Buckles’ Big Guide to Shaiya

CONTENTS

To go straight to a particular section of my guide: use CTRL+F, type in the heading from the table of contents below in CAPITAL LETTERS, select ‘match case’ and when you click ‘next’ you’ll be whisked straight to the beginning of the topic.

• THE RACES
• THE CLASSES
• GAME MODES
• LIGHT SIDE vs DARK
• ALL THINGS MONEY
• MOUNTS

_______________________________________________________________________

 

THE RACES

There are four races in Shaiya, belonging to two different alliances.  The Alliance of Light is made up of humans and elves.  The Union of Fury is made up of the Vail and the Nordein.  These are the descriptions of the races, as given by Aeria Games:

The Humans

Newest to the lands of Teos are the Humans. Spiritual, strong, and swift, the Humans are adept at nearly every job that Teos has to offer. However, their power truly lies in their strength of body and spiritual nature. Born Fighters and Priests, the Humans are natural complement to the magical Elves. Brought to Teos by the Goddesses, the hope was that the Humans would help restore balance and unity. Unfortunately, the Humans got swept up into the chaos, and the Elves were the first to assist them.

The Elves

Methodical, deliberate, and smart are just some of the words used to describe the Elves. The Elves, like the Vail, are descendents from the Dumianas. The Laws of Nature are very important to the Elves, and their society relies on order and discipline. The Elves are in constant conflict in their attempts to keep the monsters of Teos outside of their borders. The magical Elves are the chosen of the Goddess of Light.

The Vail

Intelligent and swift, cunning and spiritual, the Vail are the chosen of the Goddess of Darkness. One of the two races that are descendents of the Dumianas, the Vail, while exotic and mysterious in appearance, are not the war-like people most expect them to be. Ferocious and treacherous only when necessary, the Vail seek to find a state of equilibrium in their surroundings. Not as strong as some of the other races, the Vail use stealth and the mystical arts when in battle.

The Nordein (aka Deatheaters)

Towards the end of the great war, the Goddesses created the Nordein to help protect Teos. The Nordein, or “Deatheaters,” have every appearance of being brutish and unintelligent, violent and aggressive. But this race of Ancients is a book that should not be judged by its cover. In the wars that followed their appearance on Teos, the Nordein acquired a disdain for magic and choose not to use it often, if at all. This is likely one reason that they sided with the spiritual Vail, and not the magical Elves.

 

You can find out more about races and their roles in the world of Shaiya here: http://shaiya.aeriagames.com/info/intro

_______________________________________________________________________

 

THE CLASSES

There are 6 different classes in Shaiya. The classes, and the abilities of the classes, are the same whether you choose to join the Alliance of Light or the Union of Fury. The only differences are in appearance and name.

Here’s a basic outline of the six classes including other-side equivalents and race.

HUMAN		NORDEIN
Fighter		Warrior

Your basic melee class.  Uses two-handed swords, one-handed swords in conjunction with a shield, or dual swords.  Deals great physical damage using SP skills or a basic attack and has some debuff skills at its disposal e.g. stinger which teleports the player towards an enemy, allowing an initial attack from a great distance, and stuns if successful.

I don’t have much experience with this class but I’ve been attacked by fighters enough in PvP to know that they hit pretty hard.  Also, if there aren’t enough players around to form an AoE party then warriors can make very good companions for a healer.  A while ago I had a very successful dungeon run healing a group of three warrior boys who I gradually accumulated.

You may want to experiment with your fighter/warrior’s level of defence, evasion or even luck but physical power is obviously the key to this class.  You’ll therefore want to put a fair share of your stat points into STR to boost your strength.

• Gains 1 STR point per level

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

HUMAN	VAIL
Priest	Oracle

Shaiya’s healing class.  My favourite and most-played class.  Healers in Shaiya have a great deal of spells to restore health to allies and to buff them, greatly increasing their chances of survival in battle.  Healing and Instant Heal will be your most-used healing spells and Aura of Peace and Prayer are likely to be your most-used buffs.

