PART 2 : SAEJIMA Judging by his abilities, Saejima is a cleverly disguised silverback gorilla. His combos suck, he's relatively slow, and he tends to absorb a lot of stray hits, but Saejima compensates by having extremely damaging throws. He can also pick up objects that the other characters can't even budge, such as motorcycles, and use them as weapons. In the early game, pour Souls into Body abilities as fast as you can until you can pick up Goriki Grab and Enhance Escapes. One of Saejima's most reliable sources of damage, which he desperately needs, is being able to pick up and body-slam an opponent. This is one of the easiest ways to survive the tough boss fights in Chapters 1 and 2, and Saejima enjoys a lengthy invulnerability window as long as he's got a guy suspended over his head. CHAPTER 1 : FLIGHT FOR THE TRUTH After a lengthy flashback, we catch up to Saejima in prison. Use the opening tutorial fight to get a feel for Saejima's style. There's a specific rhythm to his charge attacks that's initially difficult to grasp. Your first job, once you're done with your brutal beating, is securing the tools for a jailbreak. Collect three pieces of Wormwood from the prison yard—under the chalkboard, in the northwest corner of the yard, and over by the basketball hoop—then talk to Kamiyama by the pay phone. Kataoka, one of the guys over by the exercise equipment, has the Chain you need, but you must take him out in under a minute to get it. Take that to Kamiyama, then speak to the two farm workers over by Hamazaki. You need to speak to the guy on the left, Morinaga, as his buddy Kawana's sort of antisocial. Kawana wants a cigarette in exchange for the hoe, so go bum one off the guy standing by the basketball hoop. To get Kawana a light, talk to the guard over by the fence and ask to be let through the gate. There's a lighter at the end of the alley. Pick it up, go back to the yard, and bust Kawana's face to receive the Hoe. Kamiyama can now give you the Grappling Hook. Take it to Hamazaki, then hide the hook under the manhole in the northeast corner of the yard. This begins a series of cutscenes. Once the jailbreak begins, take out the small fry first before you deal with Saito. In this fight, he spends most of his time blocking, so you have to whittle him down gradually. Again, as you level, pour souls into Body techniques until you can get Goriki Grab, which lets you toss people around. This is the most reliable way to knock health off of Saito, and this is only the first time you have to fight him. Don't forget about the wormwood you found, as it's a weak healing item. Take out the guards in the hallway and pick up the Tauriner from the corner. Use weapons and throws liberally to keep guards at bay, as every hit you take is valuable. Saejima can't just go eat somewhere or buy a ton of energy drinks to keep his health up, so every little bit counts. At the end of the hall, Saito is waiting in ambush. Beat him in a HEAT event to start off on equal footing with him, then bounce weapons off of his face to whittle his health down. You just need to stay alive until you get the chance to finish him off with a HEAT moment. Grab his Card Key and use it to escape outside. Take out two more guards outside the warden's office, then pick up a Toughness ZZ from the hall and follow Hamazaki upstairs. You must now avoid the sniper on the distant tower by staying behind various objects while taking out the guards. The first three guards you run into can be tough, but you need to knock them all out before you go any further along. The last guard in the area is carrying a pocketful of flash grenades, which stun both Saejima and any guards caught in the explosion's radius. This usually means the sniper gives you a third nostril, let alone any guards in the area, so don't run into that guard's area unless you've dealt with everyone else. You can also smash open a door on this part of the roof to find a hidden Staminan X. In the next stretch of the roof, just run straight towards the south gate to trigger Hamazaki's appearance, which disables the sniper. The easiest way to deal with the small army of guards up here is by picking up oil drums and using them to sweep the enemies away two and three at a time, although you'll probably only get a swing or two before a flash grenade goes off in your face. Just the same, a hit from an oil drum does a lot of damage, which makes it your safest bet. Continue maiming guards as you head back to the ground level, collecting a Staminan XX and a Toughness Z along the way. In the prison yard, retrieve the Grappling Hook from where you hid it to begin the last battle of the chapter. Saito's back for a third and final encounter, and he's brought five of his closest friends. None of them are particularly dangerous by comparison, but Saito will be all over you like stink on a monkey the moment the fight starts, and while you're dealing with him, you're also absorbing gunfire from one of his buddies. Run from Saito and take out the gunman first, then use his pistol to either knock some health off of Saito or drop a couple of the guards. Once Saito's the only one left standing, use repeated throws to drop him on his head repeatedly. Trying to slug it out with him ends very poorly. CHAPTER 2 : THE TIGER AND THE DRAGON Hopefully you didn't wind up using up all of your healing items on the fight with Saito. Chapter 2 consists of a single boss fight, but it's Saejima vs. Kiryu Kazama. Before you start, grab the Toughness ZZ from nearby. Kiryu is a dangerous opponent and is virtually unstoppable when he's in HEAT mode. You can comfortably expect that for every punch you land on him, you'll take three in return. Worse, if you're at 25% health or less and he's in red HEAT mode, he can take you out in one punch. The best ways to deal damage to Kiryu are Saejima's Charging Tackle and, just as with Saito, repeated throws. Kiryu is nearly impossible to throw if he's in HEAT mode, so stay away from him at that point and try to tag him with rushing attacks. On higher difficulties, watch Kiryu carefully, then quickstep out of the way and counterattack, but don't finish the combination. CHAPTER 3 : THE 25-YEAR BLANK Welcome back to Kamurocho. Go across town to West Park, taking time to buy extra healing items as you go, and talk to the homeless guy in West Park. Your next lead is to find Toku in the Underground Mall. Toku's easy to spot, and he wants some booze to jog his memory. The closest place where you can buy some carry-out booze