Terminal Dogma

Passing Judgement: Ahh Megami Sama TV

2007-05-09T23:30:00.000-04:00

Once again I arise in order to blather insipidly on an anime subject of my choosing. Phe4r!

Thanks to a gift package from a friend I find myself with a continuing surplus of things to watch. That and a deep fondness for the manga brought me to view all ... oh 50 episodes of AMS TV.

Given what it is, the show is odd. It's episodes are basically rehashes of manga material already done, but the order is deeply out of whack, with a few new bit players added to the mix. The end result is a mixed bag. Series pacing, and larger arc of story is almost nonexistant. Episodes go from slow moving, to more action oriented without much warning. All in all, it just ends up feeling rather picaresque.

What hurts it more than anything, probably, is the surplus of characters who are introduced for a single episode, and then vanish, never to appear again. Over the course of the manga's life, this made more sense, as characters would be around for several months, then vanish with the beginning of a new arc. Somewhere in the back of your mind you'd think, "Oh, well they'll be back again, in a while." They never are of course, but the once a week snippets you're fed space it out enough you don't really notice.

As for art, music, and voices, I can't complain I guess. I sort of feel that it could have been better animated, and bell in particular often just looks ... I dunno, sort of half finished. Still, yay for animated Hild, even if they do tend to forget that most of the time she should appear as a child. In my humble opinion, one of the series best original stories is Hild "stealing" Keichi's affections. She does this by travelling back in time and inserting herself into his life, long before he met bell, long before he even left Okinawa.

There's a great deal wrong with every aspect of this premise, such as why the continuity change didn't affect K1's current situation, why Keima didn't notice, why Bell and company don't remember any of their new past, etc. It does set up a sort of predestination paradox concerning K1's wish, but I think this was almost entirely unintentional on the part of the story tellers.

Given that I normally savage this kind of nonsense, it may suprise you that I liked it. Honestly, I just thought it was interesting diversion, that I'd rather like to see played out in the manga. The episode arc itself was extremely short (2? 3?), and they could have squeezed an entire 12 ep ova out of it, if they'd really wanted to.

What bothered me most about the entire thing though, more than anything else, shoddy temporal physics included, was the climax. K1 see's bell trying to confess, and just brushes Hild off. His comment is, "Well, you don't really love me." Hild confirms this. That being the case, in the altered present, why didn't he immediately shake off Hild as soon as he woke up in the brave new world of the altered future?

I mean, I understand "needed it to happen for story purposes BS, whatever", but still. Hild's admission that she doesn't care is what compounds the issue. To carry off her little scheme, she spends at least 5 years with K1, and it's implied probably a great deal more in line with 10 to 20 years. That's a long time to fake a relationship with someone. Yes, she is the ruler of hell, but there have to more time efficient ways of ...welll ... passing the time. Moreover, K1 has proven himself to be an extremely lovable fellow to high order spirits, attracting as he has the open affection of two goddesses, temporary affection of at least 3 others, etc. etc. It just seems ...odd.

Again, I can understand that it was necessary for story purposes, but quite frankly, that's some trully shitty narrative there. I guess what draws me to the arc though, is the desire for a more well planned treatment of it. Who knows.

In other news, anyone ever watched the lord of terror arc and then the AMS movie back to back? Does your brain hurt yet? Also, Pop Quiz, since when can K1 fly under his own power?

Awesomeness

2007-04-06T23:59:00.000-04:00

The ending sequence for Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu is legendary for its ability to incite otaku into getting their fat asses off their comfy chairs and goofy-dance to its groovy beat. Don't believe me? Watch the video and tell me it doesn't at least give you urges:

The clip below is probably the greatest parody of the Haruhi dance ever created. It totally rocks (ba-dum-ching!). Sera, I salute thee!

Live the Yankee Life

2007-04-02T23:06:00.000-04:00

The above opening clip is from Spike's Kenka Banchou 2 ~Full Throttle~ for the Playstation 2. A banchou (番長/"group leader") is an authority figure in a group of juvenile delinquents -- specifically, the kind of delinquents who ascribe to the yankii (ヤンキー/"yankee") philosophy and dress code (think Onizuka from GTO). As a matter of fact, the tutorial portion of Kenka Banchou 2 will teach you about the rules ("no matter what happens, be a man! Establish your life around your manliness!") of yankii-hood and teach you some really classic maneuvers (such as the eye beam -- a banchou way of staring at somebody so intensely that the target breaks out in buckets of sweat). The loading screens will teach you some of the most important words in the yankii lexicon, such as otoko (漢/"man" in the context of one who lives his life honorably) and aniki (兄貴/"big brother" in the context of a senior delinquent of the same affiliation).

As for the game itself, it's said to play like a 3-D version of River City Ransom. I don't know about that, but then, I'm still chuckling over the whole idea of someone making a game series about yankii to begin with.

The opening theme, Otoko no Kunshou (男の勲章/"Emblem of Manhood"), is performed by Shima Daisuke. The song was originally released as a single in 1982 but has been co-opted recently as theme music for Shima's segment of the variety program Radical!!.

Update - Here's the opening video from the first Kenka Banchou PS2 game:

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri

2007-04-01T11:49:00.000-04:00

Got another vid for you guys: this is the opening sequence for the PS2 port of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (ひぐらしのなく頃に/"When Cicadas Cry"), which is pretty much the most acclaimed doujin soft product since Tsukihime. The PS2 version, dubbed Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Matsuri (ひぐらしのなく頃に祭/"When Cicadas Cry Festival"), contains the first seven chapters of the intense murder mystery (Onikakushi-hen/鬼隠し編/"Demon Hiding Chapter", Watanagashi-hen/綿流し編/"Cotton Drifting Chapter", Tatarigoroshi-hen/祟殺し編/"Curse Slaying Chapter", Himatsubushi-hen/暇潰し編/"Time Wasting Chapter" [nothing says "filler" better than this title], Meakashi-hen/目明し編/"Eye Opening Chapter", Tsumihoroboshi-hen/罪滅し編/"Sin Expiating Chapter", and Minagoroshi-hen/皆殺し編/"Wholesale Killing Chapter"), as well as three new chapters meant to resolve the storyline (Taraimawashi-hen/盥回し篇/"Tub Spinning Chapter", Tsukiotoshi-hen/憑落し篇/"Haunt Dispelling Chapter", and Miotsukushi-hen/澪尽し篇/"Channel Marking Chapter").

The opening theme, Nageki no Mori (嘆きノ森/"Lamenting Forest"), is performed by Ayane (彩音).

Rozen Maiden

2007-04-01T11:23:00.000-04:00

A couple of opening sequences from the two PS2 installments of the Rozen Maiden franchise.

Rozen Maiden ~duellwalzer~:

Rozen Maiden ~gebetgarten~:

The first game takes place during the Rozen Maiden (first season) timeline, while the second is a retelling of the events of Rozen Maiden ~träumend~. Both games are hybrid types that are mostly visual novel and partly... something else. That "something else" is a (simple) shooting game in duellwalzer/Duel Waltz and a Mai-Otome ~Otome Butoushi!!~-esque aerial fighting game in gebetgarten/Prayer Garden.

The theme songs are performed by ALI PROJECT, whom most people remember for Kopperia no Hitsugi, the opening theme of Noir.

Learning Japanese: Remembering the Kanji by James Heisig

2007-03-31T15:33:00.000-04:00

Before we begin, let me expound for a bit on learning Japanese.

First off, don't. I'm serious, barring a very good reason, there is no way that the time you spend studying Japanese will ever see anything even remotely comparable to an adaquate payoff. "Ahh, but I have a very good reason.", I hear you cry. Does that reason involve family, locational requirements, or business? If it does, then fine, you may proceed. If it doesn't, you should think long and hard as to why you're making the attempt. If it (your reason) in anyway includes that you wish to better appreciate various aspects of Japanese pop-culture (anime, video games, comics, or any of the number of reasons you might be reading this blog), then for the love of all that you hold good, STOP NOW!

Put simply, thanks to the growing popularity of such things abroad, and a large group of OCD fans, anything (pop culture stuff) that you might ever wish to read or watch in Japanese that is worth reading or watching, will probably be translated for you. There are other people out there who will gleefully do all the work of learning the language and painstakingly translating whatever it is you want. Why should you work when they're willing to do it for you?

Now, it can be argued tha the translations you get, even in products you paid for, is shaky at best. Still given the learning curve of Japanese, I'd take someone elses shaky for free over my own probably even more shaky cost me years of study.

That being said, let's get down to brass tacks. I have studied Japanese for many years, and I am not good at it. In fact, I am very, very bad at it. While expressive this is not perhaps accurate enough, I am so bad at the language that I have achieved a sort of legendary status among those unfortunate enough to have to deal with me in an academic environment.

Among my many woes with the Japanese language, is the small matter of Kanji. I hate Kanji. I hate them with a passion that burns like a thousand fiery suns. My hatred of Kanji is so great that by simple association, I also hate all other pictographic writing systems. Needless to say, my ability to write the blasted things is not particularly good.

So it was much to my surprise that I encountered James Heisig's Remembering the Kanji. A random web browsing brought into my possession the free demo pdf that let's the uninitated take his style for a test drive. Intrigued, or at least really bored with doing whatever it was that I was supposed to be doing, I opened the file and started reading.

Heisig makes the claim that circumstances had him arriving late at a language school in Kamakura, so that he was unable to join that semester's classes. Still, everyone recommended that since he had many years of Kanji tedium ahead of him, he might as well start now. On his own, and without real academic guidance, he proceeded to master all 2,000 of the commonly used kanji in a month. It's about this point where any rational person should close the file, delete it, and never think about it again.

However, I was procrastinating, an activity I take rather seriously, so I pressed on. Things don't improve much as Heisig describes his method. He breaks all Kanji down into his own system of primitives; these primitives being unusual in that not all of them are an accepted Kanji radical, or a kanji in and of itself. He then assigns each of these primitives a single english word. Kanji are then built by memorizing a mnemonic story involving these words.

It sounds both terribly silly and incredibly roundabout as a way of doing things. Unfortunately, at least for me, it also seems to work. After 6 lessons in 4 days, totalling over 100 kanji I'm still going strong with almost no difficulty, despite what I said above. It seems, all in all, too good to be true, and for all I know, it may be. It could be that once I reach the higher numbers of kanji covered my brain starts to forget the stories of the earlier ones. I'll tell you when I get there.

Still, for all that I want to sacrifice goats in praise of Mr. Heisig, his method does have it's flaws. For one, no attention whatsoever is paid to the pronunciation of the kanji. His first volume covers solely remembering how to write them, something of perhaps questionable value (although, I must say that I wish I had discovered his book say ... during my freshman year Japanese, where it would have been of incalculable value on those kanji quizzes). While his second volume apparently addresses the pronunciation, I am not privy to that text and so can not adaquately (or arbitrarily) speak as to its effectiveness. Additonally, some of the stories that Mr. Heisig uses seem ... well ...awkward at best. Still, since he apparently stops giving them at some point, leaving you to craft your own, everyone will adjust as need be.

The only real remaining problem is the book's limited print run. As of this date, good luck actually finding a copy of his book from which to study. Amazon.com wants $300 for a single copy. While new prints are apparently on the way, word is that they won't be ready till at least May. Still, at such time as I can order a copy for around $40, I would gladly pay that price. And that's saying something.

Musou Orochi

2007-03-29T17:36:00.000-04:00

Musou Orochi is a new game from Koei's musou series of mass-mayhem action games. The ancient god Orochi has risen from the depths and wreaked havoc with space-time, allowing generals from both Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors to co-exist and battle either for or against a common foe -- Orochi.

It sounds dumb, yeah, but as is the case with any crossover between popular franchises, Musou fans should love it.

I Salute You, Brian K. Vaughan

2007-03-23T21:16:00.001-04:00

Marvel Comics hasn't been the same since the post-bankruptcy reorganization (a blight on you, Joe Quesada, for that awful Civil War crap!), but it's still capable of putting out a comic now and then that's worth reading (for example: Agents of Atlas). Runaways is one such title: I've read all 42 issues so far (published in two separate volumes), as well as the (immensely crappy) Runaways/Young Avengers: Civil War crossover and even the X-Men/Runaways mini-book they gave away during the Free Comic Book Day 2006 publicity event. I can't really say what fascinates so much about the series, since it doesn't do anything (i.e. plot, art, drama, romance, general suspense) exceptionally well, but if you dig deep down into my subconscious (stay out! It's not pretty down there), you'd probably find that I just appreciate a comic with characters who respond realistically to the problems heaped upon them through the wiles of the comic book gods. Also doesn't hurt that there aren't any, as David would put it, "narrative buzzkills" in sight.

Runaways is the story of six teens who, through mere happenstance, discover that their parents are super-villains plotting the destruction of the world. The original roster consisted of:

* Alex Wilder (16), the son of underworld mafia rulers.
* Nico Minoru (16), the daughter of dark sorcerers.
* Chase Stein (17), the son of mad scientists.
* Gertrude Yorkes (15), the daughter of time travelers.
* Karolina Dean (16), the daughter of space aliens.
* Molly Hayes (11), the daughter of evil mutants.

The teenagers ran away from home, decided to fight against their evil parents, and eventually succeeded. Then they had to deal with a slew of issues including being placed into foster homes by the Avengers, fighting crooks trying to fill the power vacuum left behind by their powerful parents, fending off a support group founded by former teenage superheroes, and combating an online cabal of role-playing geeks thinking they were the super-villains in that struggle against their "'rents." Two of the original members were killed off and replaced by:

* Victor Mancha (17), the cyborg son of Ultron.
* Xavin (???), the child of marauding Skrulls.

I recommend reading the newly released Runaways Saga for a quick "primer" on everything that's happened so far. Anyway, I like the way the series realistically portrays the doubt, confusion, and general insecurity of the Runaways. Hey, I was a teen myself not too long ago, so I can easily understand that how, in a situation like the one the Runaways found them in, the whole world would appear to them to have gone mad. Even though they hail from the same universe as such prolific superhero teams as the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and the X-Men, the Runaways are not one such team: they're just a bunch of frightened, confused kids who have come to distrust adults and who have no choice but to rely on each other for support. Most of their adventures have been entertaining and provide welcome catharses from the over-dramatic, poorly written (and incredibly poorly edited!) "flagship" titles Marvel produces nowadays.

Sadly, though, an era has just ended for the Runaways. Brian K. Vaughan, who created and wrote all 42 issues of the comic so far, is leaving the franchise for a while. In his stead, Runaways will now be written by...

...

...Joss Whedon. Supposedly the change will only last for one six-issue story arc, but this is Joss Whedon. One can't underestimate the amount of narrative damage Joss can inflict over six issues of a comic.

Please don't kill us all off, Mr. Whedon!

Passing Judgement: RahXephon

2007-03-22T22:31:00.000-04:00

With all the pomp and circumstance normally attributed to the despot ruler of a banana republic (and all the accountability of an unpaid internet "journalist") I prepare to pass judgement on RahXephon.

In what was almost certainly a mistake, I watched the entire series over the course of the past 24 hours. This might not, by itself, have been so bad if I hadn't done the same thing with Negima over the weekend. Regardless, while my brain is still seeped in Xephonic vapors I will take this time to ruminate a bit on the topic.

The first thing you think, on watching RahXephon, is "My god, they're ripping Eva off so hard it hurts." I immediately began drawing character parallels between various characters between the show. As things progress, and the show gets some ground under its legs, it manages to establish itself as more than just an imitation.

The series does, however, stick with many of the genre cliches. Look, it's the monster of the week. Good thing the destined shounen can hop in his giant robo and save us all. Oh no, damage has been done, will the varied cast of support characters be able to fix it in time?

