PART 3 : TANIMURA Tanimura begins the game with a ridiculously low amount of health. It improves rapidly as he accumulates levels, but he's always going to be the weakest of your playable characters. He has the ability to parry attacks, which sets an enemy up for a quick combo, but Tanimura also has a disquieting habit of fighting very large groups. One-on-one, use the parry for an easy win; against multiple opponents, Tanimura can have problems. The easiest way to cope with that is to pick up Enhance Grabs, Enhance Throws, and finally Arm Lock. This turns Tanimura's basic grab into a nearly-inescapable armbar. It does decent damage, charges Tanimura's HEAT meter rapidly, knocks down any other opponent that's hit by the guy you're maiming, and Tanimura's got invincibility frames during the armbar. It's not the best move he's got, but it is the best way for Tanimura to survive fights against multiple enemies. You should also go and get all of Tanimura's Revelations (see Achievements) as quickly as possible, as they're all quite good. Another option Tanimura has is Essence of Combos, which lets you automatically burn HEAT during a normal combo string to set up a devastating finisher. The biggest problem it has is that, once you have it, it becomes very easy to burn meter without intending to do so. Taking it makes it much easier for Tanimura to rapidly KO enemies, but you have to be careful. CHAPTER 1 : THE PARASITE OF KAMUROCHO Your first stop as Tanimura is the Orchid Palace. Talk to the desk clerk, then the guys at the table. You can either gamble to win the two Silver Plates they want in exchange for their information, buy enough points to trade 26,000 of them for two real Silver Plates, or go to Ebisu Pawn around the corner and buy two Fake Silver Plates for a total of 200 yen. However you do it, once you get the information, you can head over to the Shichifuku Parking Lot to meet Iida. Defeat him as part of a tutorial on Tanimura's parry. When you leave the parking lot, Tanimura automatically heads to Theater Square, where you'll need to defeat a single street punk. Meet Akaishi to learn about some side jobs you can pull for extra cash, then head to Homeland to meet Zhao. Homeland is now Tanimura's hideout. Head outside to the Midori Salon and speak to Yasuko, but you'll have to deal with a few Shibata yakuza first. It's a very small space and there are four of them, so get proactive. When the fight's over, stop somewhere to grab a full load of energy drinks, then run to the taxi stops along the southern edge of the map. Take a cab to the new destination, the docks. Once you're at the docks, you're flung straight into an action sequence. The biggest threat in the first area is the big guy, who runs around throwing huge, looping axehandle punches whenever he has something even vaguely close to an opening. That means he's elected for your first target, as everyone else is relatively easy to dispose of. From here, it's a series of action sequences, interspersed by HEAT events to avoid damage from the goons' various traps. Tanimura's low health bar is the biggest problem, as slipping in oil or getting caught by a trap is a major hit, and it may run you out of items if you weren't sufficiently prepared. Don't skip any fights if you can help it, as you can use all the XP you can earn. To get past the oil-covered floors, walk slowly across them without running. The final battle's tough. The pistol-waving yakuza thug in this wave is the first one of his ilk in the game who isn't a one-hit wonder, so you have to whittle him down until a HEAT event lets you take him and his sword-waving buddy out. CHAPTER 2 : THE MASTERMIND You're now back in Kamuracho, with Yasuko in tow and a much thicker plot. When you leave Homeland, you'll wind up being shanghaied by Nair to her crew's hideout. Spar with her and win to unlock new abilities, such as Prolong Parry and Essence of Seizing. Challenge: Nair's Kumite Nair doesn't fight quite like anyone else in the game, mostly because she's trying to set up her own parries. It's very rare that you'll land enough consecutive hits on her to enter HEAT mode, and even if you manage it, this is a sparring match; Tanimura is somewhat reluctant to maim his opponent in a friendly brawl, so he won't use any of his more dangerous moves. This means fights with Nair have a unique, slower rhythm than anything else in the game. After you win two sparring sessions against Nair, a new encounter—two armed foreigners in a standoff with a cop—shows up on Nakamichi Street. Return to Nair and report in, then beat her twice more to unlock Essence of Arm Dragging and Reversal. Leave Little Asia and look for a unique message on the police scanner, involving a member of a weapons smuggling ring, then go find and defeat the criminal in question. Report back to Nair just in time to take out a few gangsters. Once they're dealt with, stock up if you have to, then tell Nair you're ready to go. You'll wind up in several battles against surprisingly tough gangsters, ending in a brawl atop—where else?