Rakenzarn Tales Walkthrough (Kyuu's Route)

The game's official walkthrough for Version 3 whenever you're stuck at certain points in the game. You may add any additional information or alternate paths.

Beware as there are spoilers here, so if you wish not to be spoiled, don't read any further unless you're truly stuck.

Basic Controls

• Movement: Arrow keys
• Select/Action: Enter, Space, C
• Deselect/Menu: Esc, X

General Tips

• Check and double-check. You can find plenty of chests off the beaten path and some locations will even have new ones later in the game.
• Experiment with your party. Each one plays in their own way and has unique skills. Proper party composition will go a long way in boss fights.
• Consider seeds for your other party members. It might be tempting to give them all to Kyuu, but these can be useful to help the other survive. For example, HP-boosters for your mages and attack seeds for ones who could use a boost. Just make sure your choices makes sense and see which stats increase with level-ups to see if it's worth it. Check the level and stats guide for more info.
• Make sure Kyuu keeps learning skills, even if you don't plan on using them. Doing so will earn Kyuu stat boosts that will significantly improve his overall combat effectiveness.
• Many bosses have patterns or give away clues as to what they'll do next. Learning these is important to surviving.
• This is more of a general walkthrough for those who want to explore and figure things out on their own. For a more in-depth look at solving the game's puzzles, check the puzzle guide or visit the Downloads page for a full illustrated guide.
• Remember to take advantage of elemental weaknesses. They'll go a long way in wrapping up fights faster. For those who'd like to know what they are.
  • Fire > Wind > Earth > Water > Fire
  • Light > Dark > Thunder > Energy > Light

Chapter 0

Untold Prologue

The Real World After watching the introduction cutscenes, you can wander around and talk to the others if you'd like, but you need to enter the house to progress. After the cutscene, head upstairs and walk down the hall. Then head back downstairs and examine the telephone on the dresser. Then back upstairs and into the second room to progress. ??? You will find yourself in a dark space below a long staircase. Follow the stairs upward until you reach the top. Along the way, you will hear ominous voices. Further up, you'll come across several crystals blocking the stairway. Each one will ask you a different question. How you answer determines not only your starting Alignment, but also your starting attributes. Once you're at the top, watch the next cutscene and you'll be given your first choices. Talk to the two spirits (in form of lights) below you. Left Spirit: Stamina, Dexterity, Agility or Intelligence. Right Spirit: Stamina or Rune. Take your pick as each answer will give the corresponding stat a boost. After talking to both spirits, a magic circle should appear. Approach it. Afterwards, you'll be given another choice, this time choosing your first skills. Surrounding you are a series of crystals, each contains an element. Fire Ice Water Thunder Earth Wind Note: Depending on which element you choose here, you'll be given a different victory fanfare (such as Suikoden IV's fanfare and Tales of Vesperia's) Densel Town Welcome to Rakenzarn! You are at the very first town and you should be able to recognize some of the characters in this scene. You can wander around, talk to folks and learn what's up with this place and about things like classes and the situation. To progress the plot, head to the eastern district. After the cutscene, you'll engage into the first battle against three Gobs. This serves as your tutorial on the basics of the battle system. The battle is quite easy with Kite by your side. Kite's Tiger Claws skill can inflict damage to all Gobs, so use it. As for Kyuu, use any of the default skills that you've chosen in the beginning. It shouldn't be too difficult. That fight will end less than well for Kyuu, who goes flying into Dark Magician Girl and triggers another fight. Use Dark Magician Girl's skills to figure out the enemies elemental weaknesses and wear them down. Once the fight is finished, head back to Densel Town's entrance in the south. Watch the next scene and you'll engage in your very first boss fight with both new party members. Boss Battle 1: Pete, Wario, and Waluigi These guys can actually hit hard. Wario focuses on brute strength, Waluigi on magic, and Pete buffs their defenses. Fortunately, this is also the spot for the Soul Break tutorial, so you all have full SP. Fire off Kite and Dark Magician Girl's Soul Breaks to gain an early advantage. Dark Magician Girl is very useful in this fight; cast Breath of Ice on Waluigi and Rolling Thunder on Wario. As for Kyuu and Kite, focus on Pete. Do this right and you should be able to win. One last cutscene plays and you'll finish the prologue.

