General Stuff

• This route does not use the convenience store item packs
• Text can be skipped fast by holding R1+X
• Keep the camera pointed at the ground to lessen crowd density (this does not work as well as it does in 3/4, but it still works some)
• If a random encounter spots you, pump R1 instead of hold it to walk past it slightly faster
• Avoid bumping into random pedestrians, they could fight you
• Defeating a leader/miniboss first will make the subordinates get scared so you can 1HKO them

Kiryu's Part

• Light+Light+Light+Strong+Strong is Kiryu's best combo (hammer hook)
• Essence of Head Press (triangle while enemy is standing up) is a good heat action you'll be using a lot
• Use the combo in [This video] to stunlock all bosses starting with Yahata in chapter 3

Chapter 1

• Taxi south (top option) and buy 10-15 Tauriner+ from Inori Pharmacy
• Give Tauriner+ to Tenjin Transportation President
• put 10k yen in the ATM
• After the tutorial fight, take the sidewalk by the water to where the boss is waiting
  • Always use the sidewalk on this street
• LEVELS: Tech lv1 (double combo finisher), Heat lv2 (Heat bar extension) on the street punks fight after eating
• Ishibashi and Mihara: use chair actions on one of them (don't mash), ignore the second. Once the first is dead, feel the heat will 1HKO the second.
• Walk home. Fight Sosuke (punch him once in dragon spirit then cancel it), head straight home (top option)

Chapter 2

• Go to work
• Devil killers: dragon spirit should clean them all up
• Driving minigame: ignore the law and intended path, drive straight to the end (don't hit anything)
• Racing minigame: drift a lot, ignore the heat zone at the end of the lap, just boost normally
• Top option to office lady to meet Tatsuya
• Morinaga & Aizawa: drink a tauriner, dragon spirit should take care of morinaga completely. Bench/Trash can heat actions on aizawa
• Taxi north (3rd option) and walk home

Chapter 3

• Go to work
• Top option to office lady, Top > Bottom > Bottom to Yakuza in the car
• Walk home, go to bed (top option), PRETEND NOT TO BE HOME (bottom option) to avoid a substory
• Driving minigame: immediately run into your target to fail it
• Go to work, then to the alley, then to Olivier
• Olivier fight: Defeat the leader first (has 2hp bars) with dragon spirit to scare the minions
• Top option to Aizawa to go to the setpiece
• fight everything with dragon spirit to open the 3rd floor door, then ignore the enemies up to the boss
• LEVELS: Buy up to Tech lv9 (get Bounding Throw) before the boss
• Yahata: Bounding throw infinite combo
• Fight to get to the stairs, ignore the Daruma, push down samurai display
• Pocket a golf club during the last fight, bounding throw combo Honda (the guy with the boss HP bar) then leave

Chapter 4

• Walk through town, fight the three Yahata's Underlings groups
• Chase sequence: Grab a bottle, do melee attacks with it
• Taxi to Yahata's office (Hug the wall tight to avoid Spangled Meteor substory)
• Ignore the first group of enemies, inf combo Okada (sledgehammer), ignore enemies until the next door
• after putting out the fire do setpiece skip to keep the infinite use extinguisher for Ogasawara [Video of skip]
• Yahata 2: QTE
• Taxi to work, top option to Nakajima to leave
• Big fight: Use the golf club you pocketed, then the three metal planks by the wall on the left, then the golf club dropped by one of the enemies. Ignore the big guys aside from the one in red who spawns in last, he needs to die

Saejima's Part

• Saejima has Essence of Finishing (triangle when enemy is on ground) unlocked by default, and it's much better than head press
• Light+Strong+Strong is typically the best combo for single enemies w/ normal HP amount
• L+L+S+S is good for large groups w/ low HP (batting cage, prison escape)
• Grab+Throw then Light+Strong while they're airborne is great for bosses

Chapter 1

• After the intro fight, taxi to Serena (2nd option) then walk up to the batting center
• THE PRISON TRADING SEQUENCE
• Himura (ahead of you)
• bleachers man
• Baba (bench, waypoint)
• Dream Sequence #1 - Buy the hostess Orange Juice (2nd to last drink), let her have some or don't. (Sq+Sq+Tri) - Invite her on a date - (O+O+O+O) - Do something > Leave. Skip the karaoke and eat at Gindaco Highball
• The Baba Bench
• Bleachers man, right front corner man, two dudes talking by the sign
• center guy of the 3 (next to cold boy), front left corner, guy outside shed
• guy by boxes in the bench corner
• guy by the front fence, left side
• old guy on bleachers
• walk to dude, walk to cop
• bleachers man
• cop chase (run in circles around the yard, don't try to be cool)
• back to bleachers man
• Kugihara: LEVELS Buy to Soul lv3 (get Stability) and Tech lv8 (get Super Triple Combo), throw Kugihara and heat action him for most of his HP

