General Help Guide and Walkthrough for Kagero (Deception 2)
by Zhou Tai An - kain@pacific.net.sg - Version 1.0
This FAQ and all it's contents copyright Zhou Tai An. Wanna use it for
anything? Give me a quick mail and I'll be sure to authorize usage for
worthy causes.
Hmmm. Second FAQ for an English game. Looks like I'm setting a precedent for
myself here. ^_^ (The market's been getting more US-friendly these days it
seems...)
******
General Tips :
1. Be aware of everything. The layout of the rooms, the charge times of
your traps, the enemies' movement patterns, how Millenia moves - as much and
as many of the aspects of the game that you can. I'll be going into more
detail for most of these later anyway.
2. Familiarize yourself with the terrain of the area you're fighting in. In
the initial stages of the game that will be the mansion, later, the castle
and the shrine. Know also that letting your enemy enter the altar room when
you're not occupying it will spell instant death for you as they will set
off the bomb in the altar. In the shrine dungeon, as Yocal warns you, don't
let anyone enter the TDM sanctuary or the story will take a turn for the
worse.
3. You're faster than the enemy. Know this and use it well. With the
exception of quick classes like Thieves, Shadows and Ninja, no one in the
game equals Millenia's walking speed.
4. Don't get hit by your own traps. This may sound stupid but is not -
blindly setting off traps wil get you nowhere, especially when you may be an
inadvertent target. In rare cases, it's worth it using a large bomb when your
quarry is near; you'll get hurt but you ensure they do too. On the same note;
know where the castle traps are and don't wander into them either.
******
Traps :
This is the only means of damaging the enemies in the game (besides the other
random effect traps scattered throughout the various dungeons) so a thorough
knowledge of their placement and usage is essential. Here are some tips :
1. Traps are divided into different categories -
Falling Objects (Vases, Rocks, the Basin) : Rocks are your main high-damage
weapon of choice, whereas Vases tend to be enemy-irritants or traps that you
use to set up bigger combos. Some notable traps of these varieties include
the Spike Rock (good damage, same charge time as Mega Rock) and the Lava Vase
(does decent damage for a short charge time). I personally never use the
higher level Rocks (Flare, for example) because they require far too much
Ark to obtain. The Oil Vase is worthy of notice as detonating an explosive
Bomb or using a Fire Arrow will set it's victim on fire, dealing additional
damage.
Gases (Slow, Berserk, Evil) : The main advantage of using Gases is probably
their large area of effect when compared to the other single-space traps.
Personally, I don't rely on them too much (I'm a direct damage player, not
a harasser) but Heat Breath is my Gas of choice - does great damage and once
activated successfully prevents its victim from moving out of the area of
effect. Berserk is also moderately useful as it does cause poisoning.
Bombs (Flash, Small, Blast) : Good damage, and the more powerful ones such
as Hellfire really pack a wallop. Choices? Blast Bomb, undoubtedly -
excellent combo potential and damage with wide blast radius and good charge
time. Small Bomb has the shortest charge time of any trap in the game, which
makes it the ideal choice for finishing off a wounded foe.
Floors (Spring, Magnet, Vacuum) : Haven't really experimented with these
much, but in my limited experience Spring is good for throwing enemies into
the path of other castle traps so you can set up a quick triple combo - you
did remember to have an Arrow lined up at the other side of the wall didn't
you?
Walls (Attack, Press) : As with Floors, don't use them often - their short
(2 squares average) distance makes Arrows a much better choice IMHO.
Arrows (Slit, Flame, Triple) : Great multi-purpose harrowers - against the
more powerful foes Fireball and Laser Arrow will have to be used though,
because normal Chain Needles and Arrow Slits will bounce right off. Chain
Needle is a great mage-killer and Fireball travels up and down stairs - both
are excellent additions to your trap arsenal.
2. Set your traps up in patterns to seal of as much of the room as possible
and for combo potential. A good practice is to place area effect traps at
whatever doorways the room has and an Arrow type trap in the middle - this
combination ensures that your enemy has a hard time getting to you. If
enemies are chasing you, however, then shift your pattern to placing as
many traps as possible in their path, comboing if possible. Another effective
strategy is putting powerful traps like Iron Balls in areas which you KNOW
the enemy will travel through - doors, narrow corridors, bridges etc.
Generally speaking :
Doors - Rocks, Gases, Arrows (effective for those pesky enemies who won't
run into the room to fight you - just place a Chain Needle at the other side
and watch them become walking pincushions.)
Open Areas - Area-effect weapons, Arrows to cordon off sections.
