FAQ

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FAQ version 1.0

Credit for the Guide goes to MechaFanBoy, I [Bma] simply finished off the guide for him.

Battle system

How does the battle system work?

Well as you should know from reviews, your character(Neku) almost never fights alone(there's one forced fight where you can control only Neku in day 1).

Your partner fights on the Upper screen using the direction pad OR the ABXY buttons , depending on whether you're left or right handed. By pressing these buttons in sequence, your partner can perform comboes on the opponent. Pressing L/R(direction) or Y/A attacks whilst pressing up/down or X/B allows them to dodge or guard. Additional functions allow the character to counter, and both characters to perform a super move of sorts.

On the lower screen using the stylus/other not-so-pointy-objects-of-poking-destruction by dragging makes Neku move, whilst various stylus movements such as scratching enemies or random areas of the screen will make Neku perform various attacks. These attacks are dependant on the pins equipped. Some pins require you to blow into the microphone, whilst others simply require you to tap the opponent.

Also, the hp bar is SHARED between Neku and his partner so hitting your partner or hitting Neku amounts to the same thing. The battle is over once your hp bar is gone.

How the heck does anyone use two screens at once?

Well some people (like me >_>) just concentrate on one screen and button mash the other screen. Other (smarter players) follow the puck around since it offers a power bonus to characters. Starting at 2x but gradually increasing to a maximum of 5x damage.

What is this puck you speak of?

The puck appears when you successfully land a finisher (the end of your partners attack and I believe the last use of a pin) and allows the character to hit harder once(the next finisher you/your partner does) then pass it onto their partner. If the partner manages to combo before it disappears it is passed back to the Neku with an even higher damage multiplier and can be done several times. This is why players concentrate on the screen with the puck. Against some enemies, they have insane defence when not being hit by a 'pucked' character.

Is it lefty friendly?

Yep. You can use the ABXY buttons instead of the direction pad.(a godsend for those of us with more fragile fingers... owww...)

How does leveling work in this game? Like normal leveling or....?

Leveling works as per normal, get enough exp and you'll level up. two things to note whilst leveling,

A. Only your hp goes up.

B. Since exp is calculated during battles, it's possible to level up during battle and recover your hp fully.

Now you'll be wondering why I put this section in right? It's because you can go through the game at almost any level, be it level 1 or 99 or 50,etc. Read the next question to find out why you'd want to level down.

Level down? Are you crazy man? Why do it?

Because of something called drop rates ^_^ With a lower level, the game deems you as having more risks and makes enemies drop pins more often. Generally, a drop rate of 20-25 or so nets you most items(100% drop rate) on easy,normal and hard difficulty(which is what most players will be playing at).

To level down, simply slide the orange bar at the bottom of the screen to the left.

How does the drop rate work?

Supposing you are playing at lvl 1, but have a maximum level of 48, you will have a drop rate of 48. Playing at Lvl 48 with a maximum level of 48 will make your base drop rate 1. Playing at lvl 30 with a maximum level of 48 will give you a base drop rate of 19. Basically, your drop rate is based on how many levels you're not using. There are other ways to increase the drop rate via chaining, and an item that increases your drop rate permanantly.

How about money? No enemies drop it right? And how do i get rid of old pins?

Well.. No enemies directly drop money but they can drop money pins instead. These can be recycled by dropping the pin into the recycle bin in the upper right corner when accessing the pin menu. The same goes for most other pins except for rare material pins which can't be recycled.

How many types of noises are there and why are some noises coloured differently?

There's quite a number of noises,96 types(though many of the so called 'noise' are simply bosses), of which about 1/3 are colour swaps.

In general, there's 4 colours that Noise can come in. Red, which are normal random encounters, Orange, which are plot related encounters, Blue which indicates a non-story related boss battle and green which are pig battles.

What are pig battles?

Pig battles are battles in which you have to erase noise in the form of pigs as soon as possible before it runs away. Some battles require pigs to be defeated in a certain order. Some pigs have extremely high defence,

and require certain pins to defeat efficiently. The top screen almost always deals normal amounts of damage however.

What are reduction fights?

Some reapers ask for this, just fight a chain the same number or higher than they ask for. To chain you simply press several noise on the screen before the battle starts. At first, the limit is 4, but by gaining a certain item, the maximum becomes 16.