• Gains 1 WIS point per level

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

ELF	VAIL
Ranger	Assassin

Shaiya’s stealth class.  Deals melee damage coupled with a bucketful of debuffs.  Can use daggers, reverse swords or claws.  Has skills which boost the attack power and speed of each of these weapon types.  Can use stealth to become invisible and sneak in to or out of battle.  Can paralyze opponents, leaving them open to attack until the status wears off.  Can also afflict an enemy with reduced defence,

  My second most-played class after the healer.  I decided to try the assassin class as I wanted to be able to dish out some damage but didn’t fancy the hack and slash mechanics of the warrior.

• Gains 1 DEX point per level

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

ELF	VAIL
Mage	Pagan

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

HUMAN	NORDEIN
Defender	Guardian

• Gains one REC point per level

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

ELF	NORDEIN
Archer	Hunter

• Gains 1 LUC point per level

_______________________________________________________________________

GAME MODES

When you create a character in Shaiya you’ll be given a choice of mode.  Your first character will only have the choice between easy mode (EM) and normal mode (NM).  Hard mode (HM) and ultimate mode (UM) only become available once you reach a certain level in the mode below.

Which mode should you choose?

Easy mode is designed for beginners  or people who are new to the MMORPG genre and its mechanics.  To help you, your character will receive twice as much exp as a normal mode character.  Unfortunately though Aeria have set a level cap, which means that you will not be able to get past level 30, and they’ve restricted the use of special skills.  This cuts you off from some of the best skills in the game: if you were a healer you would not have access to Aura of Peace, Prayer or Resurrection, key skills for any half-way decent healer; and if you were an assassin you would be denied Slasher which is a very powerful, pure damage attack.  The level of slotted equipment that you can use e.g. noble, worship, heroic is also limited.

In my opinion easy mode isn’t worth the hassle.  You might want to use it if you’re absolutely clueless about MMORPGs but to be honest I wouldn’t bother.  When I created my first Shaiya character I chose normal mode and if I remember rightly it was my first MMORPG.  I’ve only ever found myself stuck a few times and always managed to find a solution.  With an in-game tutorial, designated help forums and thousands of players to ask for a hand you’ll never be stuck for long.  PLUS you’ve got ME!  What more could you want?

EM in brief:

• fast levelling
• can’t progress beyond level 30 (cuts you off from having a mount)
• can’t join or create a guild
• no special skills
• can use noble, heroic, worship gear
• 5 stat points and 3 skill points per level

Normal mode is similar to easy mode but is much less restrictive as there is no level cap and you’re not restricted from using special skills.  You also get the reward of unlocking hard mode when you get to level 40.

NM in brief:

• no level cap
• able to join or create a guild
• able to use special skills
• can use noble, worship, heroic and dread gear
• 5 stat points and 3 skill points per level

Hard mode is well deserving of its name.  Although you get more stat and skill points, instantly making you more powerful and giving you an advantage over NM PvPers, levelling takes a LONG time.  Grinding now becomes a major focus of the game, more-so than in normal mode.  Thanks to those extra points though, you should find that you’re able to take on more powerful enemies much earlier on which means you’ll probably be making a lot more money on high-end loot.

I haven’t been playing HM for long but parties and teamwork seem to be a big part of it.  Thanks to my wonderful guildmates and the kindness of a few equally wonderful strangers I haven’t had to put a lot of effort into levelling my new HM characters.  That’s because I’ve been the subject of much charity power-levelling which is a lot easier to provide since the Eternity update.

HM in brief:

• unlocked at level 40 NM
• no level cap
• able to join or create a guild
• able to use special skills
• can use noble, worship, heroic, dread and legend gear
• 7 stat points and 4 skill points per level
• some new skills

Ultimate mode

I have no first-hand experience of ultimate mode because I haven’t reached it yet…but that doesn’t mean that I can’t tell you anything about it.

UM characters have some powerful exclusive skills.  For example, healers receive an instant self-healing spell which doesn’t require them to select themselves before casting, a real time-saver in an emergency.  A UM character also receives 9 stat points and 5 skill points per level, giving them a real edge over all over players.

Sound too good to be true?  It is.

