Walkthrough: Aa Megami-sama (Future-3)

Skuld has been stricken by a crippling bout of self-doubt.



Skuld: Tell me, Keiichi... am I a burden?

Skuld feels that, even if she recovered all her powers, she'd still be pathetically weak compared to her sisters -- she might as well go back to base camp and just mind the house. Yep -- the negative effects of the memory-stealing magic are increasing in intensity. Luckily, some tough talk from Urd restores Skuld's energy.

Skuld: No matter what it takes, I'm going to get my "most precious memory" back!!


Mirai wo Omou AREA - Stage III:

This is a long, tedious stage. In order to traverse it, you'll need to make use of many transporter pads (some of which are one-directional), and you're going to get stuck if you're carrying any conditions or actions when you try to use some of the pads. Always remember that the UFOs can be made to spit out Cublocks using the hiraku action: you can then use those Cublocks for handy condition/action storage.

Use the transporter pad in front of you as the stage begins. After you materialize, head for a conveyor belt which will carry you to a purple swap pod. Tag in Urd and ride a second conveyor belt to an area containing an electric fan device and a shaking gate. Head for the UFO in the corner and you'll get a cutscene that tells you that pressure from hot air is causing the erratic behavior of that gate. We'll need to cool it down before we can pass through it. In any case, walk up to the UFO near the transporter pad.

Use thunder magic to stun the UFO and extract its hito condition and uku action. Run back to the electric fan and head down a narrow passage nearby. You'll see a R2-san equipped with the hito condition and the furu action. Stun the R2-san with a thunderbolt and exchange your uku action for its furu action.

From now on, the R2-san will lift up off the ground whenever you enter its activation radius and allow you to pass directly beneath it. Head for the Doorvator at the end of the narrow path and exchange your hito condition for its kaminari condition. Backtrack to the UFO near the transporter pad and head for the red swap pod in the northwest corner of the map. You should see a Cublock nearby. Exchange your kaminari condition for the Cublock's mono condition and swap your furu action for its hiraku action. Now look for a color-coded gate mechanism in an alcove.

Drop a thunderbolt on the mechanism to lower all red gates in the stage. Turn around and head for a lowered red gate near the red swap pod.

Go up the ramp and collect the heart. Go back down the ramp and use the red swap pod. Backtrack to the UFO in the corner and give it your mono condition and your hiraku action. Now head for the narrow passage (guarded by the hovering R2-san) that leads to the Doorvator.

Step into the Doorvator's activation radius and walk through when it opens. Go through the lowered red gate on your left and head for a clearing with an item in it.

Collect the item and go back through the lowered red gate. Head south and look for a Slugger-san robot behind a rail.

Lob a delayed water ball into the Slugger-san's activation radius (try not to hit the Slugger-san itself) to make it advance toward you. Grab the susumu action from the Slugger-san once it enters extraction range. Now head for a Doorvator+ equipped with the mono condition and the mawaru action. Look for a Cublock sitting inside the Doorvator+'s activation radius and exchange your susumu action for the Cublock's mawaru action. Go back to the Slugger-san and give it mawaru.

Lob a water ball at a spot inside the Slugger-san's activation radius (do not hit the Slugger-san itself) to watch it use mawaru and unlock an entry for your device encyclopedia. Now go back through the regular Doorvator (the one armed with hito and hiraku) and run to the red swap pod in the northwest corner of the map. Go to the alcove with the colored gate mechanism.

Lob a water ball at the colored gate mechanism to lower all blue gates in the stage. Use the two-way transporter pad nearby. The room in front of you contains a red swap pod and an inert R2-san (equipped with the kaze condition and no action). This room is connected to a second room, inside which you'll find the Cublock that you gave the susumu action to a short while ago.