Why did my attack change colour and what does that shape mean?

Different attack colours indicate different effects,in general

White = Neutral damage
Green = Healing
Yellow = High damage
Red = You got hit D:

The shapes indicate what type of attack the pin uses.

Physical = A sword
Magic/Long ranged = a pinwheel

What status effects are there?

Paralyse = You can't move = A wave icon Attack up/down = Your attack goes up/down = An arrow pointing up/down with an A in it Defense up/down = Your defence does up/down = An arrow pointing up/down with an A in it Poison = Your hp slowly decreases every few seconds = Small bubbles

Fusion System

What are fusions and how are they used?

Fusions eh? Fusions are a special attack where you and your partner join forces to unleash a single strong attack on all enemies. After the initial attack some of your life is restored. They require either a lot of luck when manipulating the partner >_> or a lot of skill.

This is because in order to use the special attacks, you have to fulfill a sort of minigame within the battle >_< to earn fusion points. upon obtaining enough points, the fusion pin becomes available and enemies quail in fear.

How do you play the "minigames"? !!!CHARACTER SPOILERS!!!

They're different for all 3 partners.

Shiki : Arguably the easiest AND the hardest game at the same time, all you have to do is guess which card goes next then finish her combo with your guess. If you manage to do more than one in a row, you get +2 points instead of 1.

Joshua : Probably the easiest one to spam >_>, What joshua does is he gives you a number to work with and a small symbol by the side of that number. That number indicates if he wants a higher number (arrow pointing up), a lower number (arrow pointing down) or the same number (= sign). Just finish a combo with it and you'll get +1 and +2 for more than 1.

Beat : Is the hardest one to fill, but the easiest one to max. What he does is that each ground combo of his ends with a pair of cards. For each combo, the cards are placed at the top of the screen. When you've filled up the top of the screen (well.. you can actually do it anytime you see the symbol), aim for a skull symbol and the cards will be destroyed. you'll gain +1 for every pair of the same suit next to each other. To each side

of the cards are 2 flames. For every second you waste, the flame gets closer to the cards. If any of your cards touch this flame, your entire card combo will dissappear, netting you no points.

Are there different levels of fusion?

Yep. Obviously they become stronger with each level. In order to access higher level fusions, you have to buy the respective character fusion stickers which allow you to raise your fusion level by one up to a maximum of 3.

How many points do i need to activate fusion?

In general, you need 4 to use level 1 fusions, 8 for level 2 and 16 for level 3. The required points raise by one everytime you use a fusion.

It's shown at the top of the screen just above where the symbols you have to follow for each character are.

Pin system

What are pins, and how do you use them?

Pins are what Neku uses to attack. they come in all types ranging from close range attacks which are activated by slashing opponents, slashing upwards on opponents, scratching them, blowing in the microphone etc depending on the type of pin you're using. There are a total of 304 or so pins.

Pins can also be leveled up using PP(before going level up crazy please read 2.1). All pins have differing max levels.

What the heck? My pin suddenly changed shape when it reached it's max level! What's going on?

That's called evolving. Certain pins can evolve if you level them up a certain way. In order to get a better grasp of it, please read question 3.0.

Is it ever better not to evolve your pin? Or should i go evolve crazy!!!!! =D

Except for VERY rare cases(for example, one pin DEVOLVES if you evolve it too much, #222 for future reference.), it's accepted that evolved versions are almost ALWAYS better than their unevolved forms.

As an example, Ice Blow, a pin you get very early in the game, maxes out with 27 attack and hits only once. Evolving it into an Ice Risers turns it into a respectable 43 attack pin which hits three times

Evolving pins

OMG! My pin didn't evolve even though it said it could evolve! WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!?!?!?!?!

First of all, you have to fill the pp bar in a certain way, this wikipedia list has a listing of how to evolve most/possibly all pins.

Different types of PP? O_o what is that?

The dominant experience type is displayed in your pins menu, in the bar.

Green = Shutdown PP (SDPP)
Blue = Battle PP (BPP)
Red = Mingle PP (MPP)

The dominant type is the one which covers over 50% of the bar. However, how the bar fills depends on the type of experience gained. SDPP and MPP count for 9x as much in the experience bar as the amount of PP that is actually gained from them.

