Blue Seed (Japanese Sega Saturn) FAQ Version 0.1
Author : Andy Combs
Contributors:
(None, yet)
Contents:
0: Introduction
1: Who are the characters?
2: Tips on playing the game:
2.1: Types of Cards:
2.1.1: Identifying them by picture:
2.1.2: Descriptions of specific cards:
2.2: How does combat work?
2.2.1: Generalities:
2.2.2: Combat Order:
2.2.3: Calculating Damage:
2.3: Dungeon Features
2.4: Character special abilities:
2.5 NDC Building Tips:
3: Help on specific missions:
4: Combo Attacks
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0: Introduction
This FAQ is intended for people who have gotten their hands on imported
copies of the Blue Seed Saturn game, but know little or no Japanese,
thus making playing of this game difficult.
Much of this information is likely available in the rule-book, or
obvious when playing the game, given that Japanese is known. But that's
not who this is aimed at, as those people can get the information already.
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1: Who are the characters?
(All data comes from the associated Japanese animation of the same name...)
1.1: The Princess Kushinada
The Blood of Kushinada is a power that passes from mother to daughter
upon birth of the firstborn daughter. Legend says that the first
Kushinada was created when the god Susano slew the eight headed dragon,
Yamatano Orochi and then claimed for his wife a young goddess who was to
have been sacrificed to the dragon. From this union sprang the
bloodline of the Princess Kushinada.
Whether the Kushinada does indeed descend from gods isn't known, but
the fact of the power of the Blood of Kushinada cannot be denied. For
ages, the power of the Blood of Kushinada kept the Aragami asleep, until
something happened 15 years ago that was unprecedented. Unto the
Kushinada was born not one daughter, but two. Twins, who split the
power of the Kushinada between them, bringing the power in contest with
itself, and thus freeing the Aragami from their sleep.
Not only did the Blood of Kushinada keep the Aragami asleep, it also
holds the power to destroy them. If the Kushinada is killed, an energy
pulse will be released that will destroy the Aragami once and for all.
But with the power of the Kushinada split, would the Kushinada Pulse
work like expected? And with the Kushinada being an energetic young
girl of 15, could she be brought to sacrifice at all?
1.2: The Aragami
Plant based monsters. They have been around for ages, but have been
kept asleep for the most part by the power of the Kushinada. They
began to awaken 15 years ago when twins were born to the Kushinada.
Myriad in size, form, and power, the Aragami hold one thing in common
amoung them. Each and every one has a Mita, or Blue Seed, that is the
core of it's being. This is it's soul. The focus through which it
exists.
1.3: NDC (Kakudo Kanritsu (sp?))
Japanese government organization charged with combating the Aragami.
They have a very small active budget, really only a small office and
personel, but they appear to have the authority to commandeer just about
any equipment/personel needed to handle specific situations. Most of
the cast are members of this organization.
1.4: Kaede Fujimiya
Not present in the game, but important for setting up the story.
When twins were born to the Kushinada, one was raised to the role
as the Kushinada, while the other was raised in secret. Kaede was
raised to be Kushinada. Fostered out to the head of the NDC, she
has been fighting Aragami for a few years now.
At the start of the TV series, Kaede vanishes in a burst of light,
presumed dead. But no Kushinada Pulse was released to destroy the
Aragami. And soon the Aragami begin to figure out that there's a
second Kushinada out there... somewhere...
1.5: Momiji Fujimiya
(Main character. Long brown hair tied in the back with a ribbon.)
Momiji was raised as a fairly normal schoolgirl from rural Japan.
Unfortunately it turns out she's anything but normal. She finds out
that she is actually the second Princess Kushinada, descended from gods,
and with great power in her blood.
Shortly after discovering she is the Kushinada, she is attacked by an
Aragami who seeks to destroy her within a Ceramic Field, where the
Kushinada Pulse of her death will be contained, harmlessly. In the
course of these events she is rescued, the Aragami almost destroyed, and
her rescuer, Mamoru Kusanagi, badly injured. The Aragami, seeking
revenge on Kusanagi, tries to spear him with it's Mita. But Momiji
steps in the way, and is impaled instead. Knowing that her death would
kill all the rest (not to mention it itself), the Aragami sacrifices
itself to repair the damage to Momiji. The end result was that Momiji
ended up with the Mita embedded in her chest and tied into her nervous
system. Momiji theoretically could access the full power of the Aragami
who's Mita she now possesses, but can at the moment only access a
fraction of that power. Note that since the Aragami was one of the
heads of the Orochi dragon, that's a lot of potential power.