Moreover, it's not terribly subtle with many of its character related plot twists. Put simply, if you're paying attention, there's very little left byepisode 6 that should really surprise you with regards to the character interactions. The same can not be said of the plot twists which are at times so random and seemingly arbitrary that you can can only absorb each event in a sort of zen like stupor.

If I'm giving the impression that I didn't like the series, then do not let my overly caustic nature deceive you. I actually rather fancied it. The pacing was such that I felt compelled to strive forward throughout the entirety of the series. There was never a point where I felt that here was a comfortable stopping point, or rest. It is a rarity for me to find a show so absorbing.

By series' end, things have resolved themselves satisfactorily (well, sorta). Several plot threads are left unfinished, but are done so in such a way that it doesn't much matter. However, the theatrically released movie does indeed tie some of these wandering narrative threads up.

Other than these revelations, though, the movie is largely dissapointing, consisting of a few new scenes and a lot of jerky editing of the regular television show. Since it establishes itself as a new continuity, those aforementioned revelations are themselves called into question. Indeed, with the way things are reworked, various facts from both continuties could not rationally be true in the other.

Still, considering the sum totality of the series, I approve. RahXephon provides a thoughtful giant robo romp without all of Eva's distressing emotional baggage. It's still got some of it, but there's no warm liquid goo phase to live down. Watch it if you get the chance.

I Salute You, Kay Yow

2007-03-22T17:57:00.000-04:00

I've never talked about sports on this blog, and I doubt I ever will -- while I like watching and playing sports (what?! I do play a couple of... well, okay, only basketball... say, when do they declare DDR an official sport?), it's just not something that my friends (and, by extension, the readers of this blog) are interested in.

With that said, there's a great storyline brewing in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. Kay Yow, the Hall of Fame head coach of the North Carolina State University Lady Wolfpack, has been fighting breast cancer for the better part of the past three years. Please read this inspirational (and bittersweet) account of everything that she manages to do for her team during the darkest days of her life.

It's hard for me to care about N. C. State (once a Tar Heel, always a Tar Heel), but I can and will root unequivocally for Kay Yow and her team. She's displaying superhuman loyalty, dedication, and perseverance every day of her life, and I hope she ends her splendid career with a national championship.

Steambot Chronicles: The Break Ace Ougi

2007-03-22T11:38:00.000-04:00

Watch it. Fear it. Learn it. Abuse it. Mini-game cheese: never attempt Hustler King without it!

Walkthrough: Aa Megami-sama (Chaos-5)

2007-03-18T22:51:00.000-04:00

Brace yourself... this is the final stage! We've finally located Keiichi's most precious memory: it's the ring that rightly belongs on Belldandy's finger. The ring is chained to three magic circles, though, and we have to disable each before Keiichi can reabsorb that memory. Furthermore...

Skuld: If this keeps up, the Spirit of the Silver Watch won't be long for this earth...

The goddesses suggest that we go retrieve that wayward memory and then see what we can do to mend the island. Note that this place, the last stage of the Chaos Zone, has a special name...

Shuuen no Toki (終宴の時/"Hour of the Final Banquet"):

In order to disable the magical shackles on Keiichi's treasured memory, we must journey to miniature versions of the final stage for each of the three goddesses' temporal domains. Luckily, these miniature stages are nowhere near as annoying as the original versions (i.e. Past-4, Present-4, and Future-4). We'll start by tackling mini-Past-4.

Walk up the stairs leading to the purple swap pod and tag in Urd. Head down the rocky passage that appears out of nowhere and you will be transported to mini-Past-4 when you touch the purple magic circle at the end of the path.

Look to the southeast of the starting point for a raised platform inscribed with a purple symbol and strike it with a thunderbolt. Cross the lowered platform and extract the kaminari condition from the Sword Muscle standing near the raised drawbridge. Now look for a switch/antenna mechanism near the center of the stage.

Step onto the switch and use thunder magic on the exposed antenna to flip the stage upside down. Head north and you'll see another raised platform inscribed with a magic symbol.

Strike this platform with a bolt to lower it. Cross the platform and give your kaminari condition to an inert Sude Muscle standing in the northeast corner. This golem should now be equipped with kaminari and susumu.

Activate the Sude Muscle twice with thunderbolts and it will push the wooden turnstile in front of it. Head south and you'll come to another symbol-inscribed platform.

Hit the platform with thunder magic to lower it. Do the same for the symbol-inscribed platform to the southwest. Cross both platforms and look for a Hammer Muscle in the southwest corner of the area.

Extract both the kaminari condition and the miseru action from the Hammer Muscle and backtrack to the Sude Muscle in the northeast corner. Exchange your miseru action for the Sude Muscle's susumu action.

Drop a bolt on the switch/antenna mechanism to flip the stage again. Use thunder magic to lower the symbol-inscribed platform blocking your path to the Sword Muscle. Give the Sword Muscle your kaminari condition and your susumu action (receiving its furu action in return).

Strike the Sword Muscle with a thunderbolt to make it walk up to the drawbridge. Now swap your furu action for the golem's susumu action.

Hit the Sword Muscle with another thunderbolt to make it cut the ropes and lower the drawbridge. Go back to the switch/antenna mechanism and use thunder magic on it to flip the stage. Head for the Sude Muscle in the northeast corner and swap your susumu action for its miseru action. Go back to the switch/antenna mechanism.

Zap the antenna with thunder magic to flip the stage one last time. Cross the lowered drawbridge and look for a Big Muscle to the south. Give this golem your miseru action and it should now be equipped with hito and miseru.

Step inside the Big Muscle's activation radius to trigger its miseru action. Quickly run up the stairs, cross the platform being carried by the Big Muscle, and head up the yellow ramp leading to the green magic chain. As long as you don't dawdle, you'll be able to get to the yellow ramp before the Big Muscle squats back down.

Use thunder magic on the pillar serving as an anchor for the green magic chain. You'll be teleported back to the starting point of the stage (the giant pocket watch with the ring suspended above it).

Tag in Belldandy at the blue swap pod and follow the path leading to the blue magic circle. You'll be teleported to mini-Present-4.

Look for a sorc bot standing on a wooden plank to the east and extract its tsuku action. Now look for a water control mechanism in the center of the platform you're standing on.

Use wind magic on the water control mechanism. Cross the bridge on the southwest end of the platform once the water level stabilizes. Look for a knight bot equipped with the kaze condition and the susumu action. Extract kaze from this robot.

Hit the knight bot with three consecutive wind gusts to rotate it so that it faces the gray switch to the west.

Give your kaze condition back to the knight bot and keep hitting it with wind magic until the robot walks onto the gray switch. Now give your tsuku action to the iron-bound gate to the south.

Step into the iron-bound gate's activation range and head for the other side once the gate lifts itself off the ground. You'll see a mounted mirror mechanism.

Rotate the mounted mirror with wind magic and it will redirect the light ray into (and thus opening) a sun gate. Backtrack to the water control mechanism.

Activate the water control mechanism twice with wind magic to shift the wooden plank with the sorc bot on it. Cross the wooden plank and the L-shaped platform to the southeast. Head through the open sun gate and look for the green magic chain.

Cast wind magic on the green chain to release it. You'll be teleported back to the giant pocket watch.

Tag in Skuld with the red swap pod and follow the path leading to the red magic circle. You'll be teleported to mini-Future-4.

Look for a UFO to your right and extract both its mizu condition and its uku action. Now look for a number light to the north.

Activate this 2-light with a water ball. Try to head south and you'll find your way blocked by the circuitry around a heatsink-like device.

Lob a water ball at the heatsink to cool its circuitry, thus allowing you to pass through. Head back toward the UFO and look for a 2-light to the south.

Activate this second number light with water magic and head for the raised green block. Cross onto the first giant digit (which currently shows a "2") and make your way onto the platform with a colored gate mechanism and a number light showing the digit "4".

Throw a water ball at the colored gate mechanism to raise the red block that'll allow you to cross over to the second giant digit.

Activate the 4-light with water magic and head back onto the first giant digit (which now reads "6"). Cross over to the second giant digit (which currently reads "2") via the raised red block and head for the platform with a R2-san robot on it. Ignore the R2-san and get as close as you can to the number light in the northeast corner of the stage.

Activate this 1-light with water magic and the second giant digit will now show "1" (because the 1-light was a "minus" type that subtracts from the total instead of adding to it). Head down the stairs to the south and go about halfway up the stairs to the east. You should now be within extraction range of a Cublock.

Exchange your mizu condition for the Cublock's hito condition and trade your uku action for its mawaru action. Now stand on the northwest corner of the Cublock and face west. Make sure Skuld is still standing on the platform at the top of the ribbon cable-like stairs (in other words, she should not be standing on top of the Cublock with you).

Have Skuld toss a water ball down the ribbon cable-like stairs. The water ball should land within the Cublock's activation range and prompt it to use its uku action and carry you to the platform above. Get off the Cublock and look for the green magic chain.

Launch a delayed water ball at the green chain and you've finally unlocked Keiichi's most precious memory. Congratulations! You have just finished the game.

The magical shackles fall away from Keiichi's treasured memory like morning mist scattered by a spring breeze... Finally, all four protagonists have recovered their memories.

Keiichi: This ring... I remember it! Belldandy, this is the ring I gave you as a present!
Belldandy: Keiichi-san... Please place it on my finger one more time.
Belldandy: Do it so that nothing can steal this memory again... Do it so that, no matter what happens, we will never forget this moment.
Keiichi: Okay, here we go!

The Spirit of the Silver Watch shows up at the end of the warm and fuzzy moment. She can no longer hold back the rampaging magical energies swirling about the island. The Spirit tells the gang to run away, but they aren't about to oblige.

Keiichi: In order to preserve our bond, we need to sacrifice someone else... there's something wrong with that setup!
Keiichi: Besides, what about our bond with you?
Spirit: Your bond with ... me?
Belldandy: Old bonds always turn into new bonds and, in that way, live forever.
Belldandy: The newborn bond between you and us... why don't we sing about that?
Keiichi: Never give up!
Spirit: You guys...

The goddesses take their positions and use their song magic... to no avail. Space-time is now so warped that their melodies dissipate before reaching their target. Just when all looks lost, a staircase leading to a stable nexus in space-time magically appears. The goddesses try their song magic from the nexus and we get a better result...

Keiichi: The island is returning to normal...
Belldandy: It's really beautiful...
Spirit: That's right, I'm not alone...
Spirit: The island will always be here to keep me company... why did I forget that?
Spirit: It's just as Keiichi-san said...
Spirit: Thank you, o goddesses of time.

With the island restored, the Spirit of the Silver Watch has disappeared.

Keiichi tries to use his Kikouhoujutsujin, but it no longer works now that the island has been returned to normal. Keiichi decides to take the silver watch home and try to find a way to repair it. He promises to one day return it to this island.

Urd: Looks like we just added another member to our household.
Skuld: Oh well, can't help it. Besides, do you really want to say anything contrary to those two (Keiichi and Belldandy) right now?
Urd: Nah... Those two are invincible when it comes to stuff like this, anyhow.

Meanwhile, Hildr exclaims over what a quagmire everything turned out to be. Marller thought that Hildr enjoyed the whole thing and says so...

Hildr: Shut up, you. Oh, and Maa-chan...
Marller: W-What?
Hildr: When the island was about to fall apart, you were the one who sent them that stable nexus, weren't you?
Marller: W-What are you talking about?
Hildr: Hmm... you're not bad at playing innocent.
Hildr: Let my new joint lock submission hold show you the depth of my forgiveness!
Marller: Owwwww! It turned out like this in the end, after all!!

The gang takes a boat off the island and the ending sequence plays.

Our heroes finally return home in the epilogue.

Just as Keiichi muses aloud that his senpai's aren't as mean in real life as they were in those stolen memories, Tamiya and Ootaki show up and bully him around. They showed up hoping to get some of Belldandy's delicious cooking, but they don't mind chasing Keiichi around a bit for now (they're, uh, trying to teach him "proper respect for his elders").

Skuld: By the way, Urd... The Hildr from our memories told me something interesting.
Urd: Oh? What?
Skuld: The identity of the perp who ate my ice cream.
Urd: Hear that, Keiichi? Shouldn't you hurry up and apologize?
Keiichi: *still being chased* Gaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Urd: Or was it Belldandy?
Skuld: There's no way oneesama would do something like that!
Urd: ... ... ... but it was so delicious...
Skuld: So you do remember! Prepare yourself!
Urd: Looks like I have to defend myself, huh!
Skuld: Skuld Bomb!
Urd: Summon Lightning!

Megumi shows up and the Tamiya/Ootaki duo departs. Keiichi finally gets to ask Belldandy about something that's been bothering him...

Keiichi: Remember Hildr's memory? I'm a bit curious as to what you saw there, Belldandy...
Belldandy: I didn't see anything.
Keiichi: Then... does that mean you have no desires, Belldandy?
Belldandy: *laugh* Even I have hopes and desires, you know.
Keiichi: Then...
Belldandy: My hopes have already been realized... because what I want is "to stay by Keiichi-san's side".

Walkthrough: Aa Megami-sama (Chaos-4)

2007-03-18T16:41:00.000-04:00

Konton no Shima - Stage IV:

No intro dialogue for this stage, which is a short and painless affair. You'll see two new devices around here -- a control dial mechanism and a strange contraption consisting of a magic sigil inside a glass case -- but they're not hard to figure out.

When the stage begins, head for the control dial mechanism inside the doorway and trigger a cutscene. This device uses the susumu action to rotate the conveyor belt behind it (which in turn transports the cased sigil contraption to different locations around the belt). Use the red swap pod to the southeast to summon Skuld. Now try to get as close to the cased sigil as you can.

Launch two delayed water balls at the case and the red portion of the magic sigil will disappear. Now step into the control dial's activation radius and watch the cutscene.

Activate the control dial two more times to transport the cased sigil to a position on the northwestern side of the conveyor belt. Use the blue swap pod in the northeast corner of the room and then get as close to the cased sigil as you can.

Have Belldandy launch two gusts of wind at the glass case and the green portion of the sigil will disappear. Backtrack to the control dial mechanism and activate its hito condition two more times. The cased sigil should now be located on the eastern end of the conveyor belt. Tag in Urd at the purple swap pod to the southwest and then get as close to the cased sigil as you can.

You should be able to launch a delayed thunderbolt at the glass case through the obstructing machinery. Do this twice and the final third of the magic sigil will be destroyed. Use the stairs in the northeast corner of the room and keep going until you pass a retry gate. Head for a room that contains a second control dial mechanism and a second cased magic sigil.

Extract the mizu condition equipped on the R2-san robot nearby. Exchange mizu for the control dial's mono condition and then use the red swap pod east of the dial.

Lob a water ball at the control dial and watch the cutscene highlighting its miseru action. Head for the purple swap pod and summon Urd. You'll see the cased sigil doing its best whack-a-mole rendition (i.e. appearing and disappearing rapidly) at the cluster of six holes to the north.

Get as close to the six holes as you can and try to zap the cased sigil with thunderbolts before it disappears down one of the holes. Do this twice and the purple portion of the sigil will disappear. Now exchange your mono condition for the hito condition equipped on the Sword Muscle nearby and extract its tsuku action. Head back to the control dial and swap your tsuku action for its miseru. Cross the red swap pod and look for an iron-bound gate to the northeast. Give the gate your hito condition and exchange your miseru action for its hiraku action.

Step into the iron-bound gate's activation range to unlock an encyclopedia entry. Backtrack toward the control dial and position yourself just east of the red swap pod.