Consider a pin needing 900 pp to master and evolves through Shutdown PP. Naturally, you're thinking oh i have to get at least 451 worth of shutdown pp to get it dominant right?

WRONG

Because mingle and shutdown points count as X9, assume you got 100 ShutDown PP. It would count as 900 pp out of the TOTAL PP

Get 800 more Battle PP(since you have 100 from shutdown pp and only need 800 more to master the pin.). this counts as 800pp out of the TOTAL PP

So do you think it will evolve? ^^ It will! Because evolution is based on TOTAL PP (which amounts to 900+800 = 1700) and shutdown pp is dominant with 900 out of the 1700 total pp

Can I evolve mastered pins(pins with a star beside their level)?

Sadly no. Get a new pin and start over.

Money pins won't evolve D: WHY WHY WHY?!?!?!?!

Because you're trying to evolve mastered pins. It won't work. Any money pins dropped by enemies can't be evolved. if you want to evolve money pins, get close to the shop keepers and some of them start selling money pins if you're close to them (ironic, isn't it?).

Trend system

Trends? What are those and why are they important?

Trends are a useful part of the game since they allow you to use your pins with either more power (more specifically,atk+20%,+50% or +100%) or less power (-50% atk). To check the trends in your area, open the

menu and look at your top screen. The map also shows an overview of the whole of shibuya's current trends.(only the most dominant(+100% atk) one though)

How do I CHANGE trends?

Simple enough. Fight. >_> Okay fine... Fight using the pins and clothing belonging to the trend you want to be dominant. After a while, it'll slowly go go up the rank ladder. The more you use the faster it goes up.

Shopping System

Every girl's dream... SHOPPING!!!

Well... I should probably leave this question to a girl since I'm sure they're more elogant about it but meh. Shopping is VERY important in this game. your primary goal when shopping should always be...

To make friends with the shopkeeper! for discounts and crap.... Okay fine I lied sorry... It's actually to get 2 things, Quest Items/Requests and the hidden abilities of clothes

In order to do these two things, just buy expensive things ^_^ The more expensive the product, the friendlier the shopkeeper will get to you ^^

(Side note.. some of the shopkeepers are a little... TOO friendly at 100% >_>)

Quest Items/Requests? What are they and why are they important?

Quest Items/Requests are important because they let you buy overpowered goods early on in the game and can be a source for unique things like ultimate mode(a difficulty mode) ,stickers to improve partner stats and some wonderful armor and pins.

For a quick example of something which makes Shiki fairly unbeatable early on, buy things from the d+b shop in 104 until a Denim Miniskirt appears. Its +9 defense is enough to make Shiki MUCH more useful. Read the next section to make her even more useful...

Hidden abilities? Why should i care about them?

Hidden abilities allow you to do lots of things like make the hit gauge last longer, increase defense further, increase attack,etc. They're fairly useful and yeah that's about it.

To get the abilities, scroll over the item and the shopkeeper will comment on it if he/she has the tip for it. If he/she doesn't, then you have to go to a different shop(WITH ONE OF SAID CLOTHING IN YOUR INVENTORY) and hope that shopkeeper has the tip. (generally most shopkeeper only give tips for... 2/3 to 3/4th of their mechandise.)

Quick example time! Using the above Denim Miniskirt,continue buying from the shopkeeper until she gives you it's tip and an additional +2 defense which makes most enemies do 0-5 damage to Shiki =D Nice!

Food system

Food? You can eat in this game? What's the point and HOW do you eat?

Food is used to raise your stats. And yes, you can eat in this game >_> In fact most of them shouldn't look as thin as they do... >_> (Especially after you finish the game. More on that later). To eat food, just buy it from the food shops and then go to your item menu. Go to the food items and drag the food to the icon of the character. The little bars beside the character will fill up and you have to fight that many battles until you can digest the food and get the bonus.

Cool! So can I eat as much as i want? =D

No. you're limited to how many bytes (little tiny bars beside your character under item) remain black. Though you're always allowed 6 bars of food no matter what happens. (There's something else you can do about it after you finish the game as well.)