Chapter 1

A New Beginning

Densel Town Once the introductions are finished, you can explore more. You can leave town, but you'll be a bit underequipped and low on help to really get anywhere. Plod up north to the guild district and enter the far-left building. Take some time to explore the guild. You can go around asking everyone about themselves and the book, but there are two places you ultimately have to go to continue onward. First, enter the door in the northeast corner of the guild's living room to meet Piccolo. Next, you'll want to head upstairs. Enter the open door to meet a cloaked man who will ask you a few questions. When asked about why you're here, you'll experience the first of the game's Alignment choices. After both of those, head back toward the guild's entrance and talk to Kite. More conversing ensues before you boogie over to Kite's place for the night. Unfortunately, things go pear-shaped at this point. To escape, examine the dolls, the note and the sword to open the door. Regardless of your choices in the section past the door, head down the hallway you appear in. You can either converse with the shadowy figure for an Alignment choice or beat feet. Kyuu wakes up either way. The next morn, you'll gain the ability to switch your party at will. Trouble will be brewing, so head outside to meet Sakura and have the Class Category tutorial. Sakura will join the party, as will Kite and Dark Magician Girl (officially). Now it's time to go recruiting, so head towards the south to meet and recruit Nina, then go further south to get Noel and Kanon. You'll get an Alignment choice and a new goal after this. Now head to the northeastern section of town to find more rouge guild members. This gives you the tutorial on how to switch party members and grants Kyuu the Soul Charge move to pump up SP. You'll also be introduced to Kanata, who needs help. Follow him north to the shrine and he'll join up temporarily and grant you some new gear. You need to fight off three sets of enemies here. None are extremely dangerous, so this is a good opportunity to experiment with your new pals and see what they can do, as well as practice using SP skills with your new gear. Once you're done, head outside and examine the glowing object for the chapter ending boss fight. Boss Battle 2: Tsuchigumo Tsuchigumo introduces you to the gimmick of chapter-ending bosses. Besides a different background, each one has two sets of HP and can change their Class Category after wailing on them enough. This guy starts as a Bruiser, so Kanata's skills can inflict some status conditions to give you an edge. Either Nina, Dark Magician Girl or Kyuu will be a big help with the Rokenji Staff you got from Kanata, as its SP skill inflicts big damage on his Demon type. After round one, Tsuchigumo changes to Fighter type and use a few new skills. The staff still works good on him. Switch out to a fresh set of characters and keep whacking. As he loses HP, he'll eventually come down with the Weaken ailment. Use this time to finish it off. The chapter ends as Kanata joins up permanently.

Chapter 2

First Journey

Densel Town The next day, head back to the shrine to regroup. Set up your party and see Piccolo in the guild's training room to gain the Boost ability for your Soul Breaks, granting them the ability to buff your party for four turns. When you attempt to exit, you'll gain the option to pursue Guild Quests. Stock up on items and gear if need be, then exit via the south of town to enter the world map. --- Quests Quest #1: Finding this herb is no biggie. It's near the entrance to Blackwood Forest. Just examine the base of the tree nearest the north exit of the first room with enemies. Quest #2: You won't find this beastie until way into the Blackwood Forest. You can't really miss it though, as it's not far off the beaten path you'll be following as part of the plot. Quest Boss 1: Direwolf This boss has minions and isn't afraid to use them. He's also got fire spells and a nasty bite attack. As the Direwolf can summon new wolves to assist him, you'll want to take it out first. Feel free to throw in a few attacks that hit all foes to soften up the other wolves as well. Consider bringing Nina to this fight, as she can heal all party members at Level 5. Quest #3: There are two markings in Silvurd Town to examine. One near the entrance to the north end and the other one the building next to the cafe. These will tell you to go to Densel Town's sewers to figure out what's up. --- When you've had your fill of sidequests and grinding, head north of Densel Town to Blackwood Forest. Blackwood Forest Time for get adventuring. One Alignment choice later, you'll reach a crossroads. The swamp and mountain to the east are useless right now, so wander to the west. If you've got time, consider fighting the enemies here to start building levels and cash. Anna will reappear at the crossroads once you head back there, so you can equip yourself as needed. In the next area, you'll meet Lily the fairy and gain her as a Summon Card. Slap her on Kyuu, then look around the area for chests with stat-boosting seeds. Keep going up until you have a boss fight. Boss Battle 3: Wario and Waluigi Wario and Waluigi have beefed up since their previous fight. They also have some new buffs for offense and defense. Fortunately, they retain their elemental weaknesses from before and now each have weaknesses to two of the four types of physical attacks. Focus on one of the two, depending on which you think is the biggest threat, and take them out before switching to the other. Keep following the path and you'll eventually head up a mountainous area. Along this path, you'll be forced into a battle that starts with everyone in the active party asleep except for Kyuu. Either take them out with Kyuu, use items to wake up your buddies or switch in a fresh party. You'll have an Alignment choice after this. Further down the path is another forced fight. Allies who you switched out while they were asleep will still be snoozing, so either cure them or keep your awake and active party for this fight. Keep heading down the path until you can head up and hear the bandits talking at the crossroads. You'll have to follow them left down the path. The first screen after is where you'll find the Direwolf for Quest #2. After that screen is the bandit camp. A scene will play where most of them will clear out, allowing you to sneak through. Just keep out of the remaining guard's line of sight until you get to the end. There, fight the tent guards and get ready for a four-round endurance battle. After it plays out, head back to the crossroads for the last fight of the chapter. Boss Battle 4: Migiude Migiude is a Technique type boss. Specifically, he's well-equipped to take out Spellcasters and has a much larger magic defense than you can reasonably expect to penetrate at this point in the game. Equip a physical hitting party, specifically with Kanon as he's weak to Dark. He'll use Intimidating Resolve to remove debuffs and buff his attack and agility every three turns, so make those inbetween moments count. Once his first set of HP is kaput, he won't change categories. Keep wailing into him and you'll bring up this version's first conversation choice. Pick the third option to hit him with multiple stat ailments. A good Soul Break or two at this point will finish him off. Watch the last few scenes to close out this chapter.