crimsongem saga guide

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This is a guide for the game 'Crimsongem saga' on PSP!
It's a totally fun RPG which i am almost completing, and you should go try it if you're one of those i-have-a-PSP-but-i-can't-find-a-game-to-play-besides-soccer people!
It's challenging enough not to be too boring, and requires some strategy during the combat too.
Of course, there are several flaws in the game which i can name, but which game is flawless huh?


This is not a complete walkthrough, as i don't think it's entirely necessary, i'll just try to help you along the tougher parts of the game where there are 'puzzles' to be solved and give some helpful tips that will help you throughout the whole game.

If searching for help for a particular part, just ctrl + f. For example if you're stuck at the golden statues puzzle, ctrl f 'golden statue' , as i may not write this guide in sequence. (though i'll try my best to)


1) SAVE!
The first important thing i learnt about this game is.. SAVE OFTEN! I played through the opening sequence of the whole graduation ceremony and went out killing some monsters in the forest.. being so overconfident i didn't save, didn't bother to heal properly and ended up dying.. and the GAME OVER screen came up and i had to play the whole thing all over.

So SAVE OFTEN!! i can't emphasize this enough. you may feel stupid going through the whole button sequence of saving repeatedly, but you will understand why this is necessary later on in the game, where if you get ambushed by a monster they will most likely one-hit kill you.


2) Ambush the monsters!
After playing for awhile you should understand the concept of fighting in the game - if you manage to sneak up and engage a monster before the "!" appears , you get bonus damage (if i'm not wrong it's the average damage of all your characters added together) dealt to all the monsters.
If you sneak up the monster discovers you (!) before you engage, you just start the fight normally.
However, if the monster ambushes you (! appears and he runs to engage you) , they will do the same bonus damage thing to you.

It's FAR FAR more convenient to just try your best to ambush every monster you fight. (of course don't get ambushed, in the later part of the game you'll definitely die.. unless you found some secret HP boosting item i don't know about)
Of course, you can just fight normally without the bonus damage at the start. but you'll find monsters increasingly difficult to defeat from mid-late game without ambushing them. So.. just do it. practise how to time your run up to them, it's a good skill to acquire.


3) The mage will leave !
So you've spent several hours of the game and you're enjoying the imba skills of the almighty Henson , the Mage. The success of your battles hinge on how much mana your mage has. You get an extra 5th character but ignore him and just play with your strongest four.

BEWARE! He WILL leave halfway in the game.. i can't remember exactly where but i think it's when you're around level 40ish. (assuming you're an average player who doesn't grind maniacally and doesn't avoid every single fight)

So if you've totally ignored your 5th character (which in most cases should be Gelts the Cleric, cos IMO he's the most useless character in the game) .. good luck in carrying on without your mage :p

But don't worry! he comes back when you're almost level 70 (my average level was 68 when he was back) , at level 70 nonetheless. So.. just have to bear with it without him.


4) Monastery
The place in the game where i first encountered any kind of trouble was the monastery. Before this, the dungeons are all straightforward, all a matter of proceeding from bottom to top or front to back and just clearing the monsters.
The first 'puzzle' comes with the quest of finding something in the 'monastery's backyard'. The quest hint says "but how do i get into the backyard?"

It's simple, at the map just before you enter the monastery, walk around the top right part of the map near the bushes. You'll find some gap in the bushes where you'll 'fall' into. tahdah.

Then comes the monastery quest itself , when you have to chase the fake Abbot into his secret underground tunnels.
I recall being very frustrated and not knowing what to do with the locked door and coffins. here's how to get past the locked door -

You should eventually reach the real Abbot chained up in a big room, where he'll tell you to carry on and chase the monster. If you haven't gotten 'Holy Water' yet, backtrack one room (up the stairs) and head up the top right path of that narrow T-junction path that led you to the real Abbot.
In that room you should find 4 coffins, press X at all of them till you find the one that has the 'Holy Water'.

Carry on exploring, and you'll reach the locked door. Head up further and you find a room with 2 coffins and an altar in the adjacent room.
I don't quite get how this works because i was stuck here for awhile and tried just about everything, but what should work is : Go up to the altar and press X.
If it works, you should pour the holy water inside and the door opens.
If it doesnt work, press X at both coffins and then at the altar again.
This should work.