Launch a delayed water ball at the control dial to activate its tsuku action. Watch the cutscene and quickly run to the blue swap pod in the southeast corner. Summon Belldandy and run to a position due east of the glass case holding the magic sigil. You should see a metal beam extending into the glass case. Face the glass case and use Belldandy's magic.

The wind gust will descend onto the metal beam and travel along it until finally hitting the magic sigil. Repeat this entire procedure (tag in Skuld, activate the control dial's tsuku action with water magic, tag in Belldandy, launch wind magic at the metal beam) and the green portion of the magic sigil will disappear for good. Backtrack across the red swap pod (tagging in Skuld in the process) and exchange your hiraku action for the control dial's tsuku action. Give tsuku to the iron-bound gate to the northeast. Backtrack and once again position yourself just east of the red swap pod.

Toss a delayed water ball at the control dial to activate hiraku and watch the cutscene. Now run toward the iron-bound gate.

The gate will use tsuku and lift itself off the ground as soon as you step into its activation range. Now head for a spot on the other side where the retracting metal pillars have given you a window for attacking the cased sigil. Get as close to the magic sigil as you can and try to "bump" Skuld (i.e. run into her on purpose) to the edge of the platform.

Lob two delayed water balls at the cased sigil through the gap between the metal pillars. You'll have to work quickly to get both shots in before the metal pillars close again. By destroying the red portion of the magic sigil, you've opened up the path leading to a second retry gate. Go through the doorway in the northeast corner of the room and ascend the staircase. Once you pass the retry gate, a cutscene will play and let you know that you'll need to manipulate some robots/golems in order to destroy the cased sigils in this final section of the stage. Extract the kaze condition from the knight bot near a cased sigil and head for the control dial mechanism located inside a room to the north. There are three swap pods (one of each color) just inside the doorway.

Use the blue swap pod to summon Belldandy. Now exchange your kaze condition for the control dial's mono condition. Backtrack to the cased sigil surrounded by the knight bot and a sorc bot. Notice that the sorc bot is equipped with the kaze condition and the tsuku action.

Activate the sorc bot's tsuku action with wind magic. Do this two more times and the sorc bot's three fireballs will obliterate the magic sigil for good. Extract the kaze condition from the sorc bot and go back to the control dial mechanism.

Activate the control dial's mawaru action with wind magic. Head back toward the retry gate and you'll see a new cased sigil -- this one is surrounded by a Sude Muscle and a Hammer Muscle. Extract the tsuku action from the Sude Muscle and exchange your kaze condition for the Hammer Muscle's kaminari condition.

Throw three wind gusts at the Hammer Muscle and it will obliterate the magic sigil with three swings of its hammer. Backtrack to the control dial mechanism.

Activate the control dial's mawaru action with another dose of wind magic. Use the purple swap pod near the doorway and backtrack toward the retry gate. You'll see a third cased sigil lodged between a R2-san robot and a Cublock. Give both your kaminari condition and your tsuku action to the Cublock.

Drop a thunderbolt into the Cublock's activation range (but do not zap the Cublock itself) to unlock an encyclopedia entry. Extract the kaminari condition from the Cublock and exchange it for the R2-san's mizu condition.

Drop a delayed thunderbolt into the center of the cased sigil. Since the glass case containing the sigil is located inside the R2-san's circular activation radius, the robot will hover forward, pull out a hammer, and strike the cased sigil.

Repeat this procedure two more times and the R2-san will obliterate this third and final magic sigil. Extract the furu action from the R2-san and head back to the room with the control dial mechanism. Tag in Belldandy at the blue swap pod and give your furu action to the control dial.

Use wind magic on the control dial to unlock an encyclopedia entry. Exit the room through the passage to the north. Ascend the translucent staircase and follow it all the way up to the end of the stage.

Keiichi's missing memories are nowhere in sight.

This entire clock tower was merely an obstacle blocking your path to the place where Keiichi's memories really are. Furthermore...

Skuld: It seems that we haven't really stopped the island from falling apart...
Belldandy: Looks like we can't do it without recovering Keiichi-san's memories.

We'll have to move on and hopefully regain those pesky memories in Chaos-5.

Walkthrough: Aa Megami-sama (Chaos-3)

2007-03-18T00:17:00.002-04:00

It's Hildr time! Marller leads the gang to a pretty exotic (in terms of architecture) location where Hildr's stolen memories appear to be hanging out. Marller continues to begrudge the gang her appreciation... she says that she's just using Keiichi and co. to help out her boss. Got that?

Urd: Fine, fine. Shut up already.
Skuld: Um, is it okay for us to trust Marller?
Marller: Wha? Are you suspicious of me?
Skuld: Of course! Duh!
Belldandy: I believe Marller. I really think that she's a trustworthy comrade. Right, Marller?
Marller: Er... rather than trusting me so implicitly, I think I'd like it better if you were a little suspicious of me...

Keiichi notes that practically no one -- not even demons -- is proof against Belldandy's sincere smile. On that note, we start the search for Hildr's displaced memories -- that mini-demon is the only one who can disable the magic circle fueling all this chaos, says Marller. That and life is going to be horrible for Marller if she lets anything bad happen to the earthly incarnation of Hildr... Demon General Hildr (you know, the "real thing" who's, oh, a thousand times more powerful than chibi-Hildr) would not be amused.

Konton no Shima - Stage III:

Run down the stairs in front of you and you'll see a strange-looking blob of chaos in a clearing beyond the blue swap pod. Approach the blob and it will morph into a table bearing a tea set as well as trigger a cutscene. The cutscene tells you that blobs like this one will morph into a shape that reflects the thoughts/desires of whichever goddess partner is currently active. Since you started the stage with Belldandy, you get the Table of Desire. Turn east and head for the purple swap pod. You'll pass two mounted mirrors -- we'll deal with these later.

Summon Urd at the purple swap pod. Keep going east until you see a clearing with a stone gate and a Hammer Muscle. Extract the hito condition from the Hammer Muscle. Keep heading east and you'll see another Hammer Muscle -- this one is equipped with the kaminari condition and the furu action. Extract furu from this Hammer Muscle and backtrack toward the starting point of the stage. When you get close enough to the blob of chaos, it will morph into a TV of Desire (reflecting Urd's thoughts).

Notice that the TV of Desire emits a light ray that bounces off the two mounted mirrors near the purple swap pod. You've just opened a sun gate you'll need to pass through later. Now walk up to the TV of Desire and exchange your hito condition for its kaze condition.

Stay inside the TV's activation range to watch it use mawaru and record an action for your device encyclopedia. Now strike the TV with a thunderbolt and exchange your furu action for its mawaru action while it's stunned.

Stay inside the TV's activation radius to unlock another action for your encyclopedia. Now use thunder magic on the TV again and swap your mawaru action for its furu action. Head for the knight bot to the west.

This robot is equipped with hito and susumu, so just step into its activation range and make it walk up to the drawbridge. Now walk up to the knight bot and stun it with a thunderbolt. Exchange your furu action for its susumu action.

Stay inside the knight bot's activation range to make it use furu and lower the drawbridge for you. Now stun the knight bot with thunder magic and exchange your kaze condition for its hito condition. Look for a stone gate near a patch of running water and exchange your hito condition for its kaminari condition. Also exchange your susumu action for the gate's miseru action. Swap kaminari and miseru onto the knight bot (in exchange for its kaze and furu).

Now have Urd drop a thunderbolt inside the knight bot's activation radius (but not on the robot itself) to activate miseru and unlock the knight bot's final encyclopedia entry. Exchange your furu action for the knight bot's miseru action and head back into the activation range of the TV of Desire.

Strike the TV with thunder magic and exchange your miseru action for its mawaru action while the device is stunned. Stay inside the TV's activation range to unlock another entry for your encyclopedia. Backtrack to the stone gate near the running water and exchange your mawaru action for its susumu action. Head back to the TV of Desire and stun it with a thunderbolt. Exchange your susumu action for its miseru action.

Stand inside the TV's activation range to unlock another entry for your encyclopedia. Now stun the device with thunder magic and exchange miseru for susumu. Now head for the Hammer Muscle in the southeast corner of the map and give it the susumu action.

Keep striking the Hammer Muscle with thunder magic until it walks up to the moon wall mechanism. Turn around and head for the nearby clearing with the Hammer Muscle and the stone gate. Dump your kaze condition on the Hammer Muscle there and extract the tsuku action from the stone gate. Go back to the Hammer Muscle near the moon wall mechanism and give it tsuku.

Activate this Hammer Muscle with thunder magic to make it use tsuku and knock down the moon wall. Exchange your susumu action for its tsuku action and backtrack to the TV of Desire. Hit the TV with a thunderbolt and exchange your tsuku action for its miseru action.

Stay inside the TV's activation range to make it use tsuku (thus unlocking another encyclopedia entry). Now head past the knight bot to the west and look for an antenna mechanism.

Drop a delayed thunderbolt on the antenna and a spark will cause the nearby weathervane mechanism to rotate. Let the patch of running water carry you to the other side of the stone gate. You'll come to a crossroads: the path to the west leads to a water pump mechanism; the path to the north leads to an inner sanctum containing the photo mechanism from Past-3 (you can't access this area yet); and the path to the east leads to another stone gate. Take the path east and exchange your miseru action for the stone gate's hiraku action.

Now head for the water pump mechanism and drop another delayed thunderbolt on the antenna mechanism once you're in range (thus shifting the current of the running water once again). Let the patch of running water carry you back toward the knight bot. Go back to the TV of Desire and stun it with a thunderbolt. Exchange your hiraku action for its tsuku action.

Stay inside the TV's activation range to unlock yet another entry for your encyclopedia. Now stun it with more thunder magic and get your hiraku action back. Backtrack to the stone gate near the running water and give it your hiraku action (receiving its mawaru action in return). Now head toward the starting point of the stage and use the blue swap pod there to summon Belldandy. Head for the mounted mirror near the purple swap pod to the east.

Use Belldandy's wind magic on the mounted mirror. This will rotate the mirror to an angle that will allow us to open a second sun gate in a short while. Backtrack to the stone gate near the running water.

Since this gate is now equipped with hito and hiraku, it will open for you as soon as you step into its activation range. Pass through and head for the water pump mechanism.

Use wind magic on the water pump mechanism to drain the flooded inner sanctum. Backtrack to the starting point of the stage and use the purple swap pod to the east.

Head back toward the TV of Desire and the light ray emanating from the TV will hit the (recently rotated) mounted mirror near the purple swap pod, opening a second sun gate. Now go through the stone gate near the running water and extract both hito and hiraku from it once you're through the gate. Head into the inner sanctum.

Step on the pedestal to the east and the photo mechanism will take a snapshot of Urd and open the sealed magic gate. Beyond the magic gate is a staircase that leads to the end of the stage, but a cutscene will inform you that we must first bridge a gap in the path. Head back outside the inner sanctum and look for the stone gate guarding the path heading east. Give this gate both your hito condition and your hiraku action. Turn around and let the running water carry you back to the knight bot standing near the drawbridge. Exchange your miseru action for the knight bot's furu action.

Now hit the antenna mechanism nearby with another delayed thunderbolt and change the direction of the water current one more time. Let the running water carry you to the other side and head for the stone gate to the east of the stairs leading into the inner sanctum.

Since this gate has been outfitted with hito and hiraku, simply step into its activation range and go through the gate when it opens. You'll see a Hammer Muscle equipped with the kaminari condition and the susumu action.

Keep dropping thunderbolts on the Hammer Muscle to make the golem walk up to the sun wall mechanism in front of it. Now exchange your furu action for the Hammer Muscle's susumu action. Head back toward the inner sanctum and extract both hito and hiraku from the stone gate once you've passed through it. Give both hito and hiraku to the stone gate near the patch of running water. You should now be equipped with only the mawaru action.

Step into the stone gate's activation range to open it. Go through and exchange your mawaru action for the miseru action equipped on the knight bot. Head for the Hammer Muscle in the southeast corner of the map and go through the lowered moon wall. Use the stairs to your left to descend into a pit containing a R2-san robot and a rotating pillar mechanism.

Step into the R2-san's activation range and it will charge toward you in an attempt to swing its hammer at you. This will take the robot out of the rotating pillar's activation range and allow the pillar to return to a compact position, giving you a platform across a gap in the floor above. Stun the R2-san with thunder magic and exchange your miseru action for its furu action.

Stay inside the R2-san's activation radius to unlock an entry for your encyclopedia. Now stun the robot with thunder magic and extract both hito and miseru from it. Give both hito and miseru to the rotating pillar nearby.

Step into the rotating pillar's activation radius to unlock another action for your device encyclopedia. Extract the miseru action from the rotating pillar and go back up the stairs. Exchange your mono condition for the kaminari condition equipped on the Hammer Muscle and head through the gap that's been newly bridged by the rotating pillar. Follow the path through a sun gate and keep going north until you come to an area with a blob of chaos and a rotating bridge platform. Head for the blob of chaos and it will morph into a TV of Desire. Exchange your kaminari condition for the TV's mizu condition.

Now drop a thunderbolt somewhere inside the TV's activation radius (but not on the TV itself) to make the device use its uku action and unlock an encyclopedia entry. Now exchange your mizu condition for the TV's kaminari condition and swap your miseru action for its uku action. Step onto the rotating bridge platform and swap your kaminari condition for the kaze condition equipped on the bridge motor mechanism.

Zap the bridge motor with three thunderbolts in order to rotate the platform three times. Now exchange your uku action for the bridge motor's mawaru action.

Zap the bridge motor with another bolt to unlock an entry for your encyclopedia. Now get off the platform and head for the TV of Desire. Exchange your mawaru action for the TV's miseru action and head back onto the rotating bridge platform. Give the bridge motor your miseru action.

Hit the bridge motor with thunder magic to unlock yet another entry for your device encyclopedia. Now backtrack all the way to the Hammer Muscle near the lowered moon wall mechanism at the southeast corner of the stage. Go down to the pit containing the R2-san robot and the rotating pillar device. Dump your kaze condition on the R2-san and exchange your uku action for the rotating pillar's mawaru action.

Step into the rotating pillar's activation range to unlock one last entry for this device in your encyclopedia. Now extract both hito and uku from the rotating pillar and head back toward the TV of Desire near the rotating bridge platform. Exchange your uku action for the TV's mawaru action and then swap your hito condition for its mizu condition. Backtrack to the Hammer Muscle at the lowered moon wall and exchange your mizu condition for its mono condition. Go downstairs into the pit and dump the mono condition on the rotating pillar. Pick up your mizu condition from the Hammer Muscle upstairs and head for the nearby clearing that contains a stone gate and a Hammer Muscle. Dump your mawaru action on the Hammer Muscle there. Backtrack toward the starting point of the stage and position yourself near the TV of Desire.

Zap the TV with a thunderbolt and exchange your mizu condition for its hito condition. Go through the stone gate near the patch of running water and dump hito on the stone gate east of the stairs leading into the inner sanctum. You should now have zero conditions or actions equipped. Make your way back down into the pit with the R2-san robot and the rotating pillar device. This time, head up the staircase on the west side of the pit and cross the raised sun wall mechanism. Turn around and face the Hammer Muscle below -- this golem should be equipped with the kaminari condition and the furu action we swapped onto it earlier.

Strike the golem with a thunderbolt to make it knock down the sun wall and raise the moon wall to the east of the ledge you're standing on. Cross the raised moon wall and use the transporter pad.

After you re-materialize, head up the stairs in front of you and use the blue swap pod. Now go back down the stairs and follow the path leading to a water pump mechanism.

Use Belldandy's wind magic on the water pump mechanism. Now backtrack and let the two-way transporter pad beam you out of this area. You'll materialize on a ledge near the pit containing the R2-san and the rotating pillar. Take the stairs down to the pit and look to the south for a staircase leading down to a red swap pod.