If you die in UM then there is no handy resurrect-at-the-next-town option.  Instead you must be resurrected by a healer within 3 minutes or your character is deleted and dies permanently, losing any items and money in their inventory.  Also, not just any healer will do – only Resurrection 2 works on UM characters so only a high level healer can save you if you fall in battle.  Because of this, UM characters rarely travel into dangerous territory on their own.  Many train with a capable HM/UM healer at all times but as there is no guarantee that the healer will not die at the critical moment, even this isn’t completely safe.  Enter rez runes.

A resurrection rune will automatically resurrect your fallen UM as long as you have activated it beforehand.  One-shot resurrection runes and 24 hour resurrection runes are available but don’t even ASK about how much they cost.

The philosophy that UMs I’ve met seem to live by is: better safe than sorry.  You may be more powerful when you reach UM so mobs won’t do as much damage as they used to but this also makes you more likely to push yourself, take on more and harder mobs and put yourself in a position where you’re likely to actually BE mobbed.  Know your limits and play it safe and you should be alright.

If anyone wants to share their experiences with ultimate mode to give everyone a better idea of it, please leave a comment.

_______________________________________________________________________

STATS

Every time you level you will be given stat points which you can use to increase your character’s power.  Simply press T to bring up your character information and expand the stat window to add your available points to whichever attribute you wish to improve.

STR	Strength – adding stat points to this increases your physical damage.
REC	Responsible for defence.  Adding stat points to this decreases the amount of damage you take from physical attacks and increases your health.
DEX	Dexterity – adding points to this increases your chance of evading an attack and, your chance of landing a hit against an enemy.  Increasing your DEX also slightly increases your physical damage.
WIS	Wisdom – adding points to this increases your MP, your magic defence and the success rate of your spells (apparently).  Increasing your WIS also slightly increases your magic damage.
INT	Intelligence – adding points to this increases your magic damage.
LUC	Luck – adding points to this slightly increases your shooting attack power, chance of a critical hit and chance of evading a critical hit.

_______________________________________________________________________

EQUIPMENT

As in most RPGs, Shaiya comes with a wealth of equipment for your character to use.  When you first start the game your character will be very poorly equipped, carrying nothing but a basic weapon.  As you fight monsters and complete quests though you will soon get your hands on pieces of armour and better weapons to improve your performance in battle.

The basic items that you can equip are:

• upper armour
• lower armour
• shoes
• helmet
• weapon
• shield*

*Only fighters/tanks can equip shields.

All items of equipment will improve your stats.  Armour improves your defence and HP while better weapons will have increased attack power.

There are different ranks of equipment which you’ll probably notice quite early on but which you might not understand.  In your first few hours on the game you’ll see noble weapons and armour and notice that these give you extra stat bonuses compared to an ordinary piece of equipment of the same kind.

Oracle/Pagan Equipment

Staffs:

spider staff
curse staff

Armour sets:

Name
Toga
	Toga protector
	Toga leggings
	Toga walker
	Toga muffle
Blitz
	Blitz protector
	Blitz leggings
	Blitz walker
	Blitz muffle
Metrin
	Metrin protector
	Metrin leggings
	Metrin walker
	Metrin muffle
Hearth
	Hearth protector
	Hearth leggings
	Hearth walker
	Hearth muffle
Morcelle
	Morcelle protector
	Morcelle leggings
	Morcelle walker
	Morcelle muffle
Serche
	Serche protector
	Serche leggings
	Serche walker
	Serche muffle
Tatoram
	Tatoram protector
	Tatoram leggings
	Tatoram walker
	Tatoram muffle

_______________________________________________________________________

RESTING

Sit down to rest between battles as this increases your HP/MP/SP regeneration rate.  Just make sure that you’re a decent distance away from any nearby enemies as they’ll still come along and wallop you if you’re in range.  On the same note: watch out for spawn points – an empty dungeon room isn’t likely to stay empty for long.

 

LEVELLING

Remember to use your stat points and check for new skills you might want to learn every time you level.  You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve forgotten then found 10 or 15 stat points waiting for me a few levels later.

 

YOUR MAP

Yellow dots on your map are quests that are available for you to take on.

Blue dots on your map are NPC characters who you should visit to finish a quest.  The blue dots will appear automatically if all you have to do is visit the NPC as part of an errand/make-me-run-all-over-the-map quest, or when you’ve racked up the required number of kills or items required to complete the quest.