Step into the Cublock's activation radius to advance it toward you. It will move off the Doorvator+'s activation radius. Go through the lowered blue gate and head toward the Doorvator+ (make sure you do not activate the Cublock again -- try to navigate around its activation radius). Extract the mawaru action from the Doorvator+ and go back through the lowered blue gate. Deposit mawaru with the R2-san near the red swap pod and make your way back to the regular Doorvator (the one that leads to the narrow passage with the hovering R2-san).

Extract both hito and hiraku from the Doorvator and head for the Doorvator+. Give the Doorvator+ your hiraku action. Now turn around and face the Cublock on the other side of the low curb.

Step into the Cublock's activation radius to make it use the susumu action. It will roll into the Doorvator+'s activation range and open the gate for you. Pass through the open Doorvator+ and go up the ramp. Ignore the UFO for now and look for a hut-like structure with an item in it.

Collect the item. Now go back to the UFO and extract its uku action. Exchange your hito condition for its mizu condition and backtrack through the Doorvator+. Find the Slugger-san and exchange your uku action for its mawaru action.

Drop a water ball on a spot inside the Slugger-san's activation radius (again, do not hit the robot itself) to watch it use uku and unlock an entry for your encyclopedia. Swap your mawaru action for the Slugger-san's uku action and go back to the regular Doorvator. Give the Doorvator mizu and uku.

Lob a water ball at the Doorvator and go inside when it opens. Stay inside the Doorvator -- it will function like an elevator and carry you to the floor above. Make sure you have no conditions or actions equipped and step out of the Doorvator. Use the blue swap pod to your right to summon Belldandy. Step onto the transporter pad and go through the lowered blue gate when you re-materialize. Pass through the room with the red swap pod and head for the room with two transporter pads.

Use the two-way transporter pad (do not use the one-way transporter pad or you'll have to repeat the entire sequence that led to summoning Belldandy). Now head for the electric fan device (do not use the conveyor belts to get there).

Use Belldandy's wind magic on the electric fan twice to rotate it 180 degrees. The stream of cold air should now be pointed at the shaking gate. Head for the red swap pod in the northwest corner of the stage and use it to summon Skuld. Make your way back to the electric fan device.

Lob a water ball at the stream of cold air to create a sliding ice crystal that will hit the shaking gate and cool it down. The gate will open for you.

NOTE: I encountered a serious glitch during the step above -- no matter how many times I lobbed water balls at the electric fan, it refused to create an ice crystal for me. I was able to create ice crystals just fine if I rotate the fan so that it faces any direction but the correct one. This seems to be a save game-related glitch, since I even started a new game, rushed through the tutorial, and then tackled the Future Zone first... only to realize that the glitch was still in effect. After a lot of trial-and-error, I've isolated the source of the glitch to one of two possibilities: it's either one of the device encyclopedia entries for the Future Zone or one of the items/hearts. Try to beat the first two stages of this zone without collecting any items, hearts, or unnecessary actions for your encyclopedia. Once you clear Future-3, retry the first two stages and collect everything you missed. That's the only method I know of avoiding the glitch, though it could just be something freaky that only happens to me, of course. God knows I have that much bad mojo.

Go through the gate and head for a Doorvator at the end of the corridor. Extract both kaminari and hiraku from it. Backtrack to the Doorvator at the end of the narrow passage with the floating R2-san. Exchange your kaminari condition for its mizu condition and your hiraku action for its uku action. Go back to the Doorvator at the end of the corridor with the shaking gate (the one you opened with an ice crystal) and give both mizu and uku to this Doorvator.

Go back through the corridor and extract both mono and hiraku from the UFO near the transporter pad in the corner. Go through the corridor and make your way back to the Doorvator that is now equipped with the mizu condition and the uku action.

Lob a water ball to open the Doorvator and let it carry you to the second floor. Walk through the lowered blue gate and you should see another electric fan. This one is already facing the right direction, so no wind magic manipulation is necessary.

Lob a water ball at the stream of cold air to open the shaking gate in front of the electric fan. Walk through the open gate and let a conveyor belt carry you to a purple swap pod. Tag in Urd and look for a UFO equipped with the hito condition and the uku action. Stun the UFO with a thunderbolt and exchange your hiraku action for its uku action.

