How to Use this Walkthrough
This walkthrough is broken up into the areas you’ll go. The heading name for each section corresponds to the area you’re in, which you can see by opening your map.
Each area is broken up into “Main Story Walkthrough” and “Extras”. If you simply want to get through the game, doing only what is necessary, then you can just stick to the “Main Story Walkthrough”. If you want to find all of the extras in the game, then you can can also read the “Extras” section, which is further broken down and conveniently bullet-pointed.
Please keep in mind that you will often go to certain areas two or three (or more) times. Because of this, please pay particular attention to where you are in the walkthrough. If it doesn’t sound like what you’re doing, then look to see if there is another time that you’re supposed to visit the area you’re in.
Finally, things like a new Brush Stroke are described in the walkthrough when you get it. Therefore, if you’re having trouble with a particular skill, simply search the guide and you’ll find what you’re looking for.
Please read the “Gameplay Primer” below to familiarize yourself with the basics of the game.
Gameplay Primer
The Fan Menu
The fan menu is your central database of information. You can access it by hitting the “+” button.
Tools and Equipment – This first screen gives you access to your Tools and Equipment menu. It also shows your currently equipped Main and Sub weapon (don’t worry about that until later), any Holy Artifacts you have (again, don’t worry about that), your health, how much money (Yen) you have, and how many Demon Fangs you have.
Your Tools menu shows things like Feedbags, Exorcism Slips, Gold Dust, etc. Again, don’t worry about any of this now…just know it’s there. Your Equipment menu is primarily your weapons. You can select the weapon you want from this menu. You can also equip/unequip any Holy Artifacts you have earned.
For now, just worry about your Feedbags, as that’s what you’re going to use to feed animals.
Praise Upgrade
You can upgrade your Health, Ink, Astral Pouches, and Wallet (see below for explanations of all of these), in this menu. Upgrading these items costs you Praise. You earn Praise by doing things like feeding animals or helping people out. The amount of Praise you currently have is shown at the top of this menu. To spend that Praise, simply scroll down to the item you want to upgrade and then press and hold the “A” button until, for example, the health bar fills up. If you don’t have enough Praise, it simply won’t be spent.
At first, you’ll want to stick to upgrading your health and then your ink. Don’t worry about the other stuff until later.
Brush Strokes
This menu simply shows you the brush strokes you’ve earned, and the motion you need to do in order to perform that brushstroke.
Logs, Tomes, and Lists
This is your information clearing house. This section contains everything you need to know in the game and is a great resource. Here is a quick breakdown of each section:
Log Book – This tells you what you need to do next. It also contains the four Wanted Lists in the game (different people give you a list of monsters they need to get rid of).
Travel Guide – These are scrolls that you find, for example when you get a new Brush Stroke, that give you instructions on how to use something or explains a feature in more detail.
Bestiary – A listing of all of the enemies you encounter in the game. Check it as it often contains a secret of how to beat a certain creature (as does this walkthrough).
Move List – This is a list of skills that you’ve learned from any of the Dojos in the game. Again, don’t worry about this now. As you proceed in the game, you can buy new moves from the Dojo and they simply appear here for reference.
Animal Tome – Shows the percentage of each type of animal that you’ve fed thus far in the game. This walkthrough contains the location of every single animal so that you’ll end up with a 100% complete Animal Tome.
Fish Tome – There is a fishing mini-game in the game. This simply lists the type of fish you’ve caught.
Treasure Tome – Lists the various types of treasures you’ve found, and if you are currently carrying any (the little number at the bottom of each treasure).
Stray Beads – There are 99 Stray Beads scattered throughout this game. This walkthrough contains the location of, and how to get, every single one of them. This menu shows which ones you’ve already gotten.
Map
The map is, well, a map. At first you can’t zoom in or out. You’ll get this ability once you’ve been to more places.
You are the white/red wolf head on the map and the direction of your nose is the direction you’re pointing.
Up is always North on the map.
The circle with an X in it is an Origin Mirror, aka, a save point.
Any place that you need to go is marked with a red circle (this happens only when there is a particular place that you need to go, so don’t worry if you don’t see any red circles on the map).