[Ref: TV eps. #1 & #2]
1.6: Mamoru Kusanagi
(Trench coat, cat eyes, green/black hair.)
As a child, his parents were slain by the Orochi dragon, and he was
bestowed the Mita of seven of it's heads, and placing a Geas on him to
protect the Kushinada from any humans who might decide to sacrifice her.
He watched Kaede grow up, acting like a guardian angel for her, and
protecting her through life, growing to love her as time went by. Then
Kaede vanished in a burst of light, presumed dead, and Kusanagi
discovers that there is a second Kushinada. At first Kusanagi wants to
kill Momiji, to free himself from painful life and the Geas, but finds
he cannot do so, due to Momiji's similarities to Kaede. And so Kusanagi
resumes his role as protector of the Kushinada, but now to Momiji, not
Kaede.
*** The rest of these are *very* sketchy. Any help filling in details
*** on these people is appreciated.
1.7: Daitetsu Kunikida
(The guy at the head desk.)
Head of the NDC. Raised Kaede. Assumes responsibility for Momiji.
Exudes an aura of "cool". (or at least he thinks he does)
Known to tell very bad jokes and puns. (His "Stat Breaker" animation
has him telling one of several jokes, to the monster's detriment. :)
1.8: Ryoko Takeuchi
(Woman with hair constantly covering 1/2 face)
Second in command of NDC. Ex-police officer.
1.9: Koume Sawaguchi
(Woman in pink overalls)
Trigger-happy heavy weapons specialist for NDC.
(Nicknamed Sailor Boom by friends of mine, as she is voiced by Mitsuishi
Kotono, the same person who voices Sailor Moon.)
1.10: Sakura Yamazaki
(Blond, Coke-bottle glasses, often purched on top of her head.)
Sorceress. Flamboyant. Uses lots of English tossed into her Japanese.
Freelance mercenary, not actually a member of NDC.
Goes into "Turbo-Slut" mode at times, but how much of that is real and
how much for show... ?
Has designs on Kusanagi. He's handsome and powerful, exactly to her
taste. So what if he's not quite human... or if he's already spoken
for...
1.11: Yoshiki Yaegashi
(Computer geek.)
Computer specialist/scientist. Plays adult games on his computer. Has
several panty-shots of Momiji. Running gag that he almost never gets
addressed with an honorific.
1.12: Azusa Matsudaira
Bio-scientist. Mother.
1.13: Sugishita Shun'ichi
Takeuchi's ex-lover. Police liaison to NDC.
1.14: Kasumi ?
(Red-head with telekinetic powers)
Not present in animation, so I have few details on who she actually is.
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2: Tips on playing the game:
2.1: Types of Cards:
2.1.1: Identifying them by picture:
Characters Monsters
---------- --------
Offense/Defense:
Attack: Single Sword Single Claw
Shield: Shield Monster Shield
Stat boosters and breakers:
Str Boost: Crossed swords, red backed Single Claw, red backed
Str Breaker: Single Claw, blue backed Single sword, blue backed
Def Boost: Shield w/lightning Monster shield w/lightning
Def Breaker: Monster shield broken Shield shattered
Agi Boost: Bird w/light beam Bat w/dark beam
Agi Breaker: Turtle Turtle
Special Cards:
Multi-attack: N/A Fireball
Card Breaker: Grey Card cut in two Grey card cut in two
Group Str Boost:Gold backed Sword N/A
Group Def Boost:Gold backed Shield N/A
Invulnerability:Gold backed Body in forcefield N/A
Power Shot: Gold backed, white figure, one arm up, sun at top.
Death: Hand holding red skull N/A
2.1.2: Descriptions of specific cards:
2.1.2.1: Attack:
Attack the enemy. Attack multiplier is determined by the number
of cards tossed at one time:
# cards Attack Multiplier
------- -----------------
1 *1
2 *2
3 *4
4 *6
5 *8
2.1.2.2: Shield:
Defend from enemy attacks. Each Shield thrown counters one Attack from
the enemy.
2.1.2.3: Normal stat booster cards:
Strength + and Defense + increase the stat by 2 points. Agility +
increases agility by one point. Increased stats are marked by a little
icon of the card that caused the increase.