Stay inside the UFO's activation range and it will spit out a Cublock. Now try to run up the ramp to the third floor and you'll notice a gap in the ramp that must be bridged. Go back down the ramp and you'll notice two Cublocks sitting side-by-side beneath the gap. We'll need to make both Cublocks levitate in order to create a traversable platform across the gap.

Give your uku action to the Cublock on the right (the one equipped with the mono condition) and it will float upward. Exchange your mono condition for the hito condition equipped on the other Cublock and head back to the UFO.

Deposit your hito condition with the Cublock next to the UFO and use the two-way transporter pad. Go through the lowered blue gate and head for the room with the two transporter pads. Use the one-way transporter pad this time and head for the purple swap pod when you re-materialize. Let a conveyor belt carry you to the alcove with the electric fan device. Head down the narrow path and walk up to the floating R2-san.

Strike the R2-san with thunder magic and extract the uku action from it. Backtrack to the northwest corner of the map and look for the red swap pod.

Tag in Skuld and head back to the alcove with the electric fan device. Go through the open gate and head for the Doorvator at the end of the corridor.

Lob a water ball to open the Doorvator and let it carry you back up to the second floor. Go through the lowered blue gate and make your way to the purple swap pod. Tag in Urd and head for the Cublocks beneath the gap in the ramp above.

Give your uku action to the Cublock on the left (the one you fitted with the mono condition earlier) and it will levitate to complete your makeshift bridge across the gap. Extract the hito condition from the Cublock near the UFO and the transporter pad. Walk up the ramp. Follow the path and you'll come to an inert R2-san robot equipped with the susumu action.

Stand between the R2-san and the edge of the ramp before you give it the hito condition. This is because R2-san robots walk AWAY from you when they use susumu -- you're going to have an awful time if you activate hito from the other side and the robot gets itself stuck in a corner of the ramp.

Stay inside the R2-san's activation radius and let it walk toward the transporter pad. Get it as close to the Cublock on the other side as possible. Stun the R2-san with a thunderbolt and extract the hito condition from it. Go back down the ramp and dump hito on the Cublock near the UFO.

Go back up the ramp and use the red swap pod on the third floor to summon Skuld. Now use the transporter pad at the end of the path. When you re-materialize, look for the R2-san on the other side of a low wall and extract the susumu action from it. Give susumu to the Cublock nearby (the Cublock should now be equipped with mizu and susumu).

Keep lobbing delayed water balls over the Cublock (while standing directly behind it) to make it advance toward the rocket-gun device at the end of the path. The Cublock will "lock" into position when it gets close enough to the rocket-gun device. Turn to your right and head for the floating memory to complete the stage.

Skuld's "most precious memory" takes the shape of an angel's egg.




Skuld: If I drink from this, I'll be able to summon Noble Scarlet...
Urd: No, you won't.





That is, of course, because the angel's egg is a memory that's been sealed with powerful magic.



Keiichi tries to break the seal and fails due to rampant space-time chaos in the vicinity. Skuld senses the location of a safe spot for performing the seal removal ritual and leads the way to Future-4.



Now that we've collected all six items in the Future Zone, we get a bonus scene where Megumi shows up to resume her rivalry with Skuld. Skuld gets excited at seeing the remote control for the "Hysteric Wheel No. 1" again -- but the machine itself is nowhere in sight. In any case, both Belldandy and Urd think that those two get along great.



Skuld: We do not "get along great"!
Megumi: That's right! We'll be always be rivals!! I rigged together a great machine, so I'm not going to lose!
Skuld: I'm not going to lose either!



A pity neither of them brought their machines. Anyway, the two girls make a date for their next showdown and Megumi disappears. The encounter fills Skuld with determination -- she's dead set on getting her powers and memories back so that she can get off the island and keep her promise with Megumi.

Since we've collected all three hearts in this zone, Skuld's swimsuit is unlocked as well.