Corridors, narrow strairs - Arrows.
Stairs - Area effect weapons. Be careful about setting Arrow weapons near
any stairs since the railing will usually deflect the shots.
Water - Spark Rods and the like. Don't be in the water when you set the
trap off. ^_^
3. It's also possible to head off enemies in a single room and not make them
chase you - of course, you'll always want them chasing you so you can watch
them die horrible, messy deaths and you and your traps' hands, but sometimes
(as when you're defending a key area) it's not possible. In that case, instead
of blocking exits, section off key areas in a given room with traps chosen
carefully by enemy. For example, if fighting a Chemist and Fighter, you'll
want an area-effect weapon to catch the rushing Fighter and a well-placed
Arrow one to get the slow-moving Chemist. Learn to adapt to different patterns
and room structures.
4. Enemies will usually chase you. Make use of this fact. Place traps in front
of them and watch them dash unsuspectingly into their doom! Against magic-users
this is not as effective - simply place an Arrow weapon right in their paths.
5. Research only the traps that you need. In the beginning of the game, my
recommendation is to go straight for Spike Rock (damage), Chain Needle
(sectioning off multi-hit, mage killer), Heat Breath (all-purpose) and
Blast Bomb (general badass weapon) then develop for the rest later. Pick
the traps that suit your playing style and ignore the rest. This is important
as good traps will ensure that you take no damage - thereby allowing you
to get the No Damage Bonus and a hefty amount of Ark.
6. Look. No, I mean it. It's a very risky proposition indeed to try setting
off traps when you have no clear line of sight to the enemy - no matter
how sure you are that your trap will score, look first. Use the L1 button
for a high view of things and the R1 for a quick about-face turn. If you're
being attacked from all sides and can't do either, you can resort to using
the trap view subscreen to see where your enemies are.
7. Some enemies will not chase you (see point 4 above) - the magic-using
ones. In that case, place an area-effect trap next to them and run in circles
so that they stay in the same position; when the trap has finishing charging
let'em have it.
******
Enemies :
1. Know your enemies.
Fighters and Knights will rush at you to strike with their weapons. Sucker
these guys into Bombs, though anything works. Some Fighters have wicked
flying kicks which they can use to get you from behind, so watch out -
certain Fighters also shrug off Arrows and weak Bombs.
Heavy-hitters like Crushers and Sentinels generally shrug off Arrows and
light weapons easily enough, so Bombs are good. (Sentinels actually fling
entire Spike Rocks away!) However, they are stupid enough to rush blindly
into almost anything - use that to your advantage. Shoguns also fall into
this category, but NEVER let them get their bearings or a straight line of
sight on you - they will unleash a deadly rushing slash that can cover more
than half the screen, in addition to being immune to many traps.
Psychos and Thieves will leap to strike you, so take that into consideration
when planning your strategy. Thieves, along with Ninja, often disappear, so
be careful...I find that luring them into Arrows as well as using slowing
devices (Magnet, Slow Gas, Bear Trap) work well. Shadows are major pains -
they don't even show up on your map! They will, however, appear close to any
other characters, so take down their allies and than catch them with a Bomb
when they rise from the floor.
Hunters will alternate thrown weapons with sword swipes. Don't get too close;
these ladies can be fast when needed. Arrows and other long-distance weapons
should be effective enough.
Voodoos (and all the other magic-using classes) will fling spells at you from
afar - also, they can heal simply by walking around and also possess the
ability to heal their allies. For this reason, killing mage-type enemies at one shot is far preferable to dragging the fight
out - if you leave to dispose of other foes, they will return with full life
at a later date. Worse still, they've bring their friends. Because of their
slow movement speed I like fast Arrows when dealing with these guys. Of all
the mage classes, the Pyromaniac and Magician attacks are the most difficult
to evade - get as far as you can from both of them when dealing damage,
because the triple fireball of the former is hell to duck and the latter's
lighting, impossible.
Chemists and Bombers are easy enough - even their long-range weapons are
slow and give you plenty of reaction time. Sucker them into whatever you
think is good.
Clones suck - one blast from them and you go flying, usually not getting up
in time to avoid the next. Careful with these fellows - I advise Bombs and
choice Gases. Stay far away, and be especially wary of the final teleport to
your side they use as a last resort.
Drones are DAMN HARD. Besides being resitant to just about everything (and
having a high defense as well) Gahoda has a homing fire blast (avoidable;
see point 4 below) but Gordis has an eyebeam which can't miss. Stay far
away and use their limited movement speed to lure them into room after
Spike-Rock filled room.
