General information

• Make sure you do the HDD Install (bottom option on the main menu) before doing any runs, it saves a TON of time on loads
• Text is auto-skipped by holding R1+X
• Despite being a Japanese game, select is X and not O. (Probably depends on system language)
• Single sword seems to be the way to go for 99% of fighting.
• Be careful when using the money sword, even if your attacks are blocked or countered it will still cost you
• With clean gameplay, you can usually get away with 1 random encounter. Any more and you'll run out of money

Important location names

• Tsuruya = the big building in the north
• Tatsuya = kiryu's house
• Kouetsu Mansion = where Florist lives, with the ninjas
• Yoshioka Dojo = west of kouetsu mansion, where you do the ch6 boss

Prologue

• Bottom option twice to the guy in your house
• Dodge the man standing outside your house
• Talk to the clerk in the close marked store
• Talk to the clerk in the second marked store (tengu mask building, same side of the road)
• Talk to the clerk at Ebisu Pawn (the far store in the top right*
• Pick up the locker key at the shrine, go south and open the locker
• Cross the street, talk to the marked lady, then go to the southwest corner for the tutorial
• Tutorial 1: light attacks, grab attacks, weapon attacks (use the basin and the large stick), build heat, do heat actions
• Return home for Tutorial 2: kill the 3 gourd enemies and take their gourds, block, R1 walk around, dodge rolls
• Talk to the guy outside your house to continue

Chapter 1

• Tutorial 3: Take out and put away your sword 5 times, light attacks, strong attacks (sq+tri), blocking, kicking (circle w/ sword out), charging (sq+tri, HOLD TRIANGLE after sliding past the wooden post)
• Marume 1: Break his guard with a kick then combo him. Get rid of his yellow HP and he gets much more aggressive, then lose on purpose.
• Go outside to Marume's house
• Majima 1: full combos
• Setpiece: All the intial enemies & the guys in the room are required, as are the guys in the second room
• After the second room, go left and get the nameless katana. equip it and continue on to finish the setpiece

Chapter 2

• Go outside, walk down the stairs, return and talk to Majima
• Maruma 2: This fight sucks
• Dual sword tutorial: block 10 times, then attack 10 times Do not hold R1 or the attacks probably won't count

Chapter 3

• Bridge fight: You'll probably hit more enemies simultaneously if you stay on the bridge
• Go inside the farmhouse and talk to the lady
• Assassins: light attacks all day
• Bounty hunters: kicks. Deal with the archers and the main guy first?

Chapter 4

• Rainy fight: goooo
• Grab the clothes before leaving the house
• Hook left behind the house and jump off the ledge to go north to the city. Do not do this if an encounter has spawned nearby
• 2nd option to the guy in MEB, then return to your guide, then talk to the guy outside MEB and follow him north to Tsuruya
• Tsuruya guy: kicks

Chapter 5

• Ignore the first waypoint, go to the Tsuruya back door
• Return home, tsuruya backdoor again, then go home (disregard the revelations tutor guy) and leave out the secret hatch (bottom option always)
• Talk to marked guy blocking the gate. Walk back, 2nd to last option then last option to the info guy
• Go to the southern of the 2 center streets (the crowded market street) and walk to the center of that for a fight
• Go to the shogi place (top right corner of this area), top option to the guy sitting in the far corner and hand him your second item (it's a piece of paper)
• Win the fight outside and top option to the marked guy guarding the gate to pass
• Go to Kouetsu mansion, then start walking to Majima's cave
• top option to the lady throwing water substory by the blacksmith to get 10k mon
• Get stopped by the blacksmith. Dequip your greatsword slot (2nd menu option, 3rd weapon in the list) and equip the greatsword he gives you (2nd menu option, the now-empty third slot)
• Greatsword tutorial: Block 5 shots with L1. Do not finish your combos (only swing twice) so enemies don't get knocked down.
• Proceed to Majima's cave
• Pick up all the items dropped by enemies in the first room, one of them is a silver plate (this sells for 10k)
• break chains and barriers with the greatsword, otherwise move emptyhanded so you can run faster
• After dropping down from the bridge, take the left path. Keep left and get the club (dont equip yet)
• Proceed to Majima
• Majima 2: do a full combo whenever he's in the process of standing up to hopefully keep him stunlocked (he will guard some stuff but you break it). His attacks are all blockable
• Return to Kouetsu mansion

Chapter 6

• Sell the silver plate at ebisu pawn for 10k, then go to the Tsuruya back door and return home
• Taxi SE (down 1 option) and enter the marked house. Talk to the guy in the back for training
• Taxi north (mash x) and to Kouetsu mansion. Bottom option twice to soup guy when he tells you about the police
• After Kouetsu mansion take the Yoshioka Dojo taxi SW (down 1 option)
• Talk to sword grandpa at the nearby intersection, top option twice (this substory unlocks another one later)
• Walk south to the riverside tea shop, buy the dango (green balls), taxi back to yoshioka dojo (left two options) and give the danjo to florist
• 2nd option to florist to do his ninja training, then bottom option twice to leave
• Do the substory with the crowd outside Kouetsu mansion to get the money sword (it's yellow, has 77 attack). Equip the money sword and the club now
• Go to yoshioka dojo
• First fight: Use kicks to break his guard between combos
• Second fight: just attack