2.1.2.4: Normal stat breakers:
Attempts to remove an increased stat. Small chance of failure. If
successful the points for the increased stat are removed at once. Has
no effect on the base, non-augmented stats for an enemy.
2.1.2.5: Card Breakers:
Often drawn by Momiji and Kasumi on round two of combat. Attempts to
break all selected cards of the enemy that have not been thrown yet.
When it activates, all cards the opponent has selected to throw, but
not yet thrown, are destroyed unplayed.
2.1.2.6: Multi-shot:
When thrown with another attack, allows the other attack to strike all
heros, not just one. When more than one Multi-shot is thrown at once,
the second (third, etc.) act just like normal Attack cards. I.e., two
Multi-Attacks is the same as a Multi-Attack and a normal Attack.
2.1.2.7: Group Strength Boost:
Gives 4 additional points of Strength to every character. This increase
is un-breakable by stat breakers, but goes away after the next time the
character throws an Attack, including Power Shot.
2.1.2.8: Group Defense Boost:
Gives 4 additional points of Defense to every character. This increase
is un-breakable by stat breakers, but goes away after the next time the
character is attacked.
2.1.2.9: Invulnerability:
Acts like a Shield card, except that the character who throws this is
*totally* invulnerable to attacks for the round in which it is thrown.
2.1.2.10: Power Shot:
Gives the characters a 10 point boost to Strength, then fires off a
single attack. Note that this attack is executed separately from any
other Attack cards played in the same round, and the Strength boost is
only for the Power Shot itself.
2.1.2.11: Death:
** What does the Japanese name of this card translate as?
Have only seen Momiji draw this one. The ultimate card. These are the
effects that I have been able to determine:
1) Acts like a Card Breaker on the turn thrown.
2) *All* the monster's stats, except Life, are dropped to zero when Death
is thrown.
3) All stats remain at 0 on the turn after it is thrown.
4) Starting on the following turn, the stats start returning, but only at a
rate of two points per turn!
Needless to say, the above effects are enough to criple any monster,
including boss monsters. The characters in essence get two or more turns
of free shots at the monster.
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2.2: How does combat work?
2.2.1: Generalities:
Try the combat simulator first. This FAQ will explain a few of the more
subtle things of the system, and assume that you have played with the
simulator at least a couple of times.
Note that most of these comments are assuming no combos are activated
(See 3.?)
2.2.2: Order Of Battle:
During a round of combat, the order in which actions are taken can be
predicted quite well in most but not all cases. First off, the cards
you throw will activate in action groups based on type. For each
character, attacks go off together, normal stat boosts all go together,
and stat breakers go off together. Specials generally do not group.
Shield cards group as well, and form a null-action group. (See below)
Watch the order of the cards when you choose them. Of the chosen cards,
the first action group selected (right-most in the line-up) will go
first, then the next group to the left, etc.
All characters get a chance to throw their first action group before
any throw their second. All of the second action groups are thrown
before before the third, etc.
Within a round, who throwns in what order is highly dependant on
Agility. Higher Agilities will generally throw their card groups before
lower Agilities, and characters with equal Agilities are difficult to
predict. If two characters have equal current Agility, but unequal base
(un-boosted) Agility, the higher base Agility seems to have a small edge
in the selection of order, maybe a 60%/40% edge in whether they go
first, but this isn't easily calculated for certain.
Note that it does occasionally happen that a lower Agility character
will throw before a higher Agility character, but this is rare.
Also, the order selection is only done once per round, so when throwing
the second action group within a round, characters will act in the same
order they acted when throwing the first action group.
Be careful with Shield cards. They actually count as an action group
for purposes of scheduling actions. A null-action group, with nothing
actually happening, but an action group none-the-less. Thus, if you
choose a Shield first, then an Attack, the Attack will not occur until
everyone is throwing their second action group. This can be used to
deliberately delay an Attack, (Such as when another character is
breaking the monster's Defense stat, and you wish to ensure the Attack
has less Defense to pass through), but can be annoying if done
unintentionally. (Invulnerability also forms a null-action group, BTW)
2.2.3: Calculating Damage:
There are four types of situations of calculating the amount of damage
done by an attack: Strength > Defense with unblocked Attacks,
Strength <= Defense, Strength > Defense with all attacks blocked, and
Combos.