Green dots on your map show you where your party members are.  If you can’t see the right number of dots on your map, then some of the members of your party are in another area, either a dungeon or a different map.  You’ll probably be able to see a green dot locked over whichever portal they went through.  Once you run through and join them you’ll once again be able to see a moving dot tracking their location.

NOTE: Be aware that the map isn’t completely accurate.  Some locations are actually slightly removed from their icons/names on the map.  It shouldn’t cause too many major problems but you will find yourself occasionally running in to a mountain range that’s not quite where the map says it should be.  Once you’ve started mapping the area yourself though you shouldn’t have that problem.

_______________________________________________________________________

ALL THINGS MONEY

As you slaughter your way across Shaiya you’ll pick up a lot of loot.  Slain enemies will drop weapons and healing items but you’ll also pick up a lot of stuff that isn’t any use to you at all.  To clear your inventory for more valuable objects and earn yourself a bit of pocket change, go to any of the NPCs with ‘merchant’ above their heads or to the ‘professional trader’ and drag and drop the things you want to sell from your inventory to theirs.  Bear in mind that once you’ve sold something there’s no getting it back so make sure that you really want to sell it, and make sure that you don’t drag the wrong thing over.  If you have a number of the same item you’ll get a window asking how many you want to sell which acts as a confirmation of sorts but you won’t get this if you’re selling an individual item.

_______________________________________________________________________

THE BLACK MARKET

As you go through the game you’ll find that you’ll be picking up weapons and equipment that you’re unable to use because they’re exclusively for the opposite alliance.  In certain areas of the map you’ll find more gear for the other alliance than you will for your own, particularly in dungeons.  Of course you can sell this stuff to the NPC merchants as you would anything else but if it’s something particularly rare or valuable you may wish to visit the black market and sell it through bootleggery to someone in the other faction who can actually use it.

To get to the black market go to the location marked on the map of your capital, speak to the gate keeper and choose to go to the Auction House.

 

_______________________________________________________________________

MOUNTS

At level 40 on normal mode you’ll be able to get your first mount from Apulune or Iris. You won’t have a choice of mount because they are alliance and race specific. Your normal mode mount will cost you 11 million gold from the ride merchant. You can buy it before you reach level 40 but you won’t be able to ride it until then. This table shows you which mount your race can use.

FURY
Vail – Black leopard
Nordein – Basilisk

LIGHT
Human – Horse
Elf – Leopard

You can get a second mount when you get to level 50 on hard mode and this one has the advantage of being big enough to carry a second rider so you can take your training partner with you when you go galloping off into the distance. This mount will cost you 75 million. The table below shows which mount your race can use.

FURY
Vail	Blood wolf

Nordein

Red dragon

FURY
Vail – Blood wolf
Nordein – Red dragon

LIGHT
Human – Sunsteed
Elf – Silver lion (actually blue)

The ride merchant is located in the area of the capital marked Tredysis Auction on the dark side, and Stardust Knights on the light side.

The mounts that are available at the ride merchant aren’t the only ones in the game.  There are others but they must be won in real-money raffles through the item mall or received during certain events.  The requirements for being able to use these mounts are pretty ridiculous if you ask me.  Despite this I’ve provided a link to a rare mount gallery so you can see them and find out a bit about them:

http://wiki.aeriagames.com/shaiya/index.php?title=Mounts

_______________________________________________________________________

GLOSSARY

buff
debuff
NM
HM
UM
ORC	Oracle
PAG	Pagan
WAR	Warrior
TANK	Adopted term for any class responsible for taking the damage in a group battle in an MMORPG.  In Shaiya – the defender and the guardian. Tank is also used as a verb.  The player with the highest REC tanks in the absence of a true tank.  My assassin, Buckles, has often tanked by attacking first and receiving most of the punishment while pagans have helped chip away at a monster’s health.
Mob	Generic term for a monster which I’d never come across until I played Shaiya.  Don’t ask me about its origins ‘cause I just don’t know.

A Very Pleasant Day

Well I’m half way through a lovely day and I thought that sharing what has factored into making it so might help some of you have a good day too!