Use the red swap pod to summon Skuld. Now keep heading north across the formerly flooded floors and you'll eventually emerge in the drained pit under the rotating bridge platform. Use the staircase to the northwest to ascend to ground level. The blob of chaos nearby will conform to Skuld's thoughts and become a Toy of Desire (it looks like a UFO/hover car).

The Toy of Desire is equipped with hito and uku, which means it will float away from you whenever you enter its activation range. Try to maneuver it onto the rotating bridge platform.

From there, chase the Toy of Desire off the other terminus of the bridge platform and through the open sun gate. Now chase the Toy down the path to the west until it hits a dead end.

Make sure the Toy of Desire is positioned at the northwest corner of the path -- we'll turn it into a Table of Desire later and use it to bridge the gap in the path above. Now let's record some encyclopedia entries. Head back onto the rotating bridge platform and extract the miseru action from the bridge motor. Backtrack to the red swap pod below and ascend the stairs in the southwest corner of that area. Approach the blob of chaos near the starting point of the stage and it will morph into another Toy of Desire.

Have Skuld launch a water ball at the Toy to make it use its tsuku action. Now exchange your miseru action for its tsuku action.

Use water magic on the Toy of Desire again to witness its miseru action. Head for the knight bot to the west and extract its mawaru action. Give mawaru to the Toy of Desire.

Launch a water ball at the Toy and watch it use mawaru. Now go through the stone gate near the patch of running water (this gate should still be equipped with hito and hiraku) and extract the susumu action from the stone gate to the east of the stairs leading into the inner sanctum. Backtrack toward the starting point of the stage and give susumu to the Toy of Desire.

Hit the Toy with a water ball and watch it use its susumu action. Go back to the pit with the R2-san robot and the rotating pillar device. Extract the furu action from the R2-san and give this action to the Toy of Desire near the starting point of the stage.

Use water magic on the Toy to activate its furu action. Extract the hiraku action from the stone gate near the patch of running water and swap this action onto the Toy of Desire as well.

Throw a water ball at the Toy to record one final action into your device encyclopedia. Summon Belldandy with the blue swap pod near the starting point of the stage and head toward the knight bot near the lowered drawbridge. Let the running water carry you to the other side of the stone gate and head into the inner sanctum. Exit the chamber through the (open) magic gate to the east and ascend the spiral staircase.

There should now be a Table of Desire bridging the gap in the path. Cross the Table and keep ascending the spiral staircase. You'll clear the stage once you reach the top.

You can't actually see Hildr's stolen memory -- it is (according to Belldandy) a crystal of pure curiosity.

Instead of taking a specific physical form, Hildr's memory takes the shape of each person's individual desires. Skuld sees ice cream, Urd sees a state-of-the-art HDD recorder, and Keiichi sees...

The gang returns the stolen memory to Hildr, thus restoring the arch-demon back to normal. Hildr calls out the Spirit of the Silver Watch, and we've finally gathered all the players in this ongoing drama.

Keiichi: In any case, Hildr, please return the island to normal!
Hildr: No.
Keiichi: Huh?!
Hildr: It's too much trouble, so... no.

The Spirit of the Silver Watch explains that she was about to cease functioning, so she called in Hildr and Marller to fix her.

Hildr: So yeah, we were just executing the terms of the contract we made with her. Now how did it turn out this badly?
Keiichi: That's really irresponsible!

The Spirit formally terminates her contract with Hildr and agrees to accept the penalties for doing so.

Now that the contract has been terminated, the island has been returned to the condition it was in before the whole thing started -- all we see is a broken landscape and an overgrown clock tower that symbolizes the Spirit's despair. The Spirit tells the gang that the island is falling apart under the cumulative stress of her rampaging magic power combined with the power of Keiichi's memories. She wants everyone to leave the island and save themselves, but our heroes aren't about to oblige.

Keiichi: Um... sorry, but...
Belldandy: We won't run away from this place.
Keiichi: There's still something left for us to do. We've got to help the Spirit of the Silver Watch.

Hildr wasn't about to get involved in this sentimental nonsense, so she grabs Marller and leaves. Keiichi and the three goddess stay behind to embark on the gargantuan task of healing the Spirit of the Silver Watch -- and her island.

Walkthrough: Aa Megami-sama (Chaos-2)

2007-03-17T01:07:00.000-04:00

We've come to retrieve Marller's lost memories. Skuld doesn't think this is a good idea.

Skuld: Didn't they create this mess in the first place? They're just reaping what they sow.

Keiichi is a nice guy, though, so he's going to help Marller and Hildr anyway. Besides, everyone wants to help the Spirit of the Silver Watch, and more manpower should prove useful when we get around to doing that...

Konton no Shima - Stage II:

This stage is fairly quick and painless... as long as you figure out what's going on. The black Stri-kun droids from the Future Zone (the ones shaped like -- and act like -- baseball pitching machines) play huge roles here.

Head for the Hammer Muscle and strike the golem with thunder magic. The Hammer Muscle will use its susumu action to move away from the staircase it's blocking. Extract the kaminari condition from the Hammer Muscle and go down the stairs. Give your kaminari condition to the iron-bound gate bearing the hiraku action (but no condition).

Strike the iron-bound gate with a thunderbolt to open it. Extract the kaminari condition and the hiraku action from the gate once you're on the other side. You should see a section of wall between the Stri-kun droid and a mounted "target" device for the Stri-kun's projectiles.

Run toward the home plate-like symbol near the Stri-kun and it will lob a bomb at you. Get out of the way and the bomb will knock down the wall. A cutscene will play. If you tag home plate again, you'll notice that the Stri-kun's bomb projectile will now bounce off the mounted target device and hit the iron-bound gate. We need to do a fancy redirection of this projectile to get out of this part of the stage. Let's start by giving the kaminari condition and the hiraku action to the iron-bound gate in the path of the bomb projectile.

Open the iron-bound gate with a bolt and use the blue swap pod on the other side. Look for a second mounted target device.

Use wind magic on the device to rotate the mounted target. Now look for a third mounted target device between a section of wall and a wooden gate.

Use wind magic to rotate the mounted target on this device as well. Now tag in Urd with the purple swap pod nearby and let her thunder magic help you go back through the iron-bound gate (the one equipped with kaminari and hiraku).

Tag home plate to make the Stri-kun lob another bomb projectile at you. The bomb will bounce off the first mounted target device and head for the iron-bound gate.

Run ahead and use Urd's magic on the iron-bound gate, thus opening the gate before the bomb hits it. The projectile will fly through the gate, bounce off two more mounted target devices, and finally knock down the wall between the wooden gate and a Hammer Muscle. Extract both the mizu condition and the hiraku action from the Hammer Muscle and give hiraku to the wooden gate nearby. Now use the blue swap pod to summon Belldandy.

Use Belldandy's magic to rotate the mounted target closest to the wooden gate. Now swap your mizu condition for the kaminari condition equipped on the iron-bound gate and give kaminari to the wooden gate. Summon Urd with the purple swap pod.

Have Urd drop a thunderbolt on the wooden gate to open it. Notice that the gate will remain open because there's a mounted target lodged inside its activation radius. Tag in Skuld at the red swap pod near the section of wall blocking your path to a retry gate. Now step on home plate again to trigger another bomb toss by the Stri-kun droid.

Quickly run toward the iron-bound gate and open it with a water ball. Stay inside the gate's activation range to make sure the projectile goes through.

The bomb will then bounce off two mounted targets, pass through the open wooden gate, bounce off another mounted target near the red swap pod, and finally demolish the wall in front of the retry gate. Pass through the retry gate and extract both kaminari and furu from the Hammer Muscle right in front of you. Look for a blue swap pod and use it to summon Belldandy.

Use Belldandy's wind magic on the colored gate mechanism nearby to lower all green gates in the area. Summon Urd with the purple swap pod, go down the stairs, and give your kaminari condition to the Hammer Muscle standing near an item. This golem should now be equipped with the kaminari condition and the susumu action.

Collect the item. Now drop two thunderbolts on the Hammer Muscle to make it advance toward a stone wall. Exchange your furu action for the golem's susumu action.

Strike the Hammer Muscle with thunder magic to make it use furu and demolish the wall. Now get as close to the colored gate mechanism as you can.

Drop a delayed thunderbolt on the colored gate mechanism to lower the red gates in the area. Run up the stairs and tag in Belldandy at the blue swap pod. Now touch home plate to make the Stri-kun lob a bomb toward the raised green gate. Run toward the red swap pod and you should come into targeting range of the colored gate mechanism two floors below.

Use Belldandy's wind magic on the mechanism shortly before the bomb passes through the lowered red gate. By the time the gust of wind lowers the green gate, the bomb should be through the (now raised) red gate. Tag in Skuld with the red swap pod.

Lob a delayed water ball at the colored gate mechanism right as the bomb passes through the lowered green gate. This will lower the blue gate at the end of the path.

The bomb projectile will fly through the lowered blue gate and destroy a stone wall blocking your path to a second retry gate. Run through the retry gate and the purple swap pod. A cutscene will play when you approach a device that looks suspiciously like the Vaus vessel from Arkanoid. This thing is known as a Pinbomber. Now head for a colored gate mechanism near a walled-off blue swap pod.

Strike the gate mechanism with a thunderbolt to lower the red gates in the area. Notice that there are two Stri-kun droids in the area. Head for the one to the east (according to your map) and tag its home plate sensor.

The bomb projectile fired by the Stri-kun will bounce off a blue gate and demolish the wall near the blue swap pod. Use this swap pod to summon Belldandy.

Use wind magic on the colored gate mechanism to lower all green gates in the area. Step on the home plate sensor of the Stri-kun droid to the west.

The Stri-kun will fire a bomb that destroys a wall in the northeast corner of the area. Now run toward the three iron-bound gates at the south end of the area and watch the cutscene. The gate to the west is useless, so extract its hiraku action. Now run down the path that leads to the northeast corner of this area, turn the corner, and head for the Pinbomber right next to the Stri-kun droid. Exchange your hiraku action for the Pinbomber's susumu action.

Step into the Pinbomber's activation range to watch it use hiraku (unlocking an entry for your device encyclopedia in the process). Step away and exchange your susumu action for its hiraku action.

Activate the Pinbomber's hito condition again and watch it use the susumu action to slide into a different position. Extract the hito condition and the susumu action from the Pinbomber. Now backtrack along the path and give hito to the Pinbomber to the northwest.

Step into this Pinbomber's activation radius to watch it use furu and unlock an encyclopedia entry. Step away and exchange your susumu action for its furu action.

Activate the Pinbomber's hito condition to make it use susumu. Extract the hito condition from the Pinbomber once it slides into proper position. Now tag in Urd at either of the two purple swap pods in the area. Run toward the Stri-kun to the east and trip its home plate sensor. Run to the colored gate mechanism.

Use thunder magic on the gate mechanism as soon as the bomb projectile bounces off a blue gate and a red gate in succession. You'll lower a second red gate in the path of the projectile, thus allowing the flying bomb to blow up the stone wall behind the second red gate and grant you access to the red swap pod behind the stone wall. Head due south and look for the series of three iron-bound gates. Give your hito condition to the gate to the east -- this gate should now be equipped with hito and hiraku. Backtrack and use the blue swap pod.

Use wind magic on the colored gate mechanism nearby to lower the green gates in the area. Head for the red swap pod to the east and summon Skuld. Trip the home plate sensor for the Stri-kun to the west and run for the colored gate mechanism as soon as the droid shoots out a bomb projectile.

Toss a water ball at the gate mechanism to lower all blue gates and raise all green gates. Now head straight for the three iron-bound gates to the south. The flying bomb should be hot on your tail after bouncing off the two Pinbombers, two walls, and a raised green gate.

Step into the activation radius of the eastern gate to open it and let the bomb projectile fly through. The bomb will demolish a stone wall near the platform containing Marller's lost memory. Extract the hito condition from the eastern gate and give it to the middle gate of the three. Backtrack and use the blue swap pod.

Use wind magic on the colored gate mechanism nearby to lower all green gates -- and raise all blue gates -- in the area. Note that there is a lone iron-bound gate in a nearby semi-enclosed area surrounded by two conveyor belts. Conveniently, this gate is already equipped with hito and hiraku. Now go tag the home plate sensor for the Stri-kun droid to the east. Dash for the iron-bound gate in the semi-enclosed area as soon as the droid lets fly with its bomb projectile.

Activate the gate's hito condition to open it. Hold it open until the flying bomb passes through. Now run straight for the three gates to the south and step into the activation radius for the middle gate.

Hold the gate open for the bomb projectile, which will fly through and knock down a second wall along the path leading to the platform with the floating memory. Head along that path and you'll see an item to the southwest of that series of three gates.

Collect the item and follow the path to the end of the stage.

Marller's stolen memory comes in the form of a block kuzushi game (thus explaining the motif for this entire stage).

Considering the relative importance of their most precious memories, the goddesses are having a little difficulty comprehending the fact that Marller's most treasured remembrance is a... block breaking... video... game...

Skuld: This is Marller's "most precious memory"?
Urd: I-I'm having trouble believing it as well.

Marller refuses to accept the memory on account of it possibly being a trap. She waxes defiant at the goddesses and says that she'd die before becoming a pawn in their games.

Marller: I'm content to go down with this island... however, I'm going to take you all with me!

Urd reminds Marller that she wasn't quite so defiant back when Urd handed her a record losing streak in the block kuzushi game. With some help from Keiichi, Urd force-feeds the memory to Marller, returning our demon friend to normal. Marller refuses to say "thank you" or even "sorry", but it's pretty clear that she appreciates the help. It's time to do the same for Hildr.

By collecting all four items in the Chaos Zone, we've unlocked the final bonus cutscene in the game. We seem to have found the Bottle of Maou za Hakushon and released "Lord of Terror" Urd...

Urd: Haahahahahaha!! That's right! The rightful heir to the Lord of Terror, Majin Urd, has returned! Prostrate before me, you fools! Revere me!
Marller: O-Oooh! Everybody, prostrate yourselves!
Urd: Okay, now give me your wallet.
Marller: W-Wallet? I'm not carrying one right now...
Urd: WHAT?!
Marller: Yikes! Forgive me!
Urd: Then how about you bring me some junmai daiginjou (純米大吟醸 - a type of sake)?

Belldandy tells Urd to stop playing around, and Marller gets all confused. Apparently she couldn't quite figure out that this "Bottle of Maou za Hakushon" is merely a memory and therefore does not carry within it the spirit of the Lord of Terror. In other words, Urd was faking it in order to extort Marller for money and alcohol.

Walkthrough: Aa Megami-sama (Chaos-1)

2007-03-14T23:45:00.000-04:00

Hildr is pretty bleepin' mad that Marller screwed up again. While she berates "Maa-chan", the Spirit of the Silver Watch has finally decided that her demon friends are overdoing it... and says so. Hildr pretty much laughs in the Spirit's face (everyone's favorite bite-sized demon avatar has a signed contract over this place, so she feels that she can do pretty much whatever she wants).

Hildr: Now then, let me readjust this island's difficulty setting... the fun has only just begun, heh.

The Spirit really goes berserk after that... and apparently she's the current keeper of Keiichi's wayward memories. The Spirit lets her power run amok and the entire island goes totally whacko. All sorts of stuff from different temporal domains are now jumbled together, and it's this veritable minefield of debris we'll have to wade through to get Keiichi's memories back. Thus begins Konton no Shima (混沌の島/Island in Chaos), hereafter referred to as the Chaos Zone.

NOTE: The character encyclopedia now has an extra entry for the Spirit of the Silver Watch: some time ago, a woman living on this island gave a silver watch to her beloved as a present. That watch has gone sentient and the Spirit is its avatar/physical manifestation.