Chapter 7

• Itou: First phase just attack, second and third phase he will block stuff. Stand back so he dodges in place, then punish the dodge with full combos.
• Tsuruya back door, then Kouetsu mansion, then Tsuruya front door, then back home (some irrelevant things will happen along the way)
• Go to Tsuruya, take this route to avoid the police:
• Burning building setpiece: Ignore the first enemies and take the stairs
• Fight the enemies in the two rooms on this floor, ignore the stash room pointed to in the cutscene and take the stairs
• The route on the third floor can be a bit janky, check a vod
• Armored guy, keep to the right of the pole right in front of you to avoid QTEs. Break armor with the greatsword then finish him with the single sword
• Ninjas: They're ninjas

Chapter 8

• Talk to the servant at Kamenoya (by the entrance to the Tsuruya back door area)
• Go to Kouetsu mansion, then back to Kamenoya, then home
• Taxi to the river tea house (left one option) and go south to Houzoin
• Talk to the bald guy blocking the door then the old man on the left
• Old man: fight him
• Pass the bald guy, top option to glasses guy, SKIP THE MELONS (select, left, X, left, X), top option again
• bottom option to desk guy to enter the tournament
• Every tournament fight: Full combos stucklock

Chapter 9

• Go home, exit out the front door and step forward for a cutscene
• Yoshioka Dojo (taxi, left 2 options), Tsuruya front door, go home
• Bottom option to the trap door at home to sleep, then taxi to yoshioka dojo and head west through the farm (note: you can walk off the path in the fields to avoid encounters)
• Field boss: full combo stunlock
• Field setpiece: Follow this map, ignoring all enemies:
• Note that the last room enemies can't be ignored. Two enemies in here are "stunlock guys" who will do the sword unsheathing attack, it's quite annoying. Always prioritize them.
• Walk across the entire map, take the east exit at the riverside tea shop to go to where the boss is. BEWARE the encounter on the bridge, it always spawns
• Boss: Try to keep him on the elevated platform. If you get lucky you can skip all QTEs but he will typically at least summon his minions.

Chapter 10

• Buy a dango at the yoshioka dojo tea house (bottom item)
• Bottom option to skip playing dice, then do a fight
• Hold right out of the fight after dice, there is almost always a random encounter standing right next to you and it is hard to avoid
• Bottom option twice at the theater
• Buy whatever you want at the restaurant
• Bottom option at the shogi parlor, then quit shogi immediately, do the fight outside
• If you run out of money, it will probably happen right here.
• Take the rich guy to the main gate, go through your house to meet him on the other side, go to Tsuruya front door
• The rich guy will now give you 40,000 mon
• Go to Kiyomizu temple (taxi SE and walk south on the forest path)
• Kiyomizu setpiece: Fight all the enemies in the initial area, stand by the stone wall and wait to get a bomb for it
• Ignore all the enemies on the path leading behind the temple, just destroy the barriers with the club
• After destroying the last barrier, backtrack a bit to the hut with the bombs. Get a bomb, then bring that to the back room and blow up the stone wall to skip the back room fight
• Run up the stairs, take the flaming ball to the face (it does no damage), keep going
• Majima 3: Don't let him stand close to the giant urns. If he gets on top of one, run far from it so he gets off it.

Chapter 11

• Taxi SE, take the forest path to kiyomizu temple, leave out the marked door to go to Yagyu Village
• Pupils: Deal with the high HP guy first, then take the armor off the armor guy who spawns and deal with him, then clean up (this fight sucks)
• Marume 3: full combo stunlock. If you get knocked down and he starts charging / glowing red, let him do his attacks to burn the heat off

Chapter 12

• Bottom option at Tsuruya front door, then taxi SE and go to the blacksmith to get the best weapon
• Equip the new sword (it has 101 attack) and return home
• Go to Kouetsu mansion, top option to florist
• Yoshioka dojo taxi > riverside tea shop (left one option) and bottom option to the boat guy to start in the finale
• Kojiro: full combo stunlock. He can charge up like Marume did last chapter
• Soldiers: Ignore the armored guys until there are a bunch of them, then break all their armor at once with the club
• First boss (club guy): start with the dual swords so he doesn't get away, then swap to single sword after one combo. This guy hits hard
• Grab the item at the top of the stairs (it's a heat restorative)
• Look at the stone wall on the left path, then go to the end of the right path for the bomb
• Right after dropping down after the stone wall, step backwards for another heat restorative
• Second boss (armor guy): Club light attacks to break his armor, then swap to normal sword. He has no armor bar but once he starts staggering his armor is broken
• Break the next wall for the third boss
• Third boss (sumo guy): Grab the wooden cart nearby, drink a heat item, do the cart heat action. Do this twice (the cart doesn't break)
• Next room: Keep the camera pointed towards the back of the room so enemies don't spawn back there
• Fourth boss (polevault guy): spam light attacks, do not finish your combo or he will probably pole vault away
• break the chain in the next room with the club, keep going
• Fifth boss (dojo guy): full combo stunlock works
• Break another chain, keep going, kill the ninjas in the next room before advancing
• Final boss: full combo stunlock, easy fight. Time stops as soon as the cutscene of him falling backwards off the cliff begins