That's not cool... So what should i eat then D:

Well... I suggest focusing on def/atk until post game mainly because even when you max out your bytes, you can still eat low level brave items(+2 brave,5/6 bytes,ice creams or pumpkin soup) low level hp items (+3 hp, 6bytes, nuggets) or low level sync raising items (instant noodles >_>).

Upon reaching postgame (or possibly if you're fairly crazy ingame), aim for brave+ items first so you can use the overpowered stuff you'll get from doing the sidequests such as Cordyceps (+50 brave,16bytes,bought from the medicine shop at shibu dept store) or brave+(+20 brave,3bytes,bought from shibu-q dept store). The best items for attack and defense are both bought in the shibu-q dept store.(+6atk/def,14bytes)

Tin Pin Slammer

What's this tin pin slammer/marble slash?

It's a minigame which allows you to use your pins to smash other pins off the board. No seriously it is.

There's 4 skills you can use in tin pin slammer:

a hammer (stuns enemies if they're hit)
meteor (your pin jumps up and lands stunning nearby pins)
spike (turns your pin spiky, stuns enemies who touch the spikes)
hand (used when falling off stages, pushes you back onto the stage)

You get mingle points if you win when playing AGAINST OTHER PLAYERS not ingame players.

Assorted useful information

When can I unlock the harder difficulties?

Normal is the default difficulty. Easy gets unlocked around day 3-4. hard mode is unlocked when you're 2/3rds into the game and ultimate is unlocked post game. See section 9.8 for more details.

Where can I get rare materials? Like scarletite,adamantite,etc

Tektite - generally the bird noise drops em on hard. Adamantite - Hard Mode; Noise # 9 and 32. Ultimate Mode; Noise # 3, 25, 28, 30, 31, 33, 35, 49, 54 and 59. Scarletite - Buy em via a quest at shibu-q dept store. 5 yen - Tadpoles(noise 11) drop em on easy or find the 1 yen quest bought pin then use SDPP to evolve then master it. Dark Matter - Sho Minamimoto Shibuya on hard or shibu-q again for 10 shadow matters Shadow matter - Most taboo noise on ultimate drop this

Is there a new game+ option?

Well.. Yes and no. Upon completion of the game, you can simply go to any chapter of the game whenever you wish. In a way, it's better than a new game+ because of this. You lose nothing and can access an additional chapter.

How to solve Week 3 Day 4's Puzzle

After finishing all cutscenes and acquiring the box, Defeat Top Left and Bottom Right noise. Wait, talk to Beat and tell him to press the button. Next screen. Defeat all of the largest noise. Wait, talk to beat and tell him

to press the button. Defeat the middle Noise on both screens, leaving only left/right noise on each respective screen (meaning only 2 noise per screen). Wait, talk to beat and tell him to press the button. Puzzle finish.

What are the answers for the reaper reviews?

Reaper Review Answers

Chapter 1, Day4

Which of these shops are in the 104?

Edoga the shop

What's on the sign outside Shibu Dept. Store

High Heels

Which of these does the BidBanfrog use as an attack

Bubbles

Chapter 1, Day7

What's the name of KuraKura's saleslady?

Yuu Narumi

Which of these commands activates HappyBeam?

Slash Neku

Which brand makes the slogan bandannas?

Hip Snake

Chapter 2, Day3

Which of these is on sale at WildKat?

Bouillabaisse

Where is the phone booth of love?

Near Molco

Which of these is a german composer Famous for the Musical Offering and Air on the G String?

Bach

Getting the secret reports?(!!!possible storyline spoilers!!!)

Locations of secret report requirements

Chapter 1, Day1

Just check Hachiko statue (The statue where you meet Shiki)

Chapter 1, Day2

Get Chapter1, Day 1's report.
Track down all the Pig Noise and elimate them. Check the pig symbol if you are unsure (top right of the screen)
After cleansing the first statue(the moai head one) talk to the guy standing infront of it.

Chapter 1, Day 3

Get Chapter1, Day2's report.
Track down all the Pig Noise and elimate them. Check the pig symbol if you are unsure (top right of the screen)
Play the storyline until you can use memes then go back to Ramendon. Imprint the ramen meme on the tech then follow him back to ramendon.
Check the lower left corner of the dark room to find the symbol.