Konton no Shima - Stage I:

The goddesses sense an absolute maelstrom of power swirling about the center of the island. The magical energies powering the island have officially gone bonkers -- time and space have gone "melting pot" on us.

Keiichi: Hey, hey! Are my memories okay?

Belldandy can't bring herself to say it, so Skuld does: Keiichi's memories are probably not "okay" with all this chaos roiling around them. As you'd expect, Keiichi gets really worried and the gang rushes headlong toward the center of the island.

You'll notice that all three goddesses are locked into wearing their goddess uniforms the first time you tackle this stage. This stage is pretty convoluted, but it does offer us an opportunity to finally complete some of our device encyclopedia entries. Go down the stairs in front of you and head for a blue swap pod as the stage begins.

Use the purple swap pod to the north to summon Urd. Now ride the long patch of flowing sands and try to get off at the gap that leads to an iron-bound gate.

This gate is equipped with the mizu condition and the tsuku action. Extract the tsuku action. Now step back onto the flowing sands and let it deposit you near a stone gate. This gate is equipped with the hito condition and the hiraku action, so simply step into its activation range and go through the gate when it opens. Extract the hito condition from the stone gate once you're on the other side. Now look for an enclosure that contains a sorc bot, a green obstacle, a blue gate, and a colored gate mechanism.

Get as close to the sorc bot as possible and have Urd strike it with a delayed thunderbolt. Exchange your tsuku action for the sorc bot's mawaru action.

Stay inside the sorc bot's activation radius and it will use the tsuku action. The resulting fireball will destroy the green obstacle in front of the sorc bot. Stun the sorc bot with another bolt and exchange your mawaru action for its tsuku. Make your way back to the iron-bound gate. Exchange your hito condition for the gate's mizu condition and give it your tsuku action.

Step inside the iron-bound gate's activation radius and go through to the other side. Now try to run northwest against the current of the flowing sands in front of you and you should be able to make it to the platform containing the red swap pod. Tag in Skuld and go back to the stone gate. Give the gate your mizu condition.

Lob a water ball at the stone gate to open it. Run toward the blue swap pod in the corner and you should eventually come into targeting range of the colored gate mechanism.

Have Skuld lob a delayed water ball at the gate mechanism (over the low wall) to lower the blue gate. Backtrack toward the sorc bot.

Step into the sorc bot's activation radius to make it use the mawaru action. The robot's wind magic will hit the colored gate mechanism and lower the green gate blocking the path to the retry gate. Now use water magic to open the stone gate and go right through when it opens.

Lob a water ball at the patch of flowing sands in front of you and cross over to the other side. You'll step into the iron-bound gate's activation radius and make it use its tsuku action. Go through the gate and lob a water ball at another patch of flowing sands. Cross the sands while it's immobile and pass through the retry gate.

Tag the iron-bound gate to the right with a water ball and go through the gate when it uses the tsuku action. Extract the mizu condition from the iron-bound gate once you're on the other side. Walk down the stairs and exchange your mizu condition for the kaze condition equipped on the stone gate to your right.

Open the stone gate with water magic and collect the item on the other side. Go back through the stone gate and extract its mizu condition and its hiraku action. Go back up the stairs, give the iron-bound gate mizu, and activate its tsuku action with water magic. Extract the mizu condition from the iron-bound gate once you're on the other side. Now give mizu and hiraku to the stone gate to the left of the iron-bound gate.

Lob a water ball at the stone gate to open it. Look for a blue swap pod down some stairs to the left and use it. Now use the purple swap pod in a corner to summon Urd. Look for a UFO nearby.

Strike the UFO with thunder magic and extract both hito and uku from it. Head back to the stone gate beyond the blue swap pod. Exchange your hito condition for its mizu condition and your uku action for its hiraku action.

Stay inside the stone gate's activation radius to unlock the final missing entry for this device in your encyclopedia. Now exchange your hiraku action for its uku action and go through this gate. Extract hito from the stone gate once you're on the other side. Give the iron-bound gate nearby your hito condition and exchange your uku action for its tsuku action.

Step into the iron-bound gate's activation range to unlock another entry for your encyclopedia. Now extract the hito condition from this gate and give it to the stone gate to its left. Step through the stone gate, extract hito from it, and head toward the UFO nearby.

Give both hito and tsuku to the UFO and stay inside its activation range to unlock an encyclopedia entry. Use the purple swap pod in the corner to summon Urd. Stun the UFO with thunder magic and extract the tsuku action from it. Now look for a R2-san robot nearby. Position yourself to the southwest of the R2-san.

Now step into the R2-san's activation radius to make it run away from you and leave the line of sight between the sorc bot and the green obstacle. Run up to the R2-san and stun it with a thunderbolt.

Exchange your tsuku action for the R2-san's susumu action and stay inside the robot's activation range to unlock another entry for your encyclopedia. Stun the R2-san with another bolt and extract both its hito condition and tsuku action. Now give both hito and tsuku to the sorc bot in the corner.

Activate the sorc bot's hito condition to make it shoot a fireball at the green obstacle. Once the obstacle has been demolished, stun the sorc bot with thunder magic and extract tsuku. Deposit your mono condition with the R2-san nearby and extract the hito condition from the UFO in the area. Go back up to the stone gate near the blue swap pod and exchange your hito condition for its mizu condition.

Go through the stone gate and exchange your tsuku action for the iron-bound gate's uku action. Backtrack to the R2-san and extract both mono and susumu from it (giving it mizu and uku in return). Give your susumu action to the sorc bot in the corner.

Stay inside the sorc bot's activation range and "walk" it forward until it hits a dead end. Tag in Urd at the purple swap pod and stun the sorc bot with thunder magic. Extract the susumu action from the sorc bot and then exchange your mono condition for its hito condition. Go get the uku action from the R2-san nearby (trading it your susumu action). Make sure that the R2-san is reasonably close to the sorc bot.

Give the uku action to the sorc bot and it will levitate off the ground as long as the R2-san is sitting inside its activation range. Extract the susumu action from the R2-san. Now go back up the stairs near the blue swap pod and head for the purple swap pod near the floating sorc bot. You'll notice that the sorc bot is now shielding you from the robo-gun device overlooking the swap pod.

Use the purple swap pod. Now go through the stone gate and give your hito condition to the iron-bound gate.

Activate the iron-bound gate and pass under it when it uses the tsuku action. Head down the stairs and look for the knight bot standing in the activation radius of a Cublock equipped with mono and uku. Stun the knight bot with a delayed thunderbolt and exchange your susumu action for its mawaru action.

Stay inside the knight bot's activation radius to make it use susumu. The knight bot will leave the Cublock's activation range, causing the Cublock -- and the robo-gun mounted on top of it -- to crash to the ground. Now stun the knight bot with another delayed bolt and extract the hito condition from it. Backtrack toward the levitating sorc bot and make sure you tag in Urd with the purple swap pod in the southeast corner of that area.

Stun the sorc bot with a bolt and exchange your mawaru action for its uku action. Backtrack through the two gates and head back to the knight bot. Exchange your uku action for the knight bot's susumu action and then give it your hito condition.

Stay inside the knight bot's activation range to watch it use uku and unlock an entry for your device encyclopedia. Go back through both gates and head for the retry gate to the north. You'll enter the third and final leg of this stage. Tag in Urd at the purple swap pod to your left. Now step onto the transporter pad in the southeast corner of the area. You'll re-materialize near an item.

Collect the item. You'll notice that you're standing on the eastern side of a fortified gate powered by two gears and that the gears themselves are powered by the two knight bots standing on top of them. Look for another knight bot near a red swap pod inside an inaccessible (for the moment) enclosure.

Have Urd drop thunderbolts into this knight bot's activation range to make it walk toward you. Grab the kaminari condition from the knight bot once it walks into extraction range. Now go up the stairs and give kaminari to the knight bot standing on top of the gear.

Drop a bolt into the knight bot's activation range (but not on the knight bot itself) to make the robot use its mawaru action. The gear beneath it will rotate and open half of the fortified gate. Extract the mawaru action from the knight bot and exchange it for the susumu action equipped on the knight bot inside the enclosure. Give susumu to the knight bot standing on top of the gear.

Now use the transporter pad directly below the gear. Once you re-materialize, go up the stairs and extract the susumu action from the knight bot standing atop a second gear. Go back down the stairs and give susumu to a Cublock inside an enclosure (the Cublock is equipped with the kaminari condition). Repeatedly drop delayed thunderbolts into the activation range of the Cublock to advance it as close to the raised red gate as you can manage. Now extract the kaminari condition from the Cublock and give it to the knight bot standing on the second gear. You'll receive the mono condition -- immediately give it to the Cublock inside the enclosure.

Go up the stairs again and use the red swap pod. Use the transporter pad directly below the second gear to head back to the eastern side of the area. Position yourself near the colored gate mechanism on the other side of the low wall.

Have Skuld lob a water ball at the mechanism to lower the blue gate. Now use the transporter pad that leads back to the southeastern side of the area. Run across the purple swap pod and use the transporter pad in the southwestern corner.

Once you re-materialize, head for the transporter pad directly below the western gear of the fortified gate mechanism. You'll be beamed to a pad below the eastern gear. Walk through the lowered blue gate and extract the mawaru action from the knight bot nearby.

Have Urd drop a thunderbolt on the colored gate mechanism near the knight bot. Run to the lowered red gate and you should now be within extraction range of the Cublock on the other side.

Exchange your mawaru action for the Cublock's susumu action. Turn around and summon Skuld at the red swap pod. Dump your susumu action on the inert knight bot.

Use water magic on the colored gate mechanism. Head through the lowered blue gate and use the transporter pad. Extract mawaru from the Cublock inside the enclosure and give this action to the knight bot standing atop the western gear of the fortified gate mechanism. The knight bot should now be equipped with the kaminari condition and the mawaru action.

Use the transporter pad at the southwest corner of this platform and head for the purple swap pod when you materialize. Tag in Urd and use the transporter in the southwest corner to go back to the area with the knight bot standing atop the western gear. Go up the stairs and get inside the knight bot's activation range.

Drop a bolt somewhere inside the knight bot's activation radius (again, do not hit the knight bot itself) to make the robot turn the gear and completely unlock the fortified gate. Now use the transporter pad at the southwest corner of the platform. Run across the purple swap pod and look for a transporter pad to the left of a colored gate mechanism.

Step onto this transporter pad and head through the fortified gate to clear the stage.

Keiichi calls for Hildr and Marller to give him back his memories... but they aren't here.

The Spirit of the Silver Watch is present, however.

Spirit of the Silver Watch: Please believe me... this island didn't use to look this way. This was once a most beautiful island.

Keiichi and co. discover that Hildr and Marller have been ...disabled... and are now floating around a giant magic circle at the center of the island. In order to rescue our demon "friends", we'll have to recover their lost memories. On to Chaos-2!

Aa Megami-sama: Extra Cutscenes

2007-03-14T23:44:00.000-04:00

There are three variants for each of the first two "intermission" cutscenes between zones, depending on which goddess's zone you cleared right before that intermission sequence. The zone sequence utilized in my playthrough (Past -> Present -> Future ->) earned me Urd's scene for the first intermission and Belldandy's scene for the second intermission. Here are the other variations:

First Intermission:

This scene plays if you cleared the Present Zone first.

This scene plays if you cleared the Future Zone first.

Second Intermission:

This scene plays if you cleared either the Present Zone or the Future Zone first and the Past Zone second.

This scene plays if you cleared either the Past Zone or the Present Zone first and the Future Zone second.

Walkthrough: Aa Megami-sama (Future-4)

2007-03-13T19:14:00.000-04:00

The final stage of Skuld's domain looks like a giant digital clock...

Marller: Tsk, tsk, tsk! It's no ordinary digital clock!

We'll need to overcome yet another one of Marller's "masterpiece" puzzles in order to break the seal on Skuld's most precious memory. Here we go.

Mirai wo Omou AREA - Stage IV:

This stage requires you to deal with some simple math problems. Circuits connect a series of water-powered "number" lights to each of the four giant digits, which display the sum of all activated number lights connected to that particular digit. The first couple of digits are fairly easy to solve, though the latter two require a little thought.

Walk down the ribbon cable-like stairs and head for a number light showing the digit "1".

Lob a water ball at this light to turn it on. The first giant digit will now show a "1". Turn around and head for a number light showing the digit "2".

Lob a delayed water ball across the gap to turn on this 2-light. The giant digit now shows "3" -- the sum of the two lights you turned on so far. Walk across the giant digit and look for a color-coded gate mechanism in a pit to the north.

Throw a delayed water ball at the colored gate mechanism to raise a red block you'll need to cross to get to the second giant digit. Now turn around and head for the number lights on the platform to the east.

Turn on the 2-light with a water ball. The first giant digit now shows "5". Now look for the 1-light and notice that, unlike the others, this number light subtracts instead of adds to the numeric total displayed by the giant digit.

Turn on the 1-light with water magic. Now walk across the first giant digit (which should show a "4") and you'll notice that the raised red block bridges the gap between the first giant digit and the second giant digit. Get over on the second giant digit and head north across a raised red block. You'll see another number light with the digit "1".

Lob a delayed water ball at the 1-light to turn it on. Go down the stairs and tag in Urd at the purple swap pod. Go up the stairs on the other side and you should be on a platform containing two number lights and a red swap pod. Position yourself by the 2-light and you should see a Cublock in the pit underneath. The Cublock is equipped with the kaminari condition and the susumu action (how do I know? I deduced it, dear Watson).

Have Urd throw a delayed thunderbolt into the Cublock's activation radius and it will move in the direction of the bolt. Use a total of five thunderbolts this way: you want the Cublock to move east twice and then north three times. Once you manage that, the Cublock should become a makeshift bridge that gives you access to the platform containing a R2-san robot and a blue swap pod.

Ignore the robot and use the blue swap pod to summon Belldandy. Now walk back to the platform with the two number lights and the red swap pod. Go down the stairs and look for a colored gate mechanism.

Use wind magic on this mechanism to lower all green blocks in the stage. Now go back up the stairs and tag in Skuld with the red swap pod. Go back down the stairs and head north across the floor. Go up the stairs on the north side and pass through the lowered green gate.

Lob a water ball at the first number light you see to change the third giant digit to a "1". Go down the stairs, cross the floor, and go up the stairs on the other side. You'll enter a purple swap pod and tag in Urd automatically. Go back down the stairs and locate another colored gate mechanism.

Drop a thunderbolt on the gate mechanism to raise a blue block. Go back up the stairs leading to the purple swap pod and cross the newly raised blue block to a platform with a red swap pod. Summon Skuld.

Look for a number light showing the digit "2" and use water magic on it. Step onto the giant digit (which now reads "3") and look for the colored gate mechanism in a pit below.

Toss a delayed water ball at the mechanism to raise a red block you'll need later. Head due north on the giant digit and you should come into range of the 1-light you turned on earlier.

Throw a delayed water ball across the gap and turn the 1-light off. The giant digit you're standing on now reads "2". Look for a number light showing the digit "2" to the west.

Lob a delayed water ball at the 2-light to turn it on. This "minus" number light will subtract 2 from the total and change the giant digit you're standing on back to a nice, round "0". Cross the red block onto the final giant digit and look for a number light on a platform to the north.

Use water magic on the number light to change the final giant digit to a "1". Go down the stairs and head north across the floor (avoid using the path being "monitored" by the two robo-gun devices). Go up the stairs at the end of the path and use the blue swap pod. Now look for a colored gate mechanism nearby.

Use wind magic on the gate mechanism to lower the green gate blocking the path leading to the transporter pad. Go back down the stairs leading to the robo-guns and look for a red swap pod behind one of them.