I began today by going to the cinema to see Coraline with my boyfriend who, along with me, has wanted to see it since it was first advertised but, also like me, never got round to it until today.

Read the rest...

After the film I got home just in time to watch Patch Adams which I’ve never seen before. It was a film that made me and my mum laugh a lot but I also found it quite touching and thought that it made a few good points about the American health system and how inaccessible it is to a lot of people.

After that we watched The Journey of Natty Gann, set during the Depression. The plot is simple – a young girl leaves her home in Chicago to try to find her father who left her behind to take up a job somewhere in Washington state.

After listening to an a capella version of Little Sparrow I am in awe of how much control Dolly Parton has over her voice. I think I still prefer the recorded version of the song because the strong melody and beat are brilliant but oh my there were some fantastic notes in that performance. It was quite exciting to hear where she was going to take lines whose melodies were hard to guess. She’s just done a song called The Grass is Blue and it was quite lovely. Dolly’s three backing singers joined her at the piano as she played, which I didn’t know she could do, and their combined voices soared. An now she’s just finished a true a capella with ten men who play various roles in her band and on her tour closing around her. That was absolutely great and I loved the real barbershop touches thrown in by the basses. Here You Come Again. She’s doing Islands in the Stream with her male backing singer now, which I never knew was her song. Nine to Five is a great song with a very catchy chorus that most people know but I’m always impressed by the verses when I hear this song because the runaway pace is very clever. She chose to get the crowd going for a final chorus and they really went for it. I’m now listening to her sing I Will Always Love You the way it was meant to be sung. I’m disappointed that right from the beginning the audience were singing Whitney Houston’s version back at her though. Dolly’s version is so much more tender than Houston’s which I think attracted such a following because of the belting chorus, but frustrates me endlessly because of her vocal acrobatics and the lack of emotion that she manages to sing Dolly’s sweet words with.

For her encore Dolly chose a song about Jesus. While it does not appeal to me directly because I don’t follow the religion, the description Dolly lends to her love for him is beautiful, and something that I think also fits perfectly with non-religious love, ‘Something to lift me up, something to hold me down, something to give me wings and keep my feet on the ground.’

Well now the concert’s over and I’m watching a documentary on how Dolly rose to fame. It’s proving very interesting so far.

Fallout 3

I’ve just unwrapped the new copy of Fallout 3 that popped through my letter box.  I had to order a new one because my cousin borrowed my original copy about six months ago and admitted a couple of months ago that he’d broken it by moving his Xbox while the game was playing.  I got sick of waiting for the replacement he promised me and ordered one myself on Sunday night.  I love how speedy Amazon is.

So, I may end up spending a fair bit of time on this in the next few days.  I wasn’t very good last time, to say the least.  Molerats were the definition of a tough enemy, to me.  I never did get the chance to get very far though because everyone wanted to borrow it so I ended up swapping for games like Infinite Undiscovery which I really didn’t get on with.

Anyway, I’m playing Lost Odyssey for now, mainly because I can’t be bothered to get up and change discs, but I’ll be sure to pen some of my feelings on my Fallout 3 experience when I do start playing again.

Watch this space!

No, THIS one –>                         ;)

EDIT. Evening: I’ve just put the disc in and I’ve just been impressed by the box, disc and booklet artwork.  I love that the booklet has been printed as a ‘Vault Dweller’s Survival Guide’.  The entire concept’s genius and it shows great attention to detail.

EDIT midnight the next day: Woo!  I just got my first one-shot kill on a raider in the Super Duper Mart, using manual aiming with a hunting rifle.  One shot in the head and a critical hit because I was hiding.  Oh the happiness of this bunny!  That just about makes up for the game letting me get stuck on a shelving unit after I spent the last hour clearing the place out.

Lost Odyssey Playthrough

I’ve just deleted my Lost Odyssey save files from my Xbox 360 (which, as I’ve just found out, you can do without deleting your gamerscore achievements) and I’m about to play through again. Let’s see how far I get…

I’m off uni until the 1st of Feb and nothing to worry about apart from a German exam on Monday so I’ve got plenty of time for gaming. I love academic holidays.