Solar Energy (Health)
Throughout this walkthrough, this is referred to as “health”. Your health bar is in the upper left of the screen. At first, it is quite small, but don’t worry about it. You can upgrade your health in one of two ways: 1) By using Praise to upgrade your health bar or, 2) By finding Sun Fragments. Every three Sun Fragments equals one extra dot of health. Every single Sun Fragment is listed in this walkthrough. Simply search for “Sun Fragment” if you’re looking for one in particular.
Ink Pots (Ink)
Ink allows you to paint. Each time you paint something, it will use up one ink pot (some advanced strokes later on will use up more). Ink pots refill automatically over time. At first, you don’t need much ink, however, as the game progresses you’ll want to add ink pots by using Praise to purchase upgrades in the Fan Menu.
Astral Pouch
A full astral pouch serves as an automatic life, a second chance, if you will. If you die in battle, and have a full pouch, you’ll simply continue on with the battle with a fresh set of health. Each astral pouch can hold 200 pieces of fruit. You get fruit by slashing trees, breaking jars, talking to certain people, etc. In all honesty, you’ll rarely even have to worry about this.
Wallet
Your wallet holds money (Yen). If you see that you are about to max out your wallet, you’ll want to upgrade it (use Praise to upgrade it).
Praise
Praise is used to upgrade your health, ink, the astral pouch, and the wallet. You earn praise by blooming trees, blooming clovers, feeding animals, rejuvenating purple patches of grass, and completing certain tasks for certain people. At first, just worry about feeding animals.
Yen (Money)
Money is used to buy things, crazy, I know. Almost every area in the game has a Merchant. There are two ways to earn money in the game: 1) Sell treasures and/or fish to the merchant, 2) Defeat enemies. The main thing that you want to buy with your money are weapons.
Tackle, Dash, Charge
I use these three terms interchangeably in the walkthrough. The technical term is “tackle”. This is the action where you shake the Wii Remote and you dash forward for an attack. I may also refer to it as a charge attack.
Jumping
The controls in the game are pretty basic and are taught to you as the game progresses. However, you really need to know about two things: the Jump Dash, and the Double Jump Dash.
At the beginning of the game you have the Jump Dash ability, but probably don’t know it. To do it, jump with “A” and then shake the Wii Remote to dash forward. Using this skill, you can cover more distance on your jumps.
Later in the game you’ll gain the ability to double jump. The Double Jump Dash is simply doing a double jump and then shaking the Wii Remote to dash at the end of it, allowing you to jump an even longer distance.
Feeding Animals
The animals…they are so hungry! Throughout the game you’ll encounter a plethora of animals. They run the gamut from Sparrows to Tigers to Racoons. You can check out each animal in the Animal Tome in your fan menu if you wish.
Feeding animals gives you Praise. Praise is used to upgrade things, so this is a good thing. In each section of this walkthrough, in the “Extras” section, you’ll find a list of the animals in that area. The only confusing thing when it comes to animals is the Dogs, as they are part of the story, yet you still need to feed them. If you are confused by this, please see the “Animal Tome Confusion – Dogs” section at the end of this walkthrough.
Brush Strokes
There are 13 main brush strokes in the game. In addtion, there are a variety of “secret” brush strokes, which are essentially upgrades to your regular brush strokes. Every single normal and secret brush stroke is found in this walkthrough. If you want to find them all, simply follow this walkthrough, or search for the term “brush stroke”.
There are a few general tips in regard to brush strokes that you may want to keep in mind now, although you won’t be able to utilize them until later.
When you get the Cherry Bomb skill, aka, bomb, know that the size that you draw the bomb affects where the bomb appears. If you draw it small, it’ll appear farther away from you. If you draw it large, it’ll appear closer to you.
When you get the Galestorm skill, note that the larger you draw the swirl, the more powerful the wind.
In general, just keep in mind that the way you draw things will often affect the outcome.
Devil Fangs
Devil Fangs are a sort of currency that you can use to buy special items. There are three characters in the game who will trade you for Devil Fangs, although the only one of any merit is the Emperor in Sei-an City. They’re not anything you really have to worry about until later in the game. That being said, there is no reason you shouldn’t go ahead and start collecting them.