2.2.3.1: Strength > Defense, unblocked Attacks
The attacker's Strength is greater than the defender's Defense, and at
least one Attack card was not blocked by a Shield card.
Count the number of unblocked attack cards, and refer to the table in
2.1.2.1 to get the combat multiplier.
Damage done is simply (Strength * Multiplier) - (Defense * Multiplier).
Ex: If Sawaguchi with a 5 Strength threw 3 Attacks at a monster with 2
Defense, and none were blocked, she would have a multiplier of 4 and do:
(5 * 4) - (2 * 4) = 12 damage.
2.2.3.2: Strength <= Defense
The Strength is equal to or less than the Defense.
If all attacks are blocked, I don't believe any damage is done in this
situation.
If there are unblocked Attacks, then there is a chance that the attacker
will nick through one times the combat multiple worth of damage. This
chance grows less and less the higher the Defense is compared to the
Strength. Exact percentage chance based on the difference between Str
and Def hasn't been determined.
2.2.3.3: Strength > Defense, all Attacks blocked
Defender may take (Strength - Defense) / 2 damage in this case, rounding
the damage down. So if Strength is only one point greater, no damage
nicks through. But if Strength is 6 points greater, the defender may
still takes 3 points of damage. Like the previous case, this damage is
not automatic, and may be avoided altogether at times.
2.2.3.4: Combos (Cruel Evil Damage)
I haven't been able to figure out how to calculate the damage from
combos, sorry. I suspect it may be different for each combo. For now,
let's just say combos do a *lot* of damage, but are also heavily
lessened by an enemy's Defense.
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2.3: Dungeon Features
2.3.1: The tri-crystal pillars are heal points. (First seen in Mission
3, I think) Step into the middle and push the Talk button to heal all
characters to full.
2.3.2: The single crystal pillars (fountain?), with the crystal base on
the ground, are Save points. Normally the game cannot be saved within a
dungeon, but when close to these, the save oftion is returned to the Save
menu.
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2.4: Character special abilities:
2.4.1: Stunners
Matsudaira, Takeuchi, and Kusanagi all have the ability to stun monsters,
allowing characters to briefly pass unmolested.
2.4.2: Scanners
Momiji and Kasumi can scan the nearby area and if there is an Aragami
within range, will show the "hole" cards for that Aragami. These are
the cards that that monster type will always start battles with in it's
hand.
2.4.3: Sailor Boom (Sawaguchi)
Sawaguchi can set out high explosives to blow open blocked passages.
2.4.4: Yaegashi
Yaegashi can scan for on screen hidden doors, secret passages, etc.
These can then be opened with the Talk key when adjacent.
2.4.5: Sakura
Creates a little monster that can be used to scout the current level
briefly. The monster is immune to the Aragami, but not other dangers,
and cannot climb ladders. Time still passes while scouting, and if an
Aragami comes across the party itself while the little monster is
scouting, the party will enter combat with the Aragami.
2.4.6: Kunikida
Tells jokes. No visable effect other than to make Momiji laugh. ^_^;;
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2.5 NDC Building Tips:
Check the various computers in the building as often as possible.
The left computer on the main office floor dispenses equipment
regularly. For every one of the seeds that you find scattered around
the game that you pick up, a piece of equipment will become available.
The lone computer on the next floor up gives something. (Card upgrades?)
** Need detailed explanation of this one.
The lone guy on the ground floor will tell you about the combos as you
earn them.
The computer just to the right of Kunikida is called the Trouble System,
and is a fast way to get to the map screen, and avoid walking all the
way down to the front door of the building.
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3: Help on specific missions:
Most missions can be completed by simply talking to everyone repeatedly,
until you can finally enter the dungeon. Some are a little more tricky...
This document is not intended as a walkthrough, so I'll mainly just cover
the trickier points.
3.1: Mission 1
No real surprises on this one. Simply talk to everyone until the cop in
the excavation site moves out of the way.
3.2: Mission 2
After talking to everyone, and beating the Samurai Show, and getting
both items from the showman, return to the waterfall overlook, and look
for a gate on the south fence of the overlook.
Note that you don't even have to enter the temple cortyard to complete
this mission.
3.3: Mission 3
One of the trickiest. Do the following steps first to gain access to the
zoo, then talk to all the vendors to get items...
