Walkthrough: Bakumatsu Chapter

Walkthrough By: Macc Maverick

Introduction

This scenario is one of the more unique RPG scenarios I've played. To get the most out of it, you should play it multiple times, choosing different paths every time, as there are a lot of ways that can lead you to the end of the scenario. I'll cover the four main ones here, but even these don't contain all your possibilities.

In the intro, you'll be prompted to enter a name. The default is Oboro, or, if you're using the latest English patch for the game, Obo [you can still change it to Oboro!]. No matter if you're playing the Japanese or English version, there will always be some unremovable Japanese-looking stuff after your name. In case you're curious, I've been told that it stands for "Maru", which means "Circle". I'm guessing that must be the character's Shinobi codename. In other words, no matter what name you select, you'll actually be called (yourname)-Circle. Anyway, next, you'll learn of your mission (or not, if you say you understand your mission before it's explained :P) and receive the Cloak of Invisibility from Hayate. After that, you're off on your mission. And now's the time to decide how you're going to handle this.

There's basically four ways to do this scenario. 1: The violent way- Kill all 100 people. 2: The stealthy way- Kill no people at all. 3: The optimal way- Kill everyone who doesn't help you. 4: The bad way- Abort the mission.

Starting with #4... that way is not recommended, since it always leads to a "game over" one way or another. But if you want to try it, all you have to do is walk out of the castle before you get the Prisoner in your party. You'll be reminded that you'll become an outcast if you do. Confirm your action three times, and you'll flee the castle, abandoning the mission and your clan. Now you have to fight five consecutive battles, each against 4 FlareNinjas of your former clan. They're pretty tough, so you'll need to have gathered some good equipment, experience, and healing items to be able to beat them. If you do beat them all, your former master, Hayate, will challenge you. Defeating him is hard, you'll probably find it to be even harder than defeating the last boss. But it doesn't matter whether you beat him or not... the end result will be the same. Guess it only serves to prove the old Shinobi adage "There is only death in dishonor". :P

The other options each call for a detailed battle plan. So without further ado, here they are.

The Violent Way

Unanswered Questions

• About the jar in Ryuunosuke's secret passage... that's one of two things about this scenario I haven't been able to figure out. If you open it, it will ask for Koban, and you can choose to put in 1, 6, 10 or none. If you put in none, nothing will happen (duh). If you put in one, you'll just be told "don't put in just one". Six will get you nothing but a "Thanks!". And if you put in ten, the screen will flash briefly before the "Thanks!", There doesn't seem to be any benefit at all to putting any number of Koban inside. So what purpose does this jar serve?
• The second thing I've never been able to figure out is the shopkeeper in one of the cells who asks for food. You can give him three Steamed Rice, after which he'll choke on his food and beg for something to drink. Now, I tried to give him everything at this point, but no matter what, he always dies. Is there anything you can give to this guy to keep him from dying?