Use the red swap pod to summon Skuld. Go back up the stairs and look for a number light.

Lob a delayed water ball at this number light to change the final giant digit to a "1". Now go down the path leading to the transporter pad until you come into sight of a Cublock and a R2-san. Extract the mono condition from the Cublock.

Keep lobbing delayed water balls into the activation range of the R2-san to make it advance toward you (it will try to use its furu action). When the R2-san comes into extraction range, exchange your mono condition for its mizu condition. Give mizu to the Cublock nearby and extract mono from the R2-san.

Keep lobbing delayed water balls while standing behind the Cublock to make it advance toward the transporter pad (the same tactic you used at the end of Future-3).

Eventually, the Cublock will become a shield that allows you to access the transporter pad without being knocked back by the robo-gun's projectiles. Give your mono condition to the R2-san robot and step onto the transporter pad. When you re-materialize, follow the stairs all the way up to clear the stage.

Marller is again surprised that you escaped her trap so easily.

Marller: Why you...! I'm going back to the drawing board! It won't be so easy for you next time!

Keiichi breaks the seal on Skuld's final memory and Lind drops in for a visit.

Lind asks Skuld what it is that she really wants back: the power to destroy the demons? The magic to break the barrier covering the island? Skuld replies with the right answer: the bond between our four heroes that allows them to trust each other without question and to always support each other, no matter what.

Lind: Hello, friends.

After helping Skuld regain her powers, Lind disappears like the memory she is. We've completed the Future Zone and Skuld's goddess uniform has been unlocked.

Back at base camp, the goddesses still have not completely recovered their song magic. Belldandy wonders if they are still missing a few important memories, but Peorth says "no way." The gang is puzzled over what's going on... until Keiichi blurts out with something, er, enlightening...

Keiichi (to Peorth): By the way... who are you? I believe this is the first time we've met, right?

Belldandy realizes that Keiichi's memories have also been stolen. Keiichi's memories are an important ingredient for the spell that will hopefully break the magic barrier over the island, so we must get them back. Peorth locates the wayward memories at the center of the island. Chapter 2 of the game ends here and chapter 3 -- Konton no Shima (混沌の島/"Island in Chaos") -- begins.

Walkthrough: Aa Megami-sama (Future-3)

2007-03-12T21:11:00.000-04:00

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.

Walkthrough: Aa Megami-sama (Future-2)

2007-03-11T21:19:00.000-04:00

The LED light on Keiichi's keychain (fancy/tacky keychain he's got there) is malfunctioning, so Skuld fixes it for him. As hard as it is to believe, that's all she did.

Urd: Skuld didn't add some weird function to a piece of machinery!? Does she have a fever or something?

Seems like the stolen memories are beginning to affect Skuld's "creativity"...

Mirai wo Omou AREA - Stage II:

This stage isn't very large, but it will require you to run around back and forth quite a bit (especially if you're collecting entries for the device encyclopedia). There are also many transporter pads here you'll need to use, and the "do not carry conditions or actions if you want it to work" nature of these devices could trap you and force a do-over if you activated one of the color-coded gate mechanisms prematurely.

Run up to the first color-coded gate mechanism and lob a water ball at it. Against devices like this one, use elemental magic of any type other than the type currently activated (i.e. the control rod currently pushed in as opposed to fully visible) to open gates of a different color (water opens blue gates, wind opens green gates, thunder opens red gates). Your water ball will open a blue gate that leads to a blue swap pod. Go tag in Belldandy and head back to the colored gate mechanism.

Use wind magic on the gate mechanism to open a green gate leading to a room with a R2-san robot in it. Use the conveyor belt to the left of the robot and head for a purple swap pod. Cross the swap pod (summoning Urd in the process) and you'll find yourself in an area with a colored gate mechanism and a Cublock (the red cube-like device: the name is an amalgam of the words "cube" and "block").

Have Urd drop a bolt on the colored gate mechanism and go through the red gate that opens. Head for a Doorvator to the north. It has the kaminari condition and the hiraku action.

Drop a thunderbolt on the Doorvator to open it. Head through and use the transporter pad. You'll enter an area with an item and a red swap pod.

Grab the item and use the red swap pod to summon Skuld. Then head back onto the transporter pad. Extract the hiraku action from the Doorvator and then let the conveyor belt nearby carry you back to the room with the colored gate mechanism and the Cublock.

Throw a water ball at the colored gate mechanism to lower the two blue gates leading out of this room. Go through the gate to the south and follow the path until you come to another Doorvator. This one is equipped with the mizu condition and the mawaru action.

Lob a water ball at the Doorvator to activate its mawaru action and unlock an entry for your encyclopedia. Extract the mizu condition from the Doorvator and exchange your hiraku action for its mawaru action. Run back to the room with the colored gate mechanism and the Cublock; give the Cublock mizu and mawaru.

Lob a water ball at the Cublock to unlock an entry for your encyclopedia. Extract the mawaru action from it and tag in Urd at the purple swap pod. Go through the lowered blue gate to the east and head for the R2-san robot.

Stun the R2-san with a thunderbolt and exchange your mawaru action for its furu action. Stay inside its activation radius to unlock an entry for your encyclopedia. Now stun the R2-san with another bolt and extract the hito condition from it. Turn around and give both hito and furu to the Cublock. Step into the Cublock's activation radius to unlock another entry for your encyclopedia.

Strike the Cublock with a thunderbolt to acquire another encyclopedia entry. Extract both the hito condition and the furu action from the Cublock and head for the Doorvator to the south. Give the Doorvator your hito condition.

Step into the Doorvator's activation radius and go through the gate when it uses hiraku. You're now inside a room with a colored gate mechanism and a UFO-like device.

Walk up to the UFO and stun it with thunder magic. Exchange your furu action for the UFO's new uku (うく/"hover") action. Stay inside the UFO's activation range and watch it perform furu to unlock an encyclopedia entry. Now stun it with another bolt and extract the hito condition from it. Exchange your uku action for the nearby Doorvator's hiraku action.

Step into the Doorvator's activation radius to unlock an encyclopedia entry. Exchange your hiraku action for its uku action and go through the Doorvator by activating hiraku. Head back to the room with the Cublock. Give the Cublock your hito condition and your uku action.

Step into the Cublock's activation radius to unlock another entry for your encyclopedia. Extract hito and uku from the Cublock and head for the room with the R2-san robot in it. Exchange your uku action for the R2-san's mawaru action and then give it your hito condition.

Stay inside the R2-san's activation radius and watch it use uku to unlock an encyclopedia entry. Strike the R2-san with thunder magic and extract hito from it while it's stunned. Head back to the room with the UFO. Exchange your mawaru action for the UFO's furu action and give it your hito condition.

Stand inside the UFO's activation range and watch it use mawaru (collecting yet another encyclopedia entry in the process). Turn around and exchange your furu action for the Doorvator's hiraku action. Stun the UFO with thunder magic and exchange your hiraku action for its mawaru.

Stay inside the UFO's activation radius and it will use hiraku and "spit out" a Cublock. Stun the UFO with thunder magic and extract both the hito condition and the hiraku action from it (giving it the mawaru action in exchange). Give both hito and hiraku to the Cublock nearby.

Step into the Cublock's activation range to unlock another entry for your encyclopedia. Extract hiraku from the Cublock and give the action back to the Doorvator (you'll acquire furu in exchange). Use the red swap pod nearby to summon Skuld.

Have Skuld lob a water ball at the UFO to unlock another encyclopedia entry. Now use the blue swap pod at the southeastern end of the room to summon Belldandy.

Have Belldandy use wind magic on the UFO to unlock another encyclopedia entry. Give your furu action to the Cublock (you should now have no conditions or actions equipped) and use the (one-way) transporter pad beyond the red swap pod (Skuld will tag in again). Collect the item nearby and let the conveyor belt carry you into the next room. Cross the purple swap pod (Urd will tag in) to return to the room with the colored gate mechanism and the first Cublock you encountered in this stage. Extract the mizu condition you left with this Cublock. Go through the lowered blue gate to the south and return to the room with the UFO.

Strike the colored gate mechanism with a thunderbolt to lower all red gates in the stage. Pass through the red gate to the west and head south. You'll get a cutscene that introduces Doorvator+, a variant of the Doorvator device that projects a rectangular activation radius far away from the device itself.

Head for the Doorvator+'s activation radius and you'll activate a Cublock equipped with hito and susumu. Let the Cublock roll as close to you as it can and extract the susumu action from it. Turn around and exchange your mizu condition for the Doorvator+'s hito condition. Backtrack to the room with the UFO and give the UFO hito and susumu (you'll receive its mawaru action in return).

Stand in the UFO's activation radius to unlock yet another entry for your encyclopedia. Tag in Skuld at the red swap pod in the northeast corner of the room. Backtrack toward the Doorvator+ and dump your mawaru action on the Cublock there. Now get as close to the Doorvator+ as possible and turn around to face its activation radius.

Launch a delayed water ball into the Doorvator+'s activation range and quickly run through the gate before it closes. Use the one-way transporter pad on the other side.

Collect the heart nearby and head north along the path. Turn left through a lowered red gate and you'll see a robotic device (which looks a lot like Urd) with a crossbow.

Since the green-colored gates are raised at the moment, this robo-gun device will not be able to stop you from running to the end of the path and clearing this stage.

Skuld has found her favorite wrench (the one Keiichi bought her) and regained her mad scientist skills.

She works on Keiichi's keychain LED light a little bit and...

Skuld: I just converted the light into a death ray. Be careful with it, okay?

Skuld is full of energy and goes to work on a "new weapon for conquering the island." She chooses Keiichi and Urd as her test subjects and the scene ends with them fleeing from a new and improved model of the Skuld Bomb...

Walkthrough: Aa Megami-sama (Future-1)

2007-03-11T10:16:00.000-04:00

Now that you've helped both Urd and Belldandy recover their memories, it's time to do the same for the kid sister -- Skuld. As you enter the Mirai wo Omou AREA ("Thoughts of the Future Area" -- henceforth referred to as the Future Zone), Urd and Skuld will bicker.

Urd: Aww, even Skuld's memories have that air of immaturity about them.
Skuld: What was that?!
Urd: Wanna do something about it?!

Keiichi sighs in resignation as those two continue their verbal sparring with one another. Time to advance to the first stage.

NOTE: There's an extremely annoying glitch in Future-3. I recommend not collecting any items, hearts, or unnecessary actions (for encyclopedia completion) in Future-1 or Future-2 until after you clear Future-3. That's the only reliable workaround for the glitch that I know of. See the walkthrough for Future-3 for more details.

Mirai wo Omou AREA - Stage I:

Keiichi energetically declares "let's go get Skuld's memories back!", to which Skuld responds with "doesn't matter to me, really... I'm fine with living on this island as long as oneesama is here." You guessed it... stolen memories are affecting her mental state. We'd better restore Skuld's memories before she loses her hopes for the future.

Skuld: Okay, okay, I get it already. But I'm not doing this for Keiichi -- I'm doing this to sing again with oneesama. Got that?

You get a pretty nice view at the start of the stage. Once you're done admiring the scenery, follow the path down. You'll see a cute little robot with a swinging circular head: its name is R2-san (アルツーさん/"Arutsuu-san"). Yeah, it's a Star Wars reference. You'll notice that this R2-san has the mizu condition and the furu action.

Stand just outside of the R2-san's activation radius and have Skuld throw a water ball into its activation radius (but do not hit the R2-san itself). The robot will leave the gap it's occupying and float toward you a little bit before taking out a hammer and swinging it at you. Note that all robots in the Future Zone act this way -- you'll need to practice aiming water magic at a spot of ground inside their activation ranges instead of at the robots themselves. Extract mizu and furu from the R2-san and go through the gap it just vacated. You'll see a new type of robot: Slugger-san (it looks like a mix between a Star Wars droid and a batting machine used in baseball practice). Exchange your mizu condition for the Slugger-san's mono condition and give it your furu action.

Lob a delayed water ball so that it hits the Slugger-san itself. You'll unlock an action for your device encyclopedia. Now give the Slugger-san the mono condition and try to round the corner and head for the escalators at the end of the path.

The black droid on a platform will try to lob a bomb at you, but the Slugger-san's furu action will activate and it will knock the bomb out of the park. The black droid will rocket away. Collect the item near the Slugger-san and extract the furu action from it. Use the upward escalator and give your furu action to the locked gate (the name of this device is "Doorvator"). You'll receive the hiraku action in exchange. Use the downward escalator and head back to the Slugger-san. Exchange your mizu condition for its mono condition and give it your hiraku action.

Lob a water ball on a spot of ground inside the Slugger-san's activation radius. It will advance toward you and use the hiraku action (unlocking an entry for your encyclopedia). Extract mizu and hiraku from the Slugger-san and head for the R2-san robot. Give the R2-san your mizu condition and your hiraku action.

Lob a water ball inside the R2-san's activation radius to unlock another action for the encyclopedia. Extract both mizu and hiraku from this robot and head for the Doorvator. Give mizu to the Doorvator (which should be equipped with the furu action). Go get the mono condition from the Slugger-san and head back to the Doorvator.

Lob a water ball at the Doorvator to unlock another entry for your encyclopedia. Now exchange your hiraku action for its furu action.

Lob another water ball at the Doorvator to open it. Pass through the gate and head for a blue swap pod (but do not use it). You should see an electric fan device and a Slugger-san on the other side of a low wall.

Lob a few water balls over the low wall and into the Slugger-san's activation radius. This will advance the Slugger-san robot a little closer to the T-intersection being guarded by a black droid. Now go around the wall and walk up to the Slugger-san.

Launch a water ball toward the T-intersection while you're standing near the Slugger-san. If it lands in the robot's activation radius, the Slugger-san will finally advance forward far enough to be useful for our next task. Exchange your mono condition and furu action for the Slugger-san's mizu and hiraku. The robot should glide forward into the T-intersection.

Walk into the T-intersection and the Slugger-san will bat a bomb back at the black droid and send it flying. Collect the item nearby and you can now experiment a little with the electric fan device: note that it emits cold air that you can use water magic on to create sliding ice crystals.

You should also use the blue swap pod nearby and have Belldandy cast wind magic on the electric fan to change its orientation (thus unlocking an entry for your encyclopedia). Now head for a conveyor belt and cross it. There's an extraneous Doorvator to your right -- ignore it and go down the stairs in front of you. Follow the path to a retry gate. Cross the blue swap pod and head for the red swap pod in a corner.

Use the red swap pod to summon Skuld. Now run quickly across an area monitored by a black droid (you'll probably get hit by at least one bomb, but as long as it doesn't keep knocking you backwards, you'll be okay). Look for a transporter pad near a R2-san equipped with hito and furu.

Run onto the transporter pad and it will teleport you to a different part of the area. Note that these transporter pads don't work if you're currently carrying any conditions or actions. Once you materialize, you should see a heart nearby.

Collect the heart. Now position yourself next to the Slugger-san robot (it has the mizu condition and the susumu action).

Keep tossing water balls at the area in front of you (and inside the Slugger-san's activation radius) to move the robot as close to the narrow opening in the wall as you can. Step back onto the transporter pad and backtrack to the red swap pod. Look for the Slugger-san on the other side of the opening in the wall.

Lob a water ball at a spot inside the Slugger-san's activation radius to make it slide toward you. Keep going until the robot slides through the opening. Now do the same thing (i.e. drop water balls in its activation radius) to "lead" the robot toward the area being monitored by the bomb-lobbing black droid.

