working together. And during those 2 rounds either the beast catches up with me, or those monkeys kill the main character.

What am I missing here?

[Nicky]

Oh uh.. and sort of a follow-up question. I noticed the 4th and 5th difficulty modes were gone after I installed the game on my notebook. I don't remember doing anything specific to unlock them. In fact, I just sort of fast forwarded through the battles (on the lowest difficulty, like I did the first time), just to get to roughly the same part where I left off on my very first run through. It didn't open them up.

How do I unlock them?

[Hypertaost]

I think they are unlocked after finishing the game once.

[Nicky]

Ah. I think someone must have finished it before me then. My mother, likely.

But damn, I cannot believe anyone can make it past that second battle. It's just impossible, I tried and I tried. I finally managed to make the axe guy distract most of the monkeys by letting Hakuoro move north two squares from the start. But as soon as the other guy dies, I lose my speed. The monkeys are in a large group, so they always have enough speed to catch up with me.

Damn, I really wish someone could show me how to do this.

[Lynx190]

are you starting the battle with special gauges maxed? along with raising atk/def, I'm pretty sure it also increases your turn speed. Other than that, all I can say is try every reasonable combination of moves to start out, although it sounds like you're doing that already. If you can get Hakuoro and Eruruw to meet up then you should be ok since you can heal Hakuoro to full and Eruruw should distract the enemies further.

(Also, try the same thing multiple times; usually there seems to be two different AI responses to a particular situation that it will randomly switch between if you keep loading and redoing the same move)

Also, unlocking Hard 4 and 5 is done by talking to the cat in the development room (final "tutorial" stage unlocked after beating the game); I think that's where you have to choose "Gift" repeatedly until it says something that should indicate it unlocked the higher difficulties.

[Spectacular_Insanity]

Originally Posted by Nicky

Ah. I think someone must have finished it before me then. My mother, likely.

But damn, I cannot believe anyone can make it past that second battle. It's just impossible, I tried and I tried. I finally managed to make the axe guy distract most of the monkeys by letting Hakuoro move north two squares from the start. But as soon as the other guy dies, I lose my speed. The monkeys are in a large group, so they always have enough speed to catch up with me.

Damn, I really wish someone could show me how to do this.

Oh, move them up into the top left corner of the screen, right next to where Eruruu shows up a turn or two into the level. Then she can heal with impunity without being so much as touched, and Hakuoro and Teoro can attack without fear of dying. Just let the enemies come to you. It's pretty simple, really. Now the THIRD level and the one where you have to save Derihourai (16th, I think) are freaking impossible. Those two I had to do over so many times on the harder levels it was painful.... >_<

[Nicky]

You're confusing the second with the first level. You can't actually beat the tiger (mutikapa, whatever) until you trap it first, plus the group is scattered at the start.

[Spectacular_Insanity]

Originally Posted by Nicky

You're confusing the second with the first level. You can't actually beat the tiger (mutikapa, whatever) until you trap it first, plus the group is scattered at the start.

Yeah, whatever. My mistake.

In any case, just make a run for it, keeping Teoro on one of Hakuoro's sides to minimize his damage. You just have to make it to Eruruu for one healing, then make a mad dash to the other side of the pit. It doesn't matter if Eruruu or Teoro die, because they will be revived for the second half of the battle. If you don't care, just have Hakuoro move as fast as he can, and leave Teoro behind him to draw off a few enemies. He won't last more than a turn or two, but it's better than Hakuoro getting swamped and having to restart.

[Shana]

I feel so *low* because I seem to be the only one who hasn't finished the game ;_;

God, I started playing on Friday, and you know I'm already meeting Kamyu though I believe that's just 20-30% of the game >_<.
So far I do *skip* *skip* *skip* to the text and *LOVE* to fight

Can't wait to finish it

[Spectacular_Insanity]

Originally Posted by Shana

I feel so *low* because I seem to be the only one who hasn't finished the game ;_;

God, I started playing on Friday, and you know I'm already meeting Kamyu though I believe that's just 20-30% of the game >_<.
So far I do *skip* *skip* *skip* to the text and *LOVE* to fight

Can't wait to finish it

Well, if you don't care about the text, you can go to one of the Hard Modes and choose to skip the main story. I played thru the regular mode once, and now I'm concentrating on trying to get Karura's stats maxed out, which is harder that it sounds. Touka iand Oboro are fairly easy (I found Oboro the easiet character to max out his skills because of his insanely huge combos [5 attacks maxed = pwnage]), but getting Karura's magic defense up is a pain. It doesnt help that she doesn't have much to begin with.

I also find that as I play Hard Mode 4, three characters, if available, are extremely necessary: Touka, Oboro, and Karura. Touka, when you get her def up after you max out her attack, can be a better "tank" (a damage sponge) than Aruruu. Oboro levels up hella fast because he can rip out combos every four turns or so (and his stats are arguable the easiest to level up, ever). And lastly, Karura can not only solo bosses (if you get a combo [plus maxed out attack], she easily can hit 1200+ damage), but also has a fairly huge hitpoint count, meaning she will still take a beating if you max out her attack like I do, but she'll either level up (therefore heal all her damage), or die and take out an army's worth of enemies before she bites the dust.