Chapter 1, Day4

Track down all the Pig Noise and elimate them. Check the pig symbol if you are unsure (top right of the screen)
Play the storyline, talk to beat and rhyme then IMMEDIATELY try to leave the screen.
Check the middle of the scramble to find him.
Check the upper right corner of the 104 to find the symbol.

Chapter 1, Day5

Get Chapter1,Day4's report.
Track down all the Pig Noise and elimate them. Check the pig symbol if you are unsure
Play the storyline until you meet the two girls. When they pay reaper creeper, go to white all three times.
The boss symbol is near the molco (where you had to play tin pin for the championship.)

Chapter 1, Day 6

Get the report for Chapter 1, Day 5
Get the report for Chapter 1, Day 3
Check the upper right corner of the 104 to find the symbol.
Use the meme totally gnarly on the crazy slammurai kid... the second person you have to meme >_>

Chapter 1, Day 7

Get the report for Chapter 1, Day 6
Track down all the Pig Noise and elimate them. Check the pig symbol if you are unsure (top right of the screen)
THE PHONE BOOTH OF LOVE! aka check the phone booth outside molco.
Area just outside of the actual boss battle.

Chapter 2, Day 1

Check the Hachiko Statue(left of the scramble)

Chapter 2, Day2

Get Chapter 2, Day 1's report
Track down all the Pig Noise and elimate them. Check the pig symbol if you are unsure (top right of the screen)
Enter Mexican Hot Dog Shop.
Mayashita park, the bridge right before cat street.

Chapter 2, Day 3

Get Chapter 2 Day 2's report
Track down all the Pig Noise and elimate them. Check the pig symbol if you are unsure (top right of the screen)
Whilst searching for the memes for ramen, search the back of the livestage for a person at the back.
Area before Catstreet

Chapter 2, Day 4

Get Chapter 2,Day 3's report
Get Chapter1, Day7's report
Track down all the Pig Noise and elimate them. Check the pig symbol if you are unsure (top right of the screen)
Enter the Wildkat.

Chapter 2 - Day 5

Get chapter 2 day 4's report
Track down all the Pig Noise and elimate them. Check the pig symbol if you are unsure (top right of the screen)
Lose to the Reaper who challenges you to TinPinSlammer
Entrance of Udagawa

Chapter 2 - Day 6

Get Chapter 2 Day 5's report
Track down all the Pig Noise and elimate them. Check the pig symbol if you are unsure (top right of the screen)
Be a jerk and help no one.
The boss in front of AMX

Chapter 2 - Day 7

Get Chapter 2 Day 6's Report
Track down all the Pig Noise and elimate them. Check the pig symbol if you are unsure (top right of the screen)?
Enter Live Stage, then leave.
Shibukyu Main Store, Center of the Area

Chapter 3 - Day 1

Track down all the Pig Noise and elimate them. Check the pig symbol if you are unsure (top right of the screen)
Inspect Hachiko
Moai Statue
Moai Statue

Chapter 3 - Day 2

Get Chapter 3 Day 1 Report
Track down all the Pig Noise and elimate them. Check the pig symbol if you are unsure (top right of the screen)
Enter theCosmic Corner (shop next to ramen-don)
Bottom part of the Scramble

Chapter 3 - Day 3

Get Chapter 3 Day 2 Report
Track down all the Pig Noise and elimate them. Check the pig symbol if you are unsure (top right of the screen)
With the Reaper Creeper event, pick black.
In the LiveStage at A-East

Chapter 3 Day 4

Get the report for Chapter 3 Day 3
Get the report for Chapter 2 Day 7
After finishing the puzzle and the cut scene with beat about Rhyme, check to the right of the screen. There should be exclamation marks.

Chapter 3 Day 5

Get the report for Chapter 3 Day 4
Track down all the Pig Noise and elimate them. Check the pig symbol if you are unsure (top right of the screen)
After the massive reaper battle, one remains. Talk to him, it's lulzy.
Dogenzaka, to the left of Cosmic Corner.

Chapter 3 - Day 6

Get the report for Chapter 3 Day 5
Track down all the Pig Noise and elimate them. Check the pig symbol if you are unsure (top right of the screen)
Do not interfere with the Reaper Creeper game in Day 3. Then go to where the Shadow Ramen store should be in front of Hachiko Statue

Chapter 3 - Day 7

Get the report for Chapter 3 Day 6
Track down all the Pig Noise and elimate them. Check the pig symbol if you are unsure (top right of the screen)
Ramen Store
After defeating Tigris Cantus, go up the bridge and before leaving the screen, scan and look to the right.