is Don Quixote on Showa Street, which sells beer. Bribe Toku for information, then head upstairs and across town to the Champion District, and Saejima's old apartment building. Your next trick involves chasing Kido down, which is actually somewhat difficult. He often doubles back, so it's easy to lose track of him, and he's actually faster than Saejima. Kido doesn't have as much stamina, though, and often stops to catch his breath. Tackle him to the ground whenever he does so, and clock him with the occasional bottle. Afterward, follow Kido to the Theater Underground. Midorikawa's old office is now your new hideout. You don't have access to anything that you put in storage as Akiyama, but now you can regenerate health for free and stow your extra gear. Leave your hideout and go up the escalator. Take out the three street punks to receive a Woodworking Set, which Saejima can use to learn Revelations. The Master in the sewers is also looking for help with his digging projects, and if you give him a hand with it, you'll earn some bonus XP. Complete all five stages of the Master's dig to complete the optional challenge "Master's Helper." Talk to Nakano on the far side of the sewer tunnel to learn more about Kage the Florist, information broker to Kamurocho. With that information in mind, climb up to ground level and go back to the West Park bathroom. At this point, you have no actual leads and are free to explore the city. It's a good idea to do a couple of Saejima's substories at this point, particularly "The Homeless Men and the Cats," to earn a few extra levels and some walking-around money. It's difficult to do any shopping during 2-4, and you'll want a full inventory. When you're ready to move on, go find the construction worker Tsurumi near the M Store. Promise him you won't tell anyone what he told you, then go west to Children's Park. Use one of the long steel pipes near the bathroom to knock the street punks around, then pry up the manhole and descend into the Purgatory Underground. In exchange for the information you need, Kage the Florist wants you to beat his champion Ivan Ibrahimovic in a tournament deathmatch. You're allowed to prepare for the fight if you want, and Kage will float you 10,000 yen if you're short on funds, but you can't use weapons or healing items once you're inside the ring. Fortunately, Ivan isn't as tough an opponent as Kiryu was. There's a unique HEAT move you can use inside the cage by dragging Ivan over to the chain-link fence, and he's got that same disturbing vulnerability to being repeatedly dropped on his face. CHAPTER 4 : OATH OF THE BROTHERHOOD Your goal is to head back to the hideout in the Theater Underground. Go through the North Sewer to the Children's Park north of Theater Square. If you opt to follow Sodachi to his dojo at this point, you can train his apprentice Hideo as part of a new minigame, Fighter Maker. Once you're done with that, head outside to try to get back to the hideout. Thankfully, this isn't a stealth section so much as it's using cops as unofficial barricades, although if the cop on patrol sees you, it's a game over. Use the rooftop access point next to the movie theater, then run all the way back to Sky Finance south of Theater Square. Cross the street and descend via the stairs to the Central Parking Lot, then cross the lot to the east exit. You're now in Pink Alley. Take a left and get to the rooftops via the east entrance. Go north across the rooftops and descend to the alley outside the No. 1 Star. Take Senryo Ave. north to the next waypoint. Keep an eye out for the cops as you use the manhole in the parking lot to drop into the Millennium Tower Underground. Climb back up to ground level, then go west along Sichifuku Street to reach the Kamuro Theater Underground via the stairwell. You've finally reached your hideout, where Minami has a message for you. You're on your own for now, but there's not a lot you can do with the cops looking for you at ground level. When you're ready to continue the story, head back to your hideout and talk to Kido. Follow the directions to get to Millennium Tower. Go up the escalators to reach street level, dodge the cops, and take a right at the street to reach the Millennium Tower Underground just as Akiyama did. Go east in the Underground and climb the ladder. When you come back up in the parking lot, wait for the cop outside on the street to pass by, then head south to Pink Alley and the rooftops. Go to the waypoint on the rooftops and descend back down to the southern part of the Pink Alley, then descend back down to the Central Parking Lot. Use the manhole along the north wall to descend into the sewers again. You've returned to Eco-Taro's hangout in the Central Sewer. Cross the bridge to the Millennium Tower sewer exit. Go inside the building via the front door. Your first challenge is against a mob of a couple of dozen Minami family yakuza, who'll be coming at you in groups. Drag the fight over to the left so you can use the wall for Saejima's HEAT actions, and make frequent use of Essence of Swinging to even the odds a little. After two waves of small fry, you'll have to deal with a trio of much tougher enemies, and finally, Minami. Even with Goriki Grab, you can't really throw him, and he's much faster than you are. When he's in HEAT mode, you can't really do much of anything other than sit there and take it, since even his simplest moves seem to result in a stun. That said, he loves to eat Saejima's rushing moves, particularly the Charging Tackle. When he gets down to the last of his health bar, Minami acquires a new technique where he blows flaming liquor out of his mouth. Watch for him to pull out a bottle, then just stand back until he's done. There's a narrow window after he finishes blowing fire where you can easily nail him with another Charging Tackle. You cannot interrupt it, however, so don't try. Once Minami's down, it's time to handle Majima himself. He's always going to have a knife during this fight, so blocking is pointless unless you're also armed (or if you've dumped all of your Souls into learning some of Saejima's advanced defensive moves, but that's a really bad idea). Use the baseball bats in the corners of the room to defend yourself, and knock some health off of him, but your best bet is to try and evade as much as you can. Punches don't really work and throwing him's a lost cause, so stay at a distance and tag him with Charging Tackles whenever possible. You don't win this fight so much as you survive it.