I’ll also take some notes on bits that I think are particularly difficult or interesting. I know there are already a lot of walkthroughs out there but I don’t suppose it can hurt.

+/-

I’d forgotten how much I love the music in this game. The piece played during the title screen is beautiful. I’d also forgotten about the rather explosive video that plays if you don’t press start. There’s some stuff in there that I can’t wait to see now – I’m sure I saw a dragon!

My God that first FMV is amazing. The atmosphere created in this game is what marks it out from others, I think.

I’m already being annoyed by that bit of Kaim’s hair though and I’ve only made it through the very first battle.

I don’t know about anyone else but I do always feel very emotionally moved by the beginning of this game; I feel the horror of the battle as the inferior but clearly ‘good’ army is slaughtered by the black-clad giants that stand in front of them; I feel wonder and hope when I see the magicians raising fallen soldiers from the dead as they are carried forward onto the battlefield in their staff-like towers; I revel in the speed and agility of our hero when we first see him in the thick of the battle; I panic when I see fire raining down from the sky.

EDIT: Well it’s 10 hours since I started my playthrough and I’ve only clocked up about 20 minutes of gameplay because life got in the way and I had to turn the console off twice. I also spent a fair bit of time trying to figure out how to play Linkin Park’s ‘What I’ve Done’ from this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxgAccoOD8o

As you’ll see below though, I HAVE begun writing a walkthrough. (That should make getting back up to where I was a tad easier!)

EDIT the next day: I’ve started again right from the beginning so that I can check my walkthrough for the first part of the game, and also for the joys of seeing the first FMV again. I’ve decided that my favourite bit is Kaim’s final running kick which knocks over about a dozen Khent warriors like dominoes.

Watching Kaim swagger to the back of the armoured car has just really reminded me of the Prince of Persia.

EDIT an hour later: I’m glad I checked because I’d missed a pilferable item – Wind Seal Leaf.

-*-*-*-

THE WALKTHROUGH

Your first battle may look daunting as your entire screen is filled with enemies (reminiscent of Final Fantasy X’s introductory battles at all?) but don’t worry: all you have to do is attack for a few turns and then the fight will be interrupted by a cutscene. This next battle is more difficult and requires some strategy rather than just selecting ‘Attack’ over and over again. Attack the Right Tank Unit and you should do (around?) 55 damage. You’ll see that the right unit’s defense system has been activated, meaning that you’re about to be hit with a Magma Blast. This might make you think you’ve done the wrong thing but you haven’t. Now switch to the Left Tank Unit for your next attack and you should do a similar amount of damage. The Right Tank Unit’s defense system will be deactivated and the left one activated. From now on, just keep alternating your attacks and you’ll soon make mince meat of the machine. (You’ll know if you’ve got it wrong because you’ll do single-figure damage. In that case, swap to the other tank.) You’ll take a bit of a pummelling in this battle but it’s nothing that Kaim can’t handle. If it turns out that he can’t handle it and he falls in battle, he’ll be quickly resurrected by those handy mages you saw earlier so you don’t even have to worry about healing.

After the battle you’ll be treated to another fairly monumental scene before you regain control of the game.

Save at the orange save point if you wish. Run forward a short way, taking care not to step on any glowing veins of lava as these will reduce your health, and you will initiate your first battle. Just attack each soldier in turn and they will go down without much of a fight. Follow your map north if you have it on, and ram the machine wreckage that is blocking your path to open up a new way. After that Kaim (your hero) will automatically pick up a bruiser ring. The ring will be automatically equipped, whether or not you view the tutorial. There is also a rammable machine part to the right of the one I’ve directed you to (before you cross your newly-made bridge) which gives you Healing Medicine.

Rings

Rings enhance the amount or type of damage you do when you perform a physical attack but the effect is not automatic. Once you have equipped a ring by going to ‘Equip’ in your Y menu, you are able to benefit from it in battle. Just hold the right trigger as your character rushes forward to attack the enemy and release it so that your shrinking circle overlaps the one you’re given on-screen. If you get a good, excellent or perfect the effect of the ring you have equipped will be added to your attack. Bear in mind that this is a double-edged sword. While base damage increases from rings like the Bruiser are going to help you take down any enemy in the game, an elemental ring can blunt or even reverse the damage you do to an enemy of the same element e.g. using the trigger against a water-elemental fish enemy while equipped with an aqua ring will do little or no damage, or even heal it.