Once you're fairly close to the home plate-like icon on the ground, walk up beside the Slugger-san and launch a water ball at the ground in front of you. This should advance the Slugger-san close enough to the home plate icon that the robot will automatically slide into "batting" position once you give it the mono condition. Now head to the other side of this area and you should see an inert R2-san equipped with the mono condition. Extract mono. Now use the purple swap pod nearby.

Stun the active R2-san (the one equipped with hito and furu) with a thunderbolt and extract furu from it. Backtrack to the Slugger-san and make sure you open the Doorvator on your way there (simply step into its activation radius -- this gate is already equipped with hito and hiraku). Zap the Slugger-san with a thunderbolt to unlock an encyclopedia entry. Give mono and furu to the Slugger-san and it should step up to the plate.

Head for to the Doorvator and the black droid will lob another bomb at you. The Slugger-san will knock it out of the park and clear your path. Head back to the R2-san near the purple swap pod and give it your susumu action.

Step inside the R2-san's activation radius (for its hito condition) to watch it use susumu (thus unlocking an encyclopedia entry). Stun it with thunder magic and extract susumu. Walk up to the Doorvator and exchange your susumu action for its hiraku action.

Stay inside the Doorvator's activation radius to unlock another entry for your device encyclopedia. Now step outside the gate's activation range and swap the hiraku action back onto it.

Step back into the Doorvator's activation radius and walk through the gate when it opens to clear the stage.

We've found a memory that takes the shape of one of Skuld's inventions -- the fully automated softball bat "Tomahawk No. 1".

Since softball is a team sport, all sorts of people show up to join Skuld's team -- Tamiya, Ootaki, Sora, and even Morisato Megumi.

Ootaki: All for one!
Tamiya: And one for all!
Both: That's how it is! Wahahahaha!

Having remembered that it takes teamwork to bring about true achievement, Skuld apologizes to Keiichi for the way she talked to him earlier. She then uses the "all for one and one for all" line to try to goad Urd into working harder on this quest (but Urd remains allergic to hard work...). The gang sets off on the search for the next missing memory.

Walkthrough: Aa Megami-sama (Present-4)

2007-03-10T20:39:00.000-05:00

Marller's back, and she's made us a huge water clock puzzle this time. Isn't she nice? Our friendly neighborhood Demon First Class, Unlimited License seems to be quite confident in her latest creation.

Marller: Behold! And despair!

Belldandy almost gets Marller to reveal the secrets of the stage through innocent flattery. Unfortunately, our demon friend catches herself just before she gives anything away.

Marller: That "I can't hurt a fly" expression of hers is a terrifying power...

Ima wo Omou AREA - Stage IV:

This stage is shorter and generally less frustrating than the behemoth of a stage that was Past-4, but there are a few spots of particular difficulty (one of which will probably stump a few players -- more on this when we get that far). In any case, go up the stairs in front of you and follow the path to the very end. A cutscene will play when you step onto the wooden block.

Shoot a gust of wind at the spindle-like mechanism after the cutscene ends. The device will lower the water level of the entire stage. You'll encounter a few more devices like this one, and you'll need to manipulate each one with wind magic in order to control the water level of the stage and grant yourself access to different areas. Once the water finishes draining, proceed down the path in front of you across a giant gear and keep going until you see a knight bot equipped with the kaze condition and the hiraku action.

Extract both kaze and hiraku from this knight bot. Note that it is standing on top of a gray switch -- you'll encounter three more switches like this one throughout the stage and must occupy each switch with a robot in order to clear the stage. Since this knight bot is already occupying a switch for you, just leave it there and head for a second knight bot around a corner. You'll see that its hammer is preventing a ray of light from striking a gate engraved with a sun emblem. Exchange your kaze condition for this knight bot's mizu condition.

Use wind magic on the knight bot and it will swing its hammer via the furu action. The light ray will strike the sun gate and open it for you. Now swap your mizu condition for the knight bot's kaze condition and head for the sorc bot nearby.

Hit the sorc bot with a gust of wind to rotate it 90 degrees. Now look for a water level control mechanism between the sorc bot and the knight bot and to the side of the path.

Activate the mechanism with wind magic and a cutscene will play. When the water level finishes rising, backtrack past the first knight bot (the one standing on a switch) and cross the circular gear onto a green platform that leads to a new water control mechanism.

Shoot a wind gust at this mechanism to change the water level again. You should now be able to access a platform that leads to an iron-bound gate. Exchange your hiraku action for the gate's susumu action.

Use wind magic on the gate to open it. Walk through and turn right toward a purple swap pod. Step onto the swap pod to tag in Urd. Now keep moving forward until you see a knight bot equipped with the hito condition and the furu action.

Step into the knight bot's activation radius and it will swing its hammer and knock a wooden crate into place. Now have Urd drop a thunderbolt on the knight bot and exchange your susumu action for the robot's furu action while it's stunned.

Stay inside the knight bot's activation radius to make it walk onto the wooden crate. Make sure to advance the robot to the very edge of the wooden crate.

Drop another bolt on the knight bot and exchange your kaze condition for its hito condition while it's stunned. Turn and head for the device generating a beam of light. You should see two gray switches along the wall -- one of them is currently occupied by a knight bot. Exchange your furu action for this knight bot's susumu action and backtrack to the iron-bound gate. Tag in Belldandy at the blue swap pod and give the gate your hito condition (in exchange for its kaze condition).

Stand inside the iron-bound gate's activation radius and it will open for you.

Step through the gate and use wind magic on the water control mechanism at the end of the green platform to change the water level once again. Make your way to the sorc bot near the open sun gate. Give the sorc bot your kaze condition (and getting its kaminari condition in return) and your susumu action.

Keep shooting wind gusts at the sorc bot until it walks onto the wooden crate in front of it. Now exchange your kaminari condition for the sorc bot's kaze condition.

Use wind magic on the sorc bot twice to rotate it 180 degrees. Make sure the robot is now facing the water control mechanism along the edge of the path. Now walk onto the wooden crate and follow the path that leads you to a patch of running water. You'll be unable to cross the running water (due to contrary currents) but you will see a knight bot standing on a wooden crate on the other side. This is the knight bot we manipulated a little earlier.

Shoot wind gusts at the knight bot. Despite the considerable distance, your wind magic will be able to reach the robot and activate its susumu action. Keep using wind magic on the knight bot until it walks onto the gray switch in front of it. Now backtrack all the way to the water control mechanism at the other end of the large circular gear and green platform.

Use wind magic on the device to change the water level again. Step through the iron-bound gate and exchange your kaze condition for its hito condition once you're on the other side. Now head across the purple swap pod (summoning Urd in the process) and look for the sorc bot you brought over on a wooden crate. Exchange your hito condition for the sorc bot's kaminari condition.

Stay within the sorc bot's activation radius and it will continue to walk forward until it steps onto the gray switch. A cutscene will play when the robot activates this switch.

Once the cutscene concludes, stun the sorc bot with a thunderbolt and extract both hito and susumu from it. Go back to the iron-bound gate and exchange your hito condition for its kaze condition. Use the blue swap pod to summon Belldandy and step through the gate.

Once again, use wind magic on the water control mechanism at the end of the green platform. When the water level finishes falling, run all the way to the knight bot standing in the path of the beam of light. Look for the water control mechanism nearby.

Use wind magic on this control device exactly twice. This mechanism does not grant you access to any new areas, but it does shift a wooden platform that allows you to reach the fourth and final switch (this is where players may get stuck, since nothing really indicates what you must do to reach the final switch). Now head back across the circular gear and head for the water control mechanism at the end of the green platform.

Shoot a wind gust at this device one more time. When the water level stabilizes, go through the iron-bound gate and head for the two switches on the other side of the purple swap pod. You'll see that the shifted wooden platform allows you to reach an area with a blue swap pod and a closed sun gate.

Use the blue swap pod and turn left up some stairs. You should be within targeting range of a mounted mirror.

Shoot two wind gusts at the mounted mirror to redirect the ray of light so that it strikes (and opens) the sun gate. You'll find a sorc bot standing on the other side of the sun gate. Exchange your kaze condition for its kaminari condition and your susumu action for its mawaru action.

Use wind magic on this robot twice to walk it onto the final switch. Now exchange your kaminari condition for its kaze condition.

Hit the sorc bot with a wind gust to rotate it 90 degrees. It should now be facing a water control mechanism. Exchange your mawaru action for the robot's susumu action and backtrack to the purple swap pod.

Tag in Urd at the swap pod and head for the iron-bound gate. Do not use the blue swap pod nearby. Go through the gate and extract the hito condition from it once you're on the other side. Now walk to the end of the green platform and you should be able to get within extraction range of the sorc bot on the other side. Exchange your hito condition for its kaminari condition.

Stay within the sorc bot's activation radius and it will use mawaru on the water control mechanism nearby, allowing you to change the water level of the stage without using Belldandy (you have Urd with you instead, and she'll come in handy very soon). Once the water level stabilizes, head across the circular gear and go through the open sun gate. You should see a weathervane mechanism.

Have Urd drop a thunderbolt on this device to change the direction of the running water nearby. Let the running water carry you across to a red swap pod. Follow the path that leads to a blue swap pod and use it. Now head for the water control mechanism nearby.

Use Belldandy's wind magic on the device. Once the water level stabilizes, you should be able to access a new water control mechanism (this one is located between a blue swap pod and a wall, behind which you'll see the purple swap pod you've been using lately).

Use wind magic on this water control mechanism to change the water level of the stage one last time. Follow the new path to the end to clear the stage.

Marller can't believe you just solved her masterpiece. Urd and Skuld end up giving her an awful taunting over it.

Urd: Now go home, loser. You're welcome (for this beating... and this taunting).

Keiichi breaks the seal on the telephone and Belldandy's most precious memory turns out to be exactly what we expected it to be.

Belldandy: Hi, this is the Goddess Relief Agency. May I inquire as to what your wish may be...?

Skuld interrupts the touchy-feely moment between Belldandy and Keiichi ("quit macking on my oneesama!") that follows the revelation of the identity of this singularly important memory. The goddesses -- especially Belldandy -- pledge to continue staying by Keiichi's side. Congratulations! You've cleared the Present Zone. Belldandy's goddess uniform is unlocked.

Cut back to the Spirit of the Silver Watch, who notes that our heroes really don't look like they're having fun (remember that Hildr has been misleading her into believing that Keiichi and co. enjoy all this running around, puzzle-solving business). Hildr heaps the blame on Marller and manages to keep the Spirit's cooperation in her continuing mission to torment our heroes in the name of "fun."

Meanwhile, back at base camp, Belldandy says that the power of two goddesses' song magic still isn't enough to disable the magic barrier. Keiichi vows to keep doing all that he can so that everyone can get their memories back and regain the melodies of their divine song.

Walkthrough: Aa Megami-sama (Present-3)

2007-03-09T23:09:00.000-05:00

Belldandy can feel it.

Belldandy: I think that my "most precious memory" is probably being sealed somewhere very close by...

We're off to get that memory so that we can restore Belldandy and have her help put a stop to the raging eddies of space-time currently ravaging the island.

Ima wo Omou AREA - Stage III:

This fairly large stage is split into three parts separated by retry gates. As soon as the stage begins, turn to your right and you should see an item under an arch.

Collect the item. Now go find the iron-bound gate. You'll notice that it has the kaze condition and the hiraku action.

Use Belldandy's magic on this gate to open it. Once you're through the gate, head for the blue swap pod in the corner. Pass through it and use the purple swap pod in another corner to summon Urd. Run up beside the water pump mechanism and you should be within extraction range of the sorc bot on the other side of the bushes.

Extract the mizu condition from the sorc bot. Now let the patch of running water carry you back toward the iron-bound gate. Get as close to the weathervane mechanism as possible and you should get a targeting icon.

Use a delayed thunderbolt on the device to change the direction of the running water. Now use the blue swap pod in the corner and let the running water carry you back toward the water pump.

Use wind magic on the water pump mechanism to lower the water level in the pool beside you. Now backtrack all the way to the iron-bound gate near the starting point of the stage. Use wind magic to open the gate and head for a ledge to the right. You'll be able to round a corner and come upon two swap pods -- one red and one blue.

Use the red swap pod to tag in Skuld. Head back to the iron-bound gate. Swap your mizu condition for its kaze condition.

Open the gate with a water ball from Skuld. Head toward a pit with seedlings growing in it. You should see a knight bot standing on the other side.

Lob a water ball at the pit to make a canopy platform. Head back towards the patch of running water and let it carry you to the other side. Use the purple swap pod. Use the stairs near the water pump device to cross the pool and get to the other side. You should now be standing right next to the weathervane device.

Strike the weathervane with another bolt to change the direction of the running water. Backtrack and let the running water carry you to the other side. Head for the knight bot.

Strike the knight bot with a bolt and extract the hito condition and the furu action from it while it's stunned. Get as close to the sorc bot on the other side as possible and exchange your furu action for its tsuku action. Now give the sorc bot hito and it should activate (since you're standing in its activation radius).

The sorc bot will fling a bomb that knocks down the cracked wall nearby. Walk through the opening where the cracked wall used to be and get close to the sorc bot.

Strike the sorc bot with thunder magic and extract its hito condition. Give both hito and tsuku to the iron-bound gate nearby.

Step into the gate's activation radius and the gate will lift itself off the ground, allowing you to run all the way to a retry gate that leads to the second part of this stage.

You'll see a beam of light right in front of you. Notice that a cracked wall is blocking it from reaching a mounted mirror. We need to knock down this wall -- but first, let's do some work that must be done before we can get an opportunity at wall demolition. Head toward the origin of the light beam and you should see a sorc bot nearby (it's equipped with the hito condition and the mawaru action). Get close to this robot.

Strike the sorc bot with thunder magic and extract mawaru from it. Keep heading north past a water pump device and up some stairs and you'll encounter an iron-bound gate equipped with hito and hiraku.

Step into its activation radius and go through this gate. Use the red swap pod. Now go back through the gate and head north. You should see a patch of running water to your right. Ride the running water to the other side and you'll see a pit with plants to your left.

Lob a water ball into the pit to make a canopy platform. Now head for the sorc bot nearby and look for some stairs leading down to a second pit with plants.

Lob a water ball at this pit to make a second canopy platform. Now walk past the sorc bot and use the purple swap pod nearby. Head back to the sorc bot.

Stun the sorc bot with thunder magic and exchange your mawaru action for its furu action. Stay within the robot's activation radius.

The sorc bot will use wind magic and activate the water pump mechanism in front of it. Look for the weathervane device and get as close to it as you can.

Hit the weathervane device with a delayed bolt to change the direction of the running water. Run past the first canopy platform you made and head for the blue swap pod. Use it to tag in Belldandy. Head down the second canopy platform you made (near the sorc bot and down some stairs) and you should be standing near a mounted mirror.

Use wind magic on this mirror to rotate it 90 degrees. Go back up the stairs and head across the running water. Look for an iron-bound gate to your right-hand side and extract the mono condition from it. Go down the stairs near the other iron-bound gate (the one equipped with hito and hiraku) and you should see a second water pump mechanism.

Use wind magic on this device to drain the water and allow you access to the two rotating pillars and the knight bot. Get as close to the knight bot as you can manage without stepping into its activation radius.

Use two wind gusts from Belldandy to rotate the knight bot 180 degrees (this will save you some headache when you try to manipulate the rotating pillars a little later). Go back up the stairs and head for the nearby sorc bot.

Hit the (currently inert) sorc bot with wind magic to turn it so that it faces the rotating pillars. Use the purple swap pod on top of some stairs next to the robot to tag in Urd. Head back to the knight bot near the rotating pillars.