On the harder levels, though, I still suggest you put some effort into training Dorii, Kamyu, and/or Urutorii in order to have long range attack options. I suggest Kamyu if you're going for high damage, Urutorii if you want better defense. Though I hate to say it, Guraa and Kurou are comepletely useless no matter how many times I replay the game and train them. They not only take their turns slowly, but neither can hit hard, and dont level up fast enough to be of any practical use. Benawi is semi-useful, because he and Kurou can attack from two spaces away, but his combos are fairly decent, unlike Kurou. Benawi has versatility in his favor, but he's not as good of a tank as Aruruu, can't hit hard as Touka or Karura, and doesn't get his combo meter up as fast as Oboro. He is more effective as a back up, placing him right behind your heavy-hitters in case they don't finish off their targets on the first shot.

Okay, I'm done with my strategy rant. I hope I helped some people.

[Shana]

Finished it a few days ago.. two days after my last post.

God, I just started Hard Mode 1 and it was REALLY hard, even the first battle was hard . But still, awesome.

I now want to see the anime, AAAAAGGHHH!!!

[retardsrox]

I just finished the game yesterday...

there are still many questions that are unanswered...

[spoilers]Anyway, you guys know that hakuoro's mask fell off after he went into slumber right? Hakuoro was originally human (a archaeologist) so he can't possibly live on the surface without the mask as it grants him an increase in physical ability. So in the end how did he get out when he woke up? (if he did).

From what i know the mask is just a fragment of the creature that hakuoro found as an archaeologist right? so wtf is the creature (as in the whole thing)? And before he was killed by somebody, they had a conversation and hakuoro stated that he was merely an archaeologist as if he was lying and implying that he was something else he even knew about that fossil and said that the other man was entrusted with the duty of keeping it hidden from others and he killed of hakuoro. Maybe the guy could be the ancestors of Urtorily since utorily seemed to know about everything like what washi**** was. So we do not even know the true identity of hakuoro and the other guy. [/spoilers]

[Telmah]

Well it is unclear whether or not Hakuoro woke up from my understanding. I've heard people imply he is the wind (ie the God) and I've heard people suggest he does or does not wake up. It is widely open to fan interpretation. It also makes me hope for a sequel, though perhaps that's far fetched and wishful thinking.

If he did wake up, then maybe things changed. We don't know how much time has passed since he was sealed...perhaps that atmosphere recovered--nature is resilient. That's mostly idle speculation but a possibility. We do know he eradicated humans. Supposed the mecha-suits were how humans were able to survive previously.

The creature itself we know very little about...the one scientist suggest it is the missing like between humans and monkeys...and says perhaps without it, we wouldn't have evolved (assuming you believe in evolution). Personally, I feel like it was a dormant deity...and the blood bonded it to him. He was killed because humans weren't "ready" to know the truth of their origins potentially. We do know it had crazy magical abilities...both destructive and restorative. Early myths from the Greeks, Egyptians, and beyond the world talk about such beings. The mask seems little more than a representation that he was linked to it.

It seemed like Hakuoro the man was the host to the entire thing. Nothing more than the vessel, his name isn't even important. When Mikoto was killed, he split into two parts--good and evil isn't exactly right, but rather vengeful and despair. Both sides wanted to be praised...or loved I guess...revered maybe is a better word yet. They just went about it in different ways. Dii's half seemed to think it was cyclical...that it would continue to go on for all eternity. Hakuoro decided to end the suffering.

The theory on him returning in the ending is, that it is just Hakuoro the man--he's given up the being he was the host for. It is just inconclusive.

Urotorii's race certainly knew more about it. It's tough to say if it was because the ruins were in their country or they relied on magic or they simply were more aware of the cycles.

[retardsrox]

hmm.... i wonder wad happened to Utorii's dad and Dii

[Skyfall]

The planet's atmosphere had already returned to normal; the reason why humans couldn't live on the surface was the regression of immune systems within their bodies due to living in a sterile environment for so long. This wouldn't affect Hakuoro, as he comes from a time when humans were still living on surface just fine.

Whether he actually does return in the end is open for interpretation.

[Ryuhou]

Originally Posted by Skyfall

The planet's atmosphere had already returned to normal; the reason why humans couldn't live on the surface was the regression of immune systems within their bodies due to living in a sterile environment for so long. This wouldn't affect Hakuoro, as he comes from a time when humans were still living on surface just fine.

Whether he actually does return in the end is open for interpretation.

I just beated the game in normal mode, I'm not up for hard mode cause its prolly going to be very time consuming.
Anyway the game was awesome but at the end it left me some mixed feelings(if not empty). I can't find the exact words to describe them and now I feel ???... probably because it ended sigh. Damn you Leaf make a sequel or else I would feel the upcoming weeks.

As for Skyfall, let's just interpret that he returned from slumber. Wishing for a happy ending. (not only for him but for all the ladies as well)

*Edit* Sad but it seems like its goodbye to the game now for me. T_T But I will always remember a great game like Utawarerumono.