There are three ways to earn Devil Fangs: 1) Do a finishing move on enemies or, 2) Do the mini-game during a “loading” screen, or 3) Buy a skill which will release Devil Fangs.
Finishing moves can be performed on enemies immediately after the die, as they go into the air. The easiest way to explain this is with an example. Imps are the most common enemy in the game. When they die, they buckle over and go flying into the air. Quickly use Power Slash, to slash the imp while in the air, and you’ll see a Devil Fang pop out.
Each enemy has a specific finishing move. Just expirement with different moves on different enemies to see what works. Note that finising moves can be Power Slash, Galestorm, Veil of Mist, Cherry Bomb, and Thunderstorm.
You really don’t need to know about this now as there are a few places later on (Spider Grottos) where you can earn hundreds of Devil Fangs.
The second way to earn them is to do the mini-game on the loading screen. If you see a blank screen while the game is loading, start mashing on your “A” button and you’ll see paw prints appear. Get in 50 of them before the load ends and you’ll see a Devil Fang. The other little mini-game is when you see the paw prints cross the screen from left to right. If you hit the “A” button in sequence with the paws, they’ll get big. Get big paws all the way across the screen and you’ll get a Devil Fang. A personal note, I was never able to do this…it’s very frustrating.
The third way is to buy a skill and/or amulet which helps you get Devil Fangs from enemies.
Don’t worry about any of this right now. It’s all discussed in the walkthrough.
Stray Beads
This walkthrough contains the locations of all 99 Stray Beads (the 100th is given to you for completing the game). Stray Beads are scattered throughout this entire game, some in buried treasure chests, some as rewards for doing favors for characters. You often need a special skill or a certain brush stroke to get a bead. These requirements are all discussed in the walkthrough.
Clovers
Clovers are marked with a green beam of light. Dig it up and Bloom it (once you get the Bloom power) for Praise.
Hidden Chests/Digging
You have the ability to dig. As the game progresses you’ll want to buy “Digging Champ” from the Dojo in Shinshu Field. It’ll an upgrade that allows you to dig through stone patches of ground.
You can dig up hidden chests (buried chests). They are easy to locate at night as there is a white beam of light shining down on them. They are also not very difficult to find during the day as you’ll see a little golden ring poking up through the ground.
Weapons
You can have two weapons at any given time, a Main weapon and a Sub weapon. Every weapon has a unique skill based upon whether you have it equipped as Main or Sub. You can switch up your weapons at any point, so just use different ones to see what you like. I personally prefer bead weapons as they have a long attack distance.
You can enhance (make more powerful) your weapons using Gold Dust, one gold dust per weapon. Gold Dust is available to buy at certain merchants and for completing the Wanted Lists (you’ll come upon these as you play the game).
Origin Mirrors/Saving
You can save at Origin Mirrors. You should save often and in different slots so that you can go back to a previous save if something doesn’t go your way. Later in a game you can buy an item which allows you to teleport between some origin mirrors.
Demon Gates and Devil Gates
Demon Scrolls are the floating scrolls that you see, well, floating around. If you run into one, or it runs into you, you’ll have to fight a group of enemies. Often a Demon Scroll battle arena has a crack in the wall. You can attack that crack until it turns pink/red and then escape through it to avoid fighting the enemies.
Devil Gates are the permanent arch/gate-like structures that you encounter here and there. In general, you’ll want to enter these and clear the enemies inside. It will result in the land around the Devil Gate being rejuvenated.
Godhood
Godhood is essentially a shield. You build up the shield by not taking damage and by stringing together consecutive hits. The Godhood symbol appears in the lower left of the screen. If it’s red, yellow, or green, it means you have the shield and that you can take a hit without taking damage. If it’s a skull and crossbones icon, it means you don’t have a shield ready.
You can also increase Godhood by using items.
In all hosesty, though, you really don’t even have to worry about this. It’s nice if you have a shield to absorb a hit, but you could play through the entire game and not even know it’s there.
Mermaid Springs
Later in the game you’ll gain the ability to warp between mermaid springs. This is purely a convenience thing. You do need a Mermaid Coin, which you can buy at a merchant, in order to activate the spring. Later you can gain a brush stroke which activates it for you.
Secret Videogame Guides 