1) Go to the zoo. Talk to all the guards at the entrances, from left to
right. Talk to the man standing with the third guard.
2) Talk to the man at the farthest right entrance.
3) Go to the street of shops. Talk to the fourth vendor from the left.
Select the top option when given a choice.
4) Return to the zoo and talk to the man in step 2 again. He should now
leave, clearing the way.
Note: Do not talk to *anyone* else during steps 2-4, or you will not
complete the needed actions correctly.
3.4: Mission 4
The phone-like item on the far right of the level in which Yageshi's
group starts is an ISDN connection. After linking in, current status
can be uploaded. (It's a Save Point)
3.5: Mission 5
When you reach the heart of the volcano, the idea in the room is to use
the "Push" command on the two blocks to move them into certain places.
The statues give the clues, in Japanese of course. But the key things
to know are these: Both blocks must be in the same spot on the different
grids to activeate a spot. They don't have to be 100% exactly on the
square, but there's not a huge amount of room for fudging it. To figure
out which spots, look for the three differences in the two pictures...
3.6: Mission 6
No notes...
3.7: Mission 7
The fight with Momiji *can* be won, but it is *very* difficult to do so.
It doesn't seem to change the overall storyline all that much whether you
beat her or not.
3.8: Mission 8
Kunikida and Takeuchi have in essence three days to solve this mission,
or they are arrested and the mission restarts.
Your basic goal is to open a safe in the hotel within that time.
You have four places to visit, the Train station, the Hotel, a row of
shops, and the Diet building (Japanese Congress).
Different things happen at each place whether it is day or night.
Time advances whenever you move from location to location. You can
visit four places each day, (Morning, Afternoon, Evening, and Night, I
assume), and need to do certain things in order in order to get into the
hotel room and crack the safe.
I did it once, but can't seem to repeat it. Can anyone give a timeline
for the needed actions?
*** This one is in serious need of exact instructions, just like Mission
*** #3 above.
3.9 Mission 9
Momiji and Co are cleaning out the NDC building. You need to find
various clues in the building in order to figure out the combination to
the lock on the main office. Basically, in addition to cleaning out the
monsters, examine everyone and everything on every floor of the
building, including the roof, in order to get the combination.
** Anyone know how to get at the Aragami behind the counter? It's not
** important to solving the mission, but it's annoying to see it there,
** and not be able to trash it. :)
3.10 Mission 10 or 11?
Mt. Fuji
Talk to everyone multiple times until the park ranger runs off.
Then, take a path behind where he was and locate the haunted tree to
talk to.
You can then force your way onto the military base.
Hint: Have Sawaguchi in the lead when running around the base. This is
one of the few spots outside of a dungeon where who is leading the party
is important.
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4: Combo Attacks
4.1: Where to find the ? that allow the combo attackes:
*** I'll build a list as I go through the game again...
4.2: Comments
One thing to note about combos, all the non-attack card in the combo
do still perform their normal functions when the combo goes off, and
seem to do them uncontested. Stat breakers automatically work, stat
boosters are put in place, and Shield cards still work as normal.
If the character has more Agility than is needed, then he/she can throw
additional cards. These do not disrupt the combo, and can be seen in
the set of cards that get tossed as the combo goes off. Whether these
extra cards add to the combo in any way (if extra Attacks) or if they
serve their normal uses (stat boosters/breakers, Shields) is unknown at
this time.
4.3: What are the combo attacks, and how many ? are needed for each:
# Character #1 - Cards Character #2 - Cards
5 Sawaguchi 3 * Attack Sakura 3 * Attack
Sailor Boom rides again!
7 Momiji 2 * Defense Boost Takeuchi 2 * Attack, 1 * Str Boost
The deadly Panty Shot
9 Sawaguchi Att, Shield, Str Brk Takeuchi Attack, Shield, Str Brk
Watch where you toss that thing!!
11 Sawaguchi 2 * Att, 1 * Str Brk Yaegashi 2 * Attack, 1 * Str Brk
Supply lines up and running.
13 ?
16 Matsudaira 2 * Attack Sawaguchi 2 * Attack, 1 * Shield
Sawaguchi, you're a bad influence.
19 Momiji 3 * Attack Kasumi 3 * Attack
So happy together...
22 ?
25 ?
--
Alexander (Andy the Android) Combs
android@texas.net