TDM characters, despite how powerful they're supposed to be, are actually
rather weak - the only thing you really have to watch out for is their
quick and constant regeneration. Otherwise, just nail them with whatever
presents itself - it's that easy.
I'll go into the specialist character classes (Keith's Slasher etc) in the
walkthrough itself.
2. Certain enemies have built-in invulnerabilites to various traps - the Bomber
is immune to Gas and Bombs, certain Knights will shrug off Arrows and weak
Bombs easily, Crushers take pitiful damage from Arrows, and Drones are
resistant to practically everything. By the same token, certain traps are
deadly to certain enemies - all mages take major damage from Arrows and
Rocks, for example. Keep all this in mind when selecting traps for the next
mission.
3. When an enemy appears that wasn't in the Enemy Data during the intermission
screen, you can always re-select that option in the Triangle Button submenu
to get the skinny on them.
4. To avoid distance attacks such as arrows, magical blasts etc, run. Not
straight backwards, but in a sideways direction the moment you see the
attacker readying his\her shot. You can even evade the homing fire of Drones
this way (not their eyebeam though) as long as you're far away enough.
5. Note that all enemies will begin to stagger and move extremely slowly once
their life has been reduced to a low enough level. Take this opportunity to
finish them off from a distance with a well-placed, quick-charged trap. Why
distance? Because even a weakened foe still attacks with the same speed
he\she possessed when at full health - in the case of the Shogun's speed chop
or the Psycho's leap this can be deadly. (And don't forget that mage
characters can restore life...)
******
That's basically it for the tips and intro section. Now for the walkthrough.
Note : I don't know for certain how particular actions, yes\no answers and
such will affect the storyline - for the most part I'm just guessing, but I'll
tell you when I'm sure. I'm hoping some kind readers out there will play the
game long enough to fill me in on the details anyway. ^_^
Chapter 1 :
Listen to Yocal's explanations of trap-setting if you want; it's not
important.
This is an easy mission. Go find Daar and drop a rock on his head - he won't
move. If you want you can let him go.
(Still under research - don't know the significance of the questions yet.)
Chapter 2 :
Slash comes to the mansion - with Daar if he's alive or with Livia if he's
not. Kill them all. Easy pickings. (You should take the opportunities
presented to you in the first few easy scenarios to score as many No Damage
Bonuses as possible, thereby racking up the Ark needed to survive in later
missions.)
Chapter 3 :
Gastone and Hawk venture intrepidly into the haunted mansion - to die at your
hand of course. Yet another easy mission.
Chapter 6 :
For this and quite a few later missions, letting an enemy get to the altar
without you being in the same room will kill all of you as the unsuspecting
thief sets off the hidden bomb there. Be wary of this and head off any
enemies who get too close to the room for comfort.
Chapter 13 : Small Sacrifice
As far as I know this is one of the (if not the) deciding chapter in the
game. Depending on whether you kill Emelia or not you will go down the 1)
human or 2) Timenoid path. I still don't know to what extent (if at all) your
previous answers questions affect this.
The enemies are your standard fare - look sharp and be liberal with trap use.
Chapter 20 : Timenoid Shadows
As far as I know this chapter remains essentially the same whether or not
you allow news of the grail to be leaked to Keith. Lure Gadoha and then
Gordis to death using Rocks and other high-powered traps such as Fireball etc
- as the Enemy Data screen says, they can't be hurt by normal attacks. I
suspect killing Vogues first and then Gadoha prevents Gordis from appearing
but I can't be sure.
Chapter 23 : Torn Thoughts
Ramda will use a final teleport to do you some damage, so get ready to move
once you see his life go down. (Alternatively, finish him off with a large
attack so he doesn't get to use it.) Sigma is easy enough, but be careful of
the Shadow who will also appear to attack you.
Chapter 26 : Eve of Destruction
If you've got this far, you don't need me helping you - about the only piece
of concrete advice I have is to take down Loongear ASAP; he heals more rapidly
and better than any other healer in the game. Also, DO NOT CLOSE ON DUSK -
he will FRY you with multiple blasts of purple lighting if you let him. Near
to the end of the stage, any other characters and he will close on you from
two sides. Don't let them or you'll be sorry.
The King is surprisingly easy; although he shrugs of Rocks without any
difficulty, most other attacks will hurt him. Be careful of his regeneration
rate and powerful attacks (the orb in particular) and you should be more than
okay.
******
Endings
So far I've only managed to get one ending, dubbed Ending 4. I'll be
replaying the game to get the rest, so stay tuned (of course, any help in this
endeavour is greatly appreciated - I have lots of schoolwork to do in
addition.)
