Part 3: Chapter 4
About twenty minutes tops for level 5. Leveling is not really an issue in Sweet Home, thankfully, given the limited healing resources. Anyway, update! You may notice a few more screenshots because of how dark some of the rooms are.So, the Mallet! It can be used to clear the cave-in at that one room, and it can clear the boulders in the dark room.
I'm not going back to the cave-in room, however. The items that were on the southern end are Tonic, Wire, Pills, and Camera. The Wire fills in for Emi's Key, the Pills for Akiko's +Kit, and the Camera for Taro's... Camera. I'd only need those for two reasons: A spare unique item for a second team, or to replace a dead character's unique item. Neither option is particularly viable at this point. I also don't have room for another Tonic, and I've got at least four with me already.
So, we're going to forge ahead to the dark room.
Eh?
Oh, Taro... why do you always get caught by these things?
He gets sent to the cave-in room, humorously enough, but I have him catch up by using Call on him a couple of times during a fight with a Skull.
Anyway, the two weakest members of my team go ahead and demolish a boulder so we can keep moving on.
We pass a Wood on the way through.
A FireX, Broom, and Match. Seems like a variant of Rock Paper Scissors.
The FireX is necessary, so I take it. The Broom can replace Asuka's Vacuum, and the Match replaces Kazuo's Lighter. Again, unnecessary at this point.
Only one doorway here.
I decide to use a Tonic since my party was decidedly unhealthy. It restores all HP and PP to every active member in the current fight. So, have all five characters in a battle before using one whenever possible.
That's better.
Three ways to go. South leads to an impassable gap. Let's try north.
You may have noticed these tiles in the main hall, but they weren't directly in the way like they are here. We need a Flashlight to take care of these shadows.
Incidentally, the impassable shadows were in the Sweet Home movie. They would burn whoever touched them, and were sort of a "barrier" between the normal world and Mamiya's territory. Light would carve a path through the shadows, or a person with a strong enough will could "push" their way through them. Only two characters in the movie had enough will to do this; one of them was Kazuo .
The statues are just for decoration in here.
Asuka: A note... "Etsuko, Flash Light... Shadow..."
In other words, use a flashlight on the shadows.
There's three doors on the east end of the room. The uppermost door (not visible) is already open, and the middle door is unlocked with the Key. Top door first.
A skeleton.
Kazuo: Dead...
Skeleton: Ugh... Takashi! Go quickly! The generator is... East Garden... Argh...
You can use Wood on here, but it's a waste. Since I'm attempting not to use any FAQs on this game, I can verify this from empirical evidence, as I broke one piece of wood and laid down another before finding the other entrance.
The middle door is the easier way. At the other end of that room is a weapon too fabulous to describe:
Watch this.
Akiko has a new friend.
There's also a nice clean Fresco in here.
Taro: Used Camera... Letters appear!
"2-3 Our 10th anniversary and our first child is born."
The blue door leads...
Here. A Rune Spear lurks in the northern section of the room. Further north is a door which connects this room with the Wasteful Wood room.
Akiko: A note: "Takashi, Head north for the east garden."
As Kazuo catches up to the girls, a chair attacks!
That's a nice change.
The best adventurers make their bridges, Kazuo.
That's better. I went back and grabbed that Wood from the boulder room along the way.
Status update:
Okay guys, here's a decision. I'm only sending one person up to investigate the next area. I can't afford to break any more pieces of Wood, seeing as I only have one left now. So, I'm going to let you guys decide who the lucky person is who gets to solo the next section. One person per vote, one vote per user. You guys have until the weekend to vote.
Until the next update!
Oh, here's an extra .gif of the Rope in action. It's actually used to rescue characters from one of the hazards later on, but it really should be able to be lasso that skeleton and use it as an impromptu anchor for easy crossing.