Bruiser Ring – Damage Up Lv 1 – Slightly increases attack damage.

You should notice a dramatic difference in the amount of damage you do in your next battle, even if you can only get ‘good’s by pulling the trigger. It does take a bit of practice so don’t worry if you have trouble lining up the two rings at first.

Continue north, still watching out for the lava, and ram another machine on your right to obtain an Angel’s Plume. There’s another one slightly further north on the right hand side which gives you a Mana Herb. From where you stand to ram this machine carcass you should be able to see a flashing light on the left hand side of the screen. Go to it and pick up the Name Plate which will be useful slightly later.

Carry on north on the new screen and keep an eye out for burnt wooden boxes. You should find a Healing Medicine and a Mana Herb on this screen – just run over the boxes. On the next screen, save if you wish (there is another box containing Healing Medicine behind the save point) and then run forwards for a cutscene. Afterwards, be sure to retrace your steps and grab the items from the boxes that you see in the scene; there are 4 Whetstones in the chest on your left which trigger the Ring Assembly tutorial; an Angel’s Plume in the chest on your right; and Healing Medicine and a Mana Herb if you take the path back south to where you triggered the scene. Then speak to the soldiers and nurses if you wish and run to the back of the screen to board the transport home.

Ring Assembly

If you chose not to view the tutorial on ring assembly then here’s a simple explanation of how it works. You assemble new rings using components that you find in treasure boxes, or steal or receive from enemies you battle. Open your Y menu and go to ‘Ring Assembly’ to view a list of ‘formulas’ that you currently have. The ring will be dark grey if you don’t have the right components and light grey if you do. If you do have the components you can select the ring using A and create it. More possibilities will open up to you as you find the relevant components.

Speak to the other passengers if you wish. If you walk to the back you will trigger another cutscene. This person looks slightly less like your everyday soldier, do they not? Now off you go to the council meeting, pilfering all the way. The three canisters ((?) they look like bins to me) on your screen when you regain control of your character can be kicked to reveal hidden items. They contain a Whetstone, 10G and a Magma Fragment. Do not go through the door. Instead, head back along the path (the fourth canister contains a Mana Herb) and to the south. You can climb the ladder of the observation tower on the left hand side of the screen to get a Seed out of another canister and also a rather good view of the sky if you choose to look up at it. Since you can’t leave this area yet, indicated by the blue line across the path, you should go back to where you started and go through the door.

Inside is the lift that you have to take to get to your meeting with the council. There is also a cargo lift if you run around the back of the central lift which will allow you to get to a new area later (I haven’t managed to figure this out on previous playthroughs so I might need some help when we come to it later). At this point in the game you can only take the cargo lift up two floors before you come to a dead end so there’s nothing to be gained by using it. At the base of the central lift there’s a member of staff who’ll tell you that one of the soldiers lost his hat on the lift. If you’ve got good eyes you’ll be able to see the yellow helmet stuck in the framework when you take the lift up. When you regain control of Kaim, run back to the lift and ram the girder when you get to the bottom. Pick up the soldier’s helmet after it drops to the ground and Smiling Colen will come and give you an Antidote Brooch as a reward.

You can equip Kaim with your new accessory if you wish. You’ll notice that it comes with the Anti-Poison enhancement which ‘grants immunity to poison’. You might also notice that it has a bar labelled SP which is currently at 0/20. This shows Kaim’s progress in learning the skill. SP is earned by making it out of battle in one piece but as you’re stuck following the storyline for now so learning skills will have to wait.

Take the lift back up and follow the guards into The Great Gate Station. There are more items to be found here; a poster can be peeled back from the wall on your left to reveal an Antidote; another poster on the left hand wall once you’ve gone up the stairs is hiding 100G; one on the right-hand wall directly opposite that will give you 10G; and two posters at the back, near the guards, will give you Healing Medicine and your second Seed. If you’re having trouble spotting the posters then remember that you can zoom in by holding the right trigger and pan using the right stick to improve your view. The posters you’re interested in will flap in the breeze and Kaim will turn his head towards them. With your pockets significantly fuller than before you can board the monorail to progress the story. Enjoy the scene that plays when you take your seat at the back of the cab. (There goes that lovely music again! I’ve also just noticed how much I like the outfits in this game – the young woman who gets off the monorail in front of Kaim has a great look.)