5) The looping rooms.
I totally forgot when this was, before or after the monastery.. should be after?
It's this dungeon where if you keep blindly walking through doors you'll just end up in the same place and not make any progress at all.
Haha sorry i don't know how to describe this better if you get stuck somewhere like this it should be this one.

The key to this is simple, just enter the door with the burning torch(es) at the entrance!
If there are no burning torches at all the entrance, then just the door with the torches next to them.
If there are no torches next to them, choose the one with those green urns next to them.
Just keep choosing the correct door, and you'll eventually find the end of the dungeon.


6) Golden Statue puzzle
I forgot the name of the place, it's the one with the big room in the centre with 4 golden statues then 10 separate smaller rooms with 1 golden statue in each.
To solve this you simply have to turn the statues all facing the same direction. Yup, that simple =)
One random note, if you're observant you'll realise that the right and left set of doors just lead to one room each. :) (e.g. 3 doors lead to the same room)

In this same dungeon, there's a locked door at level3, you have to go up to level 5 to obtain the key. At level 5 one particular sequence of rooms SEEMS looping but it's not! so dont be tricked, just carry on logically and proceed to the next door.


7) Silvernian Dungeon
Not that particularly difficult, just remember to collect all 4 keys before going to level 5, since there's a series of 4 locked doors in level 5 which you can't clear without the keys.
2 keys at level 3, 2 keys at level 4.

Take note that there's a secret pathway at level 5. When you just reach level 5, instead of heading up towards the doors, if you keep walking against the boundary of the bottom of the map you'll find a secret pathway. You can't go far there yet, so just take note of where it is cos you may come back later.


8) The Ziggurat Tower
Easily one of the most frustrating dungeons in the game. Not because there's a puzzle or anything, it's just.. BORING.
You can go through this tower at earlier parts of the game with the warp zones.. the monsters drop medallions which are quite useful in the game so you can farm there if you like, though i'll say it's not necessary.

The quest to clear this tower should be after the Silvernian Dungeon one.
The boring part is here - because this is a particularly LONG dungeon. There are THIRTY levels. (actually more than 30.. you'll find out why)
Yep. And each level isn't just a one room thing, you have to go through several rooms.

And the monsters should be chicken feed all the way till level 21. I just let them ambush me and killed them off from levels 1-20. 1-20 is really just about your patience.

The monsters get normal from 21 onwards (normal being the same difficulty as those you encounter outside, e.g. silvernian, etc), so proceed with caution and don't run through blindly like you did the for the past 20 levels.

Also, from about level 27 onwards there are dummy staircases. For instance you can head up a staircase from level 26 to level 27, then after walking around you realise it's a dead end, and have to backtrack to level 26 and find the correct staircase to 27.
This is what i meant by frustrating.


9) The legendary sword and armor
After the ziggurat quest you'll get some amulets to go hunt for the sword and armor. i haven't tried the armor one, but i tried the sword one.
It's the hidden passageway of Silvernian Dungeon which i previously mentioned.. so just go there and proceed through some stairs and you'll reach the boss to fight for the sword.

From what i know, unless you're some crazy pro at the game and have grinded madly and your characters are uber powerful.. i don't think you'll be able to kill the boss.
Every turn, she casts 2 spells, one does 1+k damage and the other 500-1000 damage (to 2 different people) From what i know.. probably only Killian will have 1k HP at that time, unless you've buffed up your HP really alot though i don't think it's very possible.

So she can basically wipe your entire team in 2 turns. I've spammed resurrect potions and stuff, but .. it just takes too much damage to kill her to last that long.


10) Random tips
- Use medallions to up your skills! After some time in the game you'll realise that the ultimate skills just cost too much mana and you won't use them much, probably just relying on the lower cost skills like Judgement Blade, Temptation Kiss, etc. So use those medallions to make these basic skills stronger!

-There's a very useful item Professor's Hat at the Snow Bridge (just before the snowy town) which you should get for your Mage and whoever else you think uses alot of mana (my first team is Acelora, Killian, Lurdurk, Henson, and i gave Acelora and Henson the hat)

It allows you to cast spells at HALF THE MANA COST. omg how imba is that!?! Yes, so you can go and learn the Meteo and the other ultimate damage-to-all spells of Henson and use them freely. =) pretty ownage, no monsters can survive the 2-4k damage of the spell.


If you need any help with any part of the game, feel free to ask here, leave a comment or a tag and i'll be glad to help.

=) bye!