Another Day

Collect the report for Chapter 3 Day 7
Track down all the Pig Noise and elimate them. Check the pig symbol if you are unsure (top right of the screen)
Inspect the livestage.
Progress through Pork City and fight the boss.

Good Pin Combinations

The strongest pins you have. Generally pins with a good amount of damage and utility are quite good. Personally, my favourite is Kanesada, one of the few 'shockwave' psychs, since it does decent damage, is easy to use and has knockback which interrupts comboes. Honourable mentions are pins that are able to stun the enemy, are quick and easy to use and deal decent damage. An almost staple for most players is some kind of curing item, cure drink can do this well even late game. Make sure your set-up is such that you can attack most of the time. Bottom line short, basically, just get whatever pins you think are easy to use and stick to them.

Beating Bosses

Buff up your stats using food. Wear expensive clothing with good abilities. Discover the weakness of the boss first by playing it at lower difficulty levels. Have appropriate pins for the battle (telekinesis psychs are useless when there's nothing to move). Leveling up is also a decent mention.

Getting the last 2 Pin slots

Clarification on when you can get these last two Pin Slots would be helpful, but assume you get these late game. The first is in Edoga The Shop at 104, the second is in Import Stylings at Shibukyu Main Store. Other items which are worth noting are all situated at Shibu-Q-Heads store. These include the Hollow leg power up (which allows you to eat forever >_>), Scarletite material, Trendy Wallet, Chain 16, Ultimate difficulty and lots and lots of Drugs. Seriously.

Where can i get all the fusion stickers?(credit to Blasster)

Shiki's sold at D+B 104 & D+B Molco
Joshua's sold at Dragon Couture and Pegaso Atelier
Beat's sold at Wild Boar 104 & Wild Boar Udagawa Back Street.

where can i buy the wallets?

first upgrade is in shibu-q Heads, real life solutions for 8 rare metals. holds 999,999 yen
second upgrade is in shibuya dept store, bel airplane for 3 orihalcums and 1 dark matter. hold 9,999,999

Questions about the game itself(interesting read!)

Why choose Shibuya as the setting?(credit to RoxiKat)

I'm not completely sure, but I have reason to suspect it has something to do with Square-Enix relocating to Yoyogi, a district of Shibuya, in 2003. This means Square Enix headquarters are IN Shibuya. Good luck trying to find them in the game, though. On a related note, the landmarks that are in the game are real, though some of the buildings and businesses have been renamed for copyright purposes.

What's with all the weird designer names?(Credit to RoxiKat)

Interestingly enough, after I wrote them all down, I realized each of the main designers you can buy from correspond to a member of the Chinese Zodiac:

"D+B", the Ox.
"Wild Boar", the Pig.
"Pegaso", the Horse.
"Mus Rattus", the Rat.
"Hip Snake", the Snake.
"Tigre Punks", the Tiger.
"Pavo Real" the Chicken.
"Natural Puppy", the Dog.
"Sheep Heavenly", the Sheep.
"Lapin Angelique", the Rabbit.
"Dragon Couture", the Dragon.
"Jupiter of the Monkey", the Monkey.

There is also a thirteenth designer, "Gatito," ("Kitten" in Spanish) for special pins and clothing, as well as neutral non-designer pins which are unaffected by trends.

Relevant Links

This Wiki :) - every pin/noise/ability list.

Credit List

MechaFanBoy - for being crazy and typing up the first draft and then abandoning it halfway >_> Responsible for over 90% of the faq
Bma - The guy who stepped in for the lulz. Good times.
DMZlol - created and maintains the pin/noise/ability list.
anyone who contributed to the pin/noise/ability list - you guys rock!
blasster - made MechaFanBoy add additional details about how to activate fusion
sabermast886 - made MechaFanBoy add in more details regarding the hpbar,damage types,status effects.
RoxiKat - Provided everything in section 10.

Damn this was long :/ Whatever.

Bump until Sticky! --- The World Ends With... This FAQ.