Get near the knight bot and strike it with a thunderbolt to stun it. Exchange your furu action for its susumu action. Give your mono condition to the rotating pillar to the left of the knight bot and make your way back to the sorc bot near the purple swap pod at the starting point of this part of the stage. Give the sorc bot your susumu action and immediately run back to the iron-bound gate leading to the red swap pod. Since this gate is still equipped with hito and hiraku, it should open easily for you. Walk right through the red swap pod and the purple swap pod and head toward the sorc bot you used to activate a water pump device earlier.

Stun this sorc bot with thunder magic and extract the mawaru action from it. Make your way back to the rotating pillars.

Give mawaru to the rotating pillar to the left of the knight bot. The pillar will rotate and create a makeshift bridge across this drained pool. Use the stairs to go back to the sorc bot you gave the susumu action to a little while ago.

Step into this sorc bot's activation radius and it should start walking across the makeshift bridge you just built. Keep it walking until it can advance no further. The sorc bot should now be standing right next to a cracked wall. Now use the purple swap pod at the starting point of this area and go back down to the drained pool containing the knight bot and the rotating pillars.

Stun the knight bot with a thunderbolt and extract furu. Make your way back across the makeshift bridge and get close to the sorc bot near that cracked wall we're still trying to destroy.

Hit this sorc bot with thunder magic and swap your furu action for its susumu action. Now run all the way to the blue swap pod, tag in Belldandy, and return to this sorc bot.

Shoot a wind gust at the sorc bot from a spot outside its activation radius to rotate it.

Now enter the sorc bot's activation radius and it will lob a bomb that knocks down the cracked wall. The light beam should now be shining right at the iron-bound gate that you got the mono condition from. Either use the makeshift bridge or the patch of running water to get to the other side of the drained pool and extract both hito and hiraku from the iron-bound gate near the red swap pod. Give both hito and hiraku to the other iron-bound gate (the one blocking the light beam at the moment).

Activate the gate to open it. The ray of light will strike the receptacle device and open the large gate leading out of this area. Go through the open iron-bound gate and collect the item on a ledge beside it. Now go through the large gate engraved with the sun emblem and head for a second retry gate. Go down the stairs to the left -- you'll pass a red swap pod and tag in Skuld. Head onto a rotating bridge platform and walk up next to the inert sorc bot there.

Use a delayed water ball on the pit with plants to make a canopy platform. Turn around and lob a water ball at the bridge motor (which has the mizu condition and the mawaru action) to rotate the platform you're standing on. Walk across the canopy platform and up either set of stairs to use a purple swap pod. Head back down to the rotating bridge platform. Extract mawaru from the inert sorc bot and head onto a second rotating bridge platform (with a second inert sorc bot). Deposit mawaru with the bridge motor on the second platform (it should now have the kaminari condition and the mawaru action). Pass the second inert sorc bot and head for an active sorc bot equipped with hito and furu.

Stun this sorc bot with a thunderbolt and extract both hito and furu from it. Head back onto the second bridge platform and give hito to the inert sorc bot.

Strike the bridge motor mechanism with thunder magic to rotate the platform. Exchange your furu action for the motor's mawaru action and give mawaru to the inert sorc bot.

Step inside the sorc bot's activation radius and it will use wind magic to activate the water pump device in front of it. Now stun the sorc bot with another bolt and extract mawaru. Exchange mawaru for the bridge motor's furu. Hit the bridge motor with two bolts to rotate the platform 180 degrees. Now give your furu action to the sorc bot.

Step inside the sorc bot's activation radius and it will lob a bomb that knocks down the cracked wall in front of it. Stun the robot with another bolt and extract both hito and furu.

Strike the bridge motor mechanism with thunder magic to rotate this platform one more time. Turn toward the first rotating bridge platform you encountered in this area and give the inert sorc bot there your hito condition and your furu action. Turn back toward the bridge motor equipped with kaminari and mawaru and extract them both. Run onto the rotating bridge platform with the now-active sorc bot on it. Swap your kaminari condition for the bridge motor's mizu condition. Strike this bridge motor mechanism with a thunderbolt to rotate the platform.

Step into the sorc bot's activation radius to make it lob a bomb that knocks down a second section of cracked wall. Now head all the way across both bridge platforms and use the stairs to go down to the (previously flooded) floor beneath the bridge platforms. Look for a heart just below the canopy platform you made earlier.

Grab the heart. Now turn around and use the stairs to the northeast (check your mini-map) of the pit. These stairs should lead you to a steep staircase that, in turn, leads to the "summit" of the stage. You'll see a heavily fortified gate with a knight bot on either side. The first knight bot you see has the kaminari condition already, so just give it your mawaru action.

Now stand to the side of the knight bot (i.e. don't face the robot -- it won't do what it's supposed to if you're looking straight at it when you use thunder magic) and launch a delayed thunderbolt through the bushes. The knight bot will activate the gear device it's standing on and unlock half of the fortified gate. Now head all the way down the stairs and back onto the first rotating bridge platform. Shoot the bridge motor with a thunderbolt to rotate the platform. Extract both kaminari and mawaru from the bridge motor when it's done rotating. Head past the sorc bot and go up the staircase to the left, effectively backtracking toward the starting point of this part of the stage.

Tag in Skuld at the red swap pod. Run back down the stairs, cross the bridge platforms, and go all the way down to the previously flooded floor beneath the bridge platforms. Use the northeast stairs again and take the steep staircase back up to the fortified gate. Make sure you have kaminari and mawaru equipped.

Lob a water ball at the pit with plants near the second knight bot (the one equipped with nothing at the moment) to create a canopy platform you'll need very soon. Get in extraction range of the knight bot and give it your kaminari condition and your mawaru action. Cross the canopy platform, descend the stairs, and use the purple swap pod. Go back up to the top floor and stand to the side of the knight bot you haven't activated yet (once again, your magic won't work properly if you're directly facing the knight bot).

Use a delayed thunderbolt on the knight bot to unlock the other half of the fortified gate. Go through the fortified gate to complete this stage.

Just like in the Past Zone, the treasured memory you just found (in the shape of a telephone... hmm, I wonder what this memory could be...) is still being sealed by powerful magic.

We'll have to find a proper place to perform the ritual of seal removal -- on to Present-4!

Since all six items in the Present Zone have been collected, we get Belldandy's bonus scene: Chihiro shows up to present you with a "treasure", which turns out to be the piggy...err, fishy... bank containing the Motor Club's savings. Urd and Sora fight over the "treasure" until Keiichi reveals that there's all of 320 yen in it. Everyone loses interest rather quickly following that revelation.

Urd: I saw it, and that means it's mine!

Now that we've got all three hearts in the Present Zone, Belldandy's swimsuit is unlocked as well.

Walkthrough: Aa Megami-sama (Present-2)

2007-03-07T15:15:00.000-05:00

Keiichi is wondering how his comrades in the Nekomi Tech Motor Club are doing. Urd says that they're probably doing their usual thing, but when Skuld asks what the "usual thing" is, Urd can't say (stolen memories taking their toll again...). Everyone agrees that Tamiya and Ootaki should be going wild as usual, but as for Sora...

Belldandy: I'm a little worried that Hasegawa-san will end up being eaten by Ootaki-san and Tamiya-san...*

*The verb taberu (食べる) literally means "to eat." However, it is a common euphemism for the act of a man "getting" a woman. It's basically what we would call "getting to home plate"/"hitting a home run" with someone, though taberu usually has more of an aggressive connotation than a romantic one.

Keiichi responds to Belldandy's "joke" with some nervous laughter, and we're off to get more stolen memories back.

Ima wo Omou AREA - Stage II:

The large atrium/maze you see comprises the entire area of this stage. First, look for the switch with the shining golden emblem floating above it.

Step onto this switch and watch the cutscene. This switch will open the large gate at the very end of the maze (and this stage), but it's on a timer -- the large gate will close back up if you're not quick enough to get out. So our job is to create a straight (or as straight as possible) path between the switch and the exit. Turn to your left and walk through the blue swap pod. Go up the stairs and make your way around the southeast corner of the stage. You'll see a narrow gap that overlooks a water pump device.

Stand inside the gap and use wind magic on the water pump to activate it. Keep running until you see a new type of robot: madoushi-kun (魔導士くん/"sorcerer-kun"/my name: "sorc bot"). Stand as close to the sorc bot as possible.

Use wind magic on the sorc bot to rotate it 90 degrees and unlock an entry for your encyclopedia. Use wind magic on it three more times to return it to its original orientation (we need the robot to face the cracked wall -- you'll see why later). Keep heading west along the southern edge of the map, turn the corner, and walk down the stairs to your right. Stick to the left-hand side of the path and you should be in extraction range of an iron-bound gate (it should be separated from you by a bank of flowers).

Extract the susumu action from this gate. Now turn around and head into the activation radius of the sorc bot.

The sorc bot will demonstrate its tsuku action (it launches a fireball). Now head down the stairs and use the purple swap pod at the bottom. Go back up the stairs and use a thunderbolt to stun the sorc bot. Exchange your susumu action for its tsuku action. Stay in the sorc bot's activation radius and it will use susumu. Now go up the stairs behind and to the left of the purple swap pod. You should find a weathervane-like device that controls the direction of the water current behind it.

Strike this device with a thunderbolt so that its arrow points toward the large gate guarding the exit. Go back down the stairs and this time go up the stairs behind and to the right of the purple swap pod. You should be able to walk up to an iron-bound gate.

Extract the mono condition from this gate. Walk forward into the activation radius of a second sorc-bot and watch it use mawaru (it spins its staff and uses wind magic). Turn around and run back to the beginning of the stage. This time, head for the purple swap pod to the north and run across it. Round the northeast corner and head due west along the path.

You'll see an item nearby. Collect it. Keep running until you round another corner. Take the stairs down to another weathervane device.

Strike this device with thunder magic to change the direction of the water current behind it. Turn around and you should see an iron-bound gate with hito and hiraku. Activate the gate and go through to use the red swap pod. Go back through the gate and exchange your mono condition for its hito condition and your tsuku action for its hiraku action. Head for the stairs leading down to the bottom floor. You can't access the bottom floor because it's still flooded, but go along the edge of the upper floor and you should see a pit with plants in it.

Have Skuld drop a water ball in the pit to create a canopy platform. Do the same for the pit on the other side of the central path. Now backtrack to the beginning of the stage and use the blue swap pod. Look for an iron-bound gate to the right side of the central path. Give this gate hito and hiraku.

Activate the gate and walk through. Extract both hito and hiraku from the gate when you're through. Now look for a water pump mechanism (be careful not to use the purple swap pod nearby).

Use wind magic on the water pump to lower the water level on this side of the stage. Use the purple swap pod to tag in Urd. Have Urd drop a bolt on the sorc bot nearby and exchange your hiraku action for its mawaru action. Stay inside the sorc bot's activation range and watch it use hiraku. Now stun it with another thunderbolt and get hiraku back. Head back up the stairs to the beginning of the stage and walk down the central path. Give both hito and hiraku to the iron-bound gate in front of you. Instead of going through, backtrack to the beginning of the stage and go all the way around to the iron-bound gate leading to the red swap pod in the northwest corner. Extract both mono and tsuku from it and go down the stairs to the bottom floor. Exchange your tsuku action for the furu action equipped on the knight bot. Give your mono condition and furu action to the rotating pillar. Now backtrack to the beginning of the stage and go down the central path. Turn down the path to your left and cross the bottom floor. Head toward the sorc bot standing right behind the cracked wall.

Stun the sorc bot with a thunderbolt and extract both hito and susumu from it. Backtrack to the beginning of the stage and tag in Belldandy at the blue swap pod. Walk through the first iron-bound gate along the central path (it has hito and hiraku now, so there shouldn't be any problems), ride the running water to the other side, and walk across the canopy platform to your right. Get down to the bottom floor and face the knight bot.

Have Belldandy use wind magic on the knight bot to rotate it. Now give hito to the rotating pillar and watch it use furu. Turn around and exchange your susumu action for the knight bot's tsuku. Swap tsuku onto the rotating pillar and activate it for another encyclopedia entry. Step back and swap your mono condition for the pillar's hito condition and your furu action for its tsuku action. Turn around and exchange tsuku for the knight bot's susumu. Now give the knight bot hito and watch it use tsuku. Exchange susumu for the rotating pillar's furu and backtrack to the beginning of the stage.

Go down the central path and exchange your furu action for the iron-bound gate's hiraku action. Activate the gate for an encyclopedia entry. Now get furu back from the gate, turn left, and make your way to the sorc bot near the cracked wall. Give the sorc bot furu. Head toward the iron-bound gate at the end of the second section of running water along the central path. Extract the hito condition from this gate and go back to the sorc bot nearby.

Give the sorc bot hito and watch it sling a bomb that knocks down the cracked wall. Make sure you have Urd as your goddess partner (go summon her with the purple swap pod downstairs if you do not). Have Urd strike the robot with thunder magic and extract both hito and furu. Give hito back to the iron-bound gate you got it from. Now go up the stairs to your left and head for a blue swap pod nearby. Tag in Belldandy.

Find the water pump mechanism originally sealed off by the cracked wall and use wind magic on it. Make your way back to the beginning of the stage and use the purple swap pod to the north. Stun the sorc bot nearby with thunder magic and exchange your furu action for its mawaru. Head down to the bottom floor and swap mawaru for the rotating pillar's susumu. Now stun the knight bot with a bolt and exchange your susumu action for its tsuku action.

Stay in the activation radius of the knight bot's hito condition and it should walk up to the rotating pillar and activate the pillar's mawaru action. Now go back up the stairs and step into the sorc bot's activation radius.

The sorc bot will fire a bomb that knocks down the cracked wall on the other side of the pit containing the rotating pillar and the knight bot. Stun the sorc bot with a bolt and extract hito from it. Now run to where the cracked wall used to be, cross the running water, and make your way to a rotating bridge platform. Give hito and tsuku to the bridge motor and activate it for an encyclopedia entry. Extract tsuku from the bridge motor and run up the stairs onto a path leading to the northwest corner of the stage. You should see a giant stone tablet/memorial in front of you. Run to the end of the path to the right of the giant tablet, go down a steep flight of stairs, and you should see a heart in a clearing to your right.

Collect the heart and backtrack toward the lone red swap pod in the stage. Use the path to the left of the weathervane and you should come into extraction range of the second iron-bound gate along the central path (there should be a patch of running water to your right). Give your tsuku action to the gate. Head across the canopy platforms in the center of the stage and make your way to the blue swap pod near the rotating bridge platform. Tag in Belldandy.

Head for the rotating bridge platform and you should see an item on a ledge across from you. Go up the stairs leading to the ledge and collect the item. Now backtrack down to the pit containing the rotating pillar and the knight bot.

Stay outside the knight bot's activation radius and shoot two wind gusts at it. Step into the robot's activation radius to lead it away from the rotating pillar. Once the rotating pillar returns to its original position, extract the mawaru action from it. Backtrack to the beginning of the stage.

Trip the switch with the shining emblem and quickly run down the central path. The first iron-bound gate should open via hiraku, and the second iron-bound gate should open with the tsuku action. Make your way onto the rotating bridge platform and give it your mawaru action.

Step into the bridge motor's activation radius to rotate the platform. Quickly head toward the exit, and you should be able to finish the stage before the timer for the large gate runs out.

This stolen memory takes the shape of a racing boat. The female members of the Nekomi Tech Motor Club -- Hasegawa Sora and Fujimi Chihiro -- appear.

The goddesses talk with Sora about the race she won (one of the gang's attempts at increasing her confidence). Sora says that the club is doing fine, and everybody feels reassured. Chihiro, on the other hand, just chides Keiichi for being a bad salesman.

Chihiro: This baby is so cute! But how come we just can't manage to sell it off?

Belldandy still hasn't recovered her song magic, so we're off to snatch up some more wayward memories.