—Millennium Tower. It's like being a dramatic place for a fight is the only reason they built this thing. GG himself ends the challenge. He's got a lot of health and a shotgun, and once he's on his last legs, just about the only move he does is an obnoxious rolling counter. You can knock a lot of damage off of him very quickly with HEAT moves like Essence of Armbarring, but the final knockout blow can be difficult to land. Defeating GG earns you a new technique, the Komaki Shot Stopper. You can also go to Naomi's Palace and get the Sacred Tree Greaves from Bob. Meanwhile, back in the main plot, go to the Central Parking Lot to retrieve Yasuko's cash. You have to check every car in the parking garage, but not all of them have a trunk you can reach, which speeds things up. The car you want is in lot 307. Leave the parking lot via any stairwell to get an anonymous phone call. The photo he sends you is a picture of the view from the Kamorocho Rooftops East, right near the Ebisu Pawn Shop. Talk to the homeless man standing there to get a phone call from Katsuragi, then return to Homeland when you're ready to make some progress. To advance to the next night, tell Zhao you want to get some rest. Go to the front entrance of the Millennium Tower to meet with Katsuragi. After he dumps a whole mess of exposition in your lap, it's time for a showdown with quite a few members of the Ueno Seiwa. Get back to Homeland as fast as you can, using the briefcase full of money to pummel the life out of any gangsters that get in your way. You'll eventually hit an encounter where you lose the briefcase and wind up in a fight against four guys. One has a sword, and two are the big "sumo wrestler" types that, try as you might, you won't be able to knock down. Take out the two smaller ones first, and use the sword to quickly dispatch the big guys. That leads to a chase scene across the rooftops, which is one of the hardest in the game. The Ueno Seiwa guy you're chasing has almost as much stamina as Tanimura does, he's difficult to hit with the two bottles that are lying around, and it's easy to blow a turn. If you manage to get at least one hit off of him and don't screw up the HEAT action near the start of the chase, you should be able to simply outlast him. With the briefcase back in hand, you need to use it to fend off three more seriously tough yakuza, two of whom can knock you down pretty much any time they feel like it. A trend is beginning to develop here. Beat them, then outrun the remaining Ueno Seiwa. If you can last through the first awkward moments where you're surrounded, you can get to the final fight of the chapter: another brutal struggle against three tough opponents. CHAPTER 3 : DOOR TO THE TRUTH Once you're ready to go, pay the taxi fare to get to police headquarters. Investigate the shelves to Hisai's left to find the files about the Ueno hit. Afterward, you'll automatically return to Kamurocho, with instructions to return to Homeland. This is a good opportunity to knock out some substories and stock up on items. When you're done, go back to Homeland. CHAPTER 4 : AS A DETECTIVE You've got the briefcase full of money. Head back to Sky Finance to meet Akiyama, then take a taxi to reach the docks. When it's all said and done, you're in a boat chase. The biggest problems you have are Tanimura's shaky aim, your opponent's flawless aim, and your boat's tendency to vastly overcorrect for even slight steering changes. The biggest advantage you have is that your boat is faster, but Tanimura will abort a charge if the boat takes a bullet. Ramming your opponent's boat does damage to both you and him, but considerably more to him, particularly if you hit him amidships. He, on the other hand, will continually fire at your boat with his pistol if you're within a certain range, hitting with every shot, and never hits an obstacle even if you sideswipe him into one. This is one of those frustrating fights where you don't win so much as you manage to stop failing for long enough to succeed. Once his boat's wrecked, it's time for a one-on-one showdown. You can parry a lot of your opponent's moves here, and you probably should. As usual with a CPU opponent, he's more or less unstoppable in HEAT mode and his grapples are nearly unbreakable; as is not usual with a CPU opponent, Essence of Finishing will work wonders here if you manage to get the opportunity. There's a Toughness ZZ on the ground nearby, and if you've got a full load of items, you can just outlast him.