Chapter 2

• Dream Sequence #2 - skip darts, do the fight
• Prison escape fight: L+L+S+S
• Big fight - try to pocket 2 iron pipes and equip them
• Kugihara 2: Same as last time, also iron pipe heat action
• Snowmobile minigame: Dodge stuff
• Bear: do fully charged combos, get heat for stability, he can be hit from the front or back but not the side

Chapter 3

• sakurai (orange coat), guy upstairs, sakurai
• mountain #1 - Roll to the destination, it's faser than walking
• sakurai, guy upstairs, sakurai
• mountain #2 - Pack meat before leaving, roll everywhere, follow the tutorials. On the return trip shoot the 2nd deer and take his stuff (you should shoot 2 deer on this trip)
• green coat lady, okudera
• mountain #3 - Walking is faster than rolling now. After the tutorial, let the bear damage Okudera
• sell everything to the trader, YOU SHOULD HAVE AT LEAST 20K YEN NOW. check road guy, okudera, go to Tsukimino

Chapter 4

• Be very careful of random encounters in this chapter. They are everywhere
• Follow Baba until he vanishes, then walk to the hideout. Walk in the road whenever possible
• Taxi south (top option) to Bar Ambitious. Talk to the bartender then pay the guy 50k (2nd option)
• Walk north to the covered market on the left, talk to the homeless guy sitting down. Answer is "71"
• Go to northeast telephone booth, taxi south again (2nd option), walk to lottery booth
• Answer is "Seven scattered losing tickets" (2nd/3rd/1st options)
• Return to Ambitious bartender, go to the back room for the fight, taxi north back to the hideout
• Walk to the stage, then go north and cross the street to go back to the hideout (skips cutscenes). Top option to start the setpiece
• Fight any boss/leader that shows up first to take advantage of scare mechanic. The last group of enemies before you cross the road can be ignored. Scooters are very useful on everyone here
• Chase: hit Baba with a bottle until he starts running fast, then follow him
• Baba: Throw him and use the grounded heat action, do light attacks with the motor scooters (spam iron pipe heat action might also be fast?)

Haruka/Akiyama's Part

• Every Haruka minigame is skippable except Sotenbori Love Check Quiz and Princess League training round 3
• Run faster as Haruka by constantly resetting her run animation, Video of trick

Chapter 1

• The unskippable walk-and-talk cutscene at the start of this chapter is a good bathroom break
• Follow all waypoints on the minimap, skip all minigames (except the unskippable quiz show)
• During the quiz show, mash Circle to answer enough questions wrong to avoid the prize
• I don't recognize Christina (bottom option), ask for the flashy tanned man at Stijl (2nd option)

Chapter 2

• Start avoiding the bottom left corner of the city (there's a substory here now), take the north route to dyna-chair instead

Chapter 3

• Hakamada: Use the cart to your left, strong attack then heat action the boss
• Taxi from Akiayama's office to Dyna-Chair (top option)
• Buy 5 blackjacks from the weapon van ("Craft weapon" menu)
• Buy 15 Tauriner+ from Don Quijote on the way to Dyna-Chair
• Follow waypoints
• Taxi to Dyna-Chair again
• Saigo's training: Launch him once he stops talking, kick him once in the air
• LEVELS: Tech to lv3 (get Double Combo Finisher) at some point before Ogita
• Ogita: Use the blackjack heat action, keep him on the ground with it between combos
• Kanai: Start with two normal combos, then swap to blackjack heat action after the QTE

Chapter 4

• Follow waypoints
• after going to Crest Bar go directly to the southwest parking lot
• LEVELS: to Tech lv7 (get Triple Combo Finisher and Combo Speed Boost) on bartender fight
• DO NOT SKIP Princess League training 3 (it will make you do it again until you get the objectives)
• Princess League round 3 - DO NOT DROP OUT, skip the minigame and lose instead
• Taxi to Akiyama's office (top), do the fight there (cart again), taxi to Ousaka Enterprises (bottom)
• Ousaka Enterprises - Setpiece skip after the first large group of enemies. After meeting Ogita you can ignore the enemies and go inside. [Video of skip]
• Kanai 2: Blackjack heat actions and combos on Kanai. Ignore his minions, make sure not to fail feel the heat

Shinada's Part

• Shinada's grab+run thing is garbage, so is his default weapon (but its heat action is great)
• Full combo + My Explosive Finish throw is Shinada's best combo