After the council cutscene, look for the flashing light below the benches in the middle of your screen. This is the key item ‘Engraved Ring’ which you’ll see the significance of when you head downstairs. Remember to raid the ‘bin’ outside the lift before you use it and you’ll get a Cold Water Stone.

Use the save point when you leave the lift if you wish, then nip over to the information desk on the left hand side of the screen to receive a Cure-All as a reward for another noble deed. (You’ll be rescuing cats from up trees next.) The flapping poster at the top of the desk hides a Mana Herb. I think that’s your lot for now, unless you want to stand by the save point and turn your volume up to listen to the Uhran news service, so head out of the exit on the right.

Out on the streets you’re looking for small black item containers which look like pyramids from a distance and space-age boilers up close. The first is at the end of the lady’s bench in the raised seating area and will give you another Seed; the second is above that, at the west end of the row of shops and contains 2 Whetstones; the third is further along the shop walk, right after you have to circumnavigate a palm tree and yields an Angel’s Plume. There is another flapping poster in the group on the wall before the stairs. Pull it back for your fourth Seed. Carry on to the next screen, checking the poster on the girder between the citizen and the guards en route to find a Wind Seal Leaf, and you’ll be escorted the rest of the way through the city to the Council Hall.

Does anyone else think that Gongora’s excuse of ‘I could tell you about the spell but the knowledge might kill you’ is a bit suspicious? Also, if ‘death is determined by fate’ and one ‘cannot fight it’…why does Roxian decide NOT to take the chance that he might die? I don’t think I should get into the philosophy actually, it might hurt my brain. So…is it just the roomy robes or are all the men in this except Kaim built like brick outhouses?

If you wish to use it there’s another save point at the back of the screen when you regain control of Kaim. That’s the only thing of interest on this screen so leave it to the west. There’s another container on the left, just past the pair of conversing men, which will give you a Magma Fragment. Carry on along the path. There’s another flapping poster on the arch which will give you your fifth Seed. You might notice two bins in an alcove next to the gate but you can’t get to them with that fence in the way. There’s a poster on each side of the stairs as soon as you pass under the arch which will give you Healing Medicine and an Antidote. Go down the alley on your left to access another flapping poster which will give you 10G and a small gold pot which yields 2 Whetstones when probed.

The door on the left just above the alley leads you into the local tavern. There’s a gold pot on the right as soon as you step through the door which you can rummage through for 100G. And one either side of the pillar upstairs which give you an Aqua Bomb and another Seed. When you leave the tavern there’s another black container on the left of the screen, just past a bed of palm tress, which has a Mana Herb inside it. There’s a shop on your right but it’s not much use to you because the merchant is away. If only the developers had given us the option of a five finger discount… Well, the building above the shop is the inn that you were told about. So, pick up the Seed hidden next to the television in the street and then go into the inn. Speak to the innkeeper and Kaim will go upstairs for his night’s sleep.

Poor Kaim. That wasn’t a very restful sleep. The animators did a fantastic job on his facial expressions when he awakes though. You have just unlocked your first dream sequence, ‘Hanna’s Departure’, which you can view by pressing A, or decide not to view by pressing B.

Back to the game. There’s nothing in your room or in the next room along the corridor, but there are items in the two rooms at the corridor’s end. There’s a guestbook on the shelf in the room on the left if you want to read it as well as 100G which somebody left in the cabinet. The room on the right has a ‘street map’ which gives you information about Uhra, an Angel’s Plume in the cabinet and the Holy Knight Charm accessory in the chest between the beds. As you head downstairs you’ll find another Seed in the pot on the landing and an Antidote under the stairs. Use the savepoint in the foreground if you wish then go talk to the owner. Doesn’t that little bit about the items around the hotel being ‘compliments of the house’ take the edge off your skilful pilfering?