Chapter 1

• You can't ignore talking to the people on the way to the club
• Kubota employees: use the green tables' strong attacks
• Walk & Talk with Uno is about 2 minutes. take a break
• Answer phone questions correctly (Futo Momo/Milky, random order) to get a Staminan Royale later. VERY IMPORTANT FOR MONEY, you can get 1 wrong
• Kineicho Man: don't use a heat action, put the weapon away and do light attacks
• LEVELS: Soul lv1 (Boozer's Lore) and Tech Lv1 (My Explosive Finish)
• Batting minigame: Line an inner sweet spot up with the center for an easier home run
• Teppei Ono: weapon heat, paper fan, mysterious syringe strong attacks. [Video of fight]

Chapter 2

• quit the minigame with the pitcher, follow waypoint
• Avoid the sidewalk corner with the substory in front of M Store for the rest of Shinada's part
• Head east out of Futo Momo, go south to pick up Staminan Royale
• Ignore Ayanokoji, follow waypoints
• Go to north waypoint, then south waypoint (when looking for Uno)
• stick to streets from now until taking the taxi (you will get 1 car QTE but no falling object QTEs)
• after Uno's, sell the staminan royale at ebisu pawn and take taxi (bottom option)
• Chase: don't bother hitting him, just follow the route
• Sakai: punch him to bait an attack, then dodge behind and do full combos. pipe heat action when you can

Chapter 3

• Run to the bar, then to M-Store after (ignore taxi waypoint, you get a phone call)
• buy a bunch of kinmugi beer (10 should be more than enough), go to Uno's then take north taxi to setpiece (bottom)
• Setpiece: drink 2 beers. All enemies die to one full combo (+ my explosive finish). Use pipe heat action on the guy holding the two pipes who keeps showing up
• Manabe: Grab the two staminans near where you start, do pipe heat actions. You can also full combo him when he taunts (after the first heat action probably)

Chapter 4

• Touch the southern invisible wall at the end of the street to get the phone call to return home
• Daigo: Drink 1 beer, pipe heat action, full combo the taunt, pipe heat action
• Tell Daigo you're ready to go (top)
• Baseball fight: Let the boss aggro to your partner so you can hit him in the back more easily. Take advantage of scared minions

Finale

Chapter 1

• Serena, then the host outside Stardust, then the alley across from the park
• Baba: bounding throw infinite combo
• as Saejima, taxi west (fourth) and WALK ON THE OPPOSITE SIDEWALK TO AVOID SODACHI DOJO
• Talk to Florist, go to Coliseum
• Aizawa: full combos to his face, throw + heat action when you have heat (iron pipe heat actions?)

Chapter 2

• taxi to Sky Finance (2nd), all dialog options to Shinada
• Get the booze from Poppo, taxi to hotel district (top), homeless guy is right in front of you on the right
• Walk south and east on Shichifuku street until you get the phone call with the waypoint

Chapter 3

• Kiryu to taxi to kamurocho hills, Saejima to do the hills
• Kamurocho Hills: after the 2nd large group of enemies outside ignore the rest, grab the Staminan and walk inside
• fail the falling furniture QTE, ignore all enemies after this and setpiece skip from the round platform into the elevator room
• use red heat on Higashide + Fujikawa (red+white jacket bosses) together
• Watase: bounding throw infinite combo
• Katsuya: Full combos to his face + heat actions. Once he goes heat mode, let him reset his grab then throw him a lot (iron pipe heat actions?)
• pick Kiryu to fight Saejima, infinite combo

Chapter 4

• Walk to the park, talk to Baba, walk back
• Top option to Yamaura
• Talk to Kiryu, then go back to Serena

Chapter 5

• Rest twice, talk to Akiyama, "I'm ready" (2nd option)
• Kiryu to fight the minions + Kanai (bounding throw infinite combo)
• Saejima to fight in the sewers. Do setpiece skip in the narrow hallway (2nd group of enemies) to skip the long conversation after. THIS ONE WORKS DIFFERENTLY, the wall disappears when 1 enemy is left alive instead of 0. [Video of skip]
• Majima: Full combos to his face, heat action if he gets on the ground. Fail his first QTE, do the second one. When he makes clones you have to kill them first (iron pipe heat actions?)
• Baba: Pipe heat actions. Do his first QTE, fail his second. You could also do red heat if you have it.
• Kiryu to fight more minions
• Kanai: Do akiyama's red heat action, do all QTEs. Use up the rest of your blackjacks
• Aizawa: bounding throw infinite combo. Let him start doing QTEs at 2hp bars remaining, 1.75 bars left if you accidentally get the long mashing QTE. Cancel the heals outside with well-timed bounding throws.
• Time is on final QTE (there's only one, you'll see it)