All Substories Route (Last updated 17 May 2024)

The route I used in my run, in spreadsheet format. In addition, it contains info on substory triggers and blockers.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRcpXumAY3ZnWK9SCFvbNbY79_3asz5JMNEij1VA-c7j9IB6t91_TRTSl0HSg8JzMpBdCs4L0FMjmA7/pubhtml

Any% Easy Route (2024)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iXn_mJtXc2E8U_JN8WkNt-gLkgz53b0Q9v3E904V-Qg/

Any% New Game (Easy) Route (2/2021)

# General Stuff
- This route does not use DLC item packs (which are built into the remaster)
- Text can be skipped fast by holding R1+X. If the text is voice acted (many phone calls, cutscenes that have subtitles but don't skip with start) then mash X instead.
- You don't have to do the tutorials for each character, just kill the enemies and select yes to continue anyway
- Heat actions in this game get stale on an enemy after you use them one time. Do not use the same heat action on the same enemy twice
- Tanimura's Essence of Combos counts as 5 separate heat actions for the purposes of staleness. Abuse that
- The best way to learn is to watch a run

# Akiyama Chapter 1
- Buy 16 Tauriner+ and 4 Sake at the M-Store next to Serena
- Talk to blue arrow guy on the way to theater square (500xp)
- Use heat actions for the tutorial fights (do not actually do the tutorials)
- Talk to blue arrow guy north of theater square on the way to kanemura HQ (500xp)
- Ihara: try to skip Feel the Heat, the table/chair heat action does more damage than the plant but is slower
- Talk to the weapon van on the walk back to the office

# Akiyama Chapter 2
- Taxi to south Tenkaichi st. to walk to office, then to the rooftop fight
- **LEVELS**: Boozer's Lore, Double Finishing Blow, Triple Finishing Blow, Essence of Finishing
- Drink Tauriner+ and Sake for the rooftop fight - throw off the guy with 2 hp bars and everyone else dies in 1 full combo (due to boozer's lore)

# Akiyama Chapter 3
- Return to the office after Saigo's training tutorial (fight, chase)
- Get Yasuko's clothes, go to club, then to theater square, then to champion district (go above the millennium tower)
- Rooftop fight: drink two more sake (you should have one remaining)

# Akiyama Chapter 4
- Go to the club
- Club strats: Walk to where you get a speech bubble, then talk to Yasuko from there. Talk to Yasuko 3 times then return to the back room. Repeat x3, do for both club sequences
- Go to champion district. Investigate the jacket and the lighter (skip the blood), taxi back to the office
- Skip Mack's training (talk to him), Talk to the guy in theater square (top option), go into theater underground
- After being attacked by the homeless guy, **LEVELS**: Combo Speed Boost, Knockdown Evasion
- Midorikawa: try to use his gun on his 2nd phase (when he has the chainsaw)
- Return to office, do club sequence #2, return to office, millennium tower, return to office
- Walk to the club after chasing Hana. If you didn't drink 2 sake earlier then you will stop being drunk and need to drink the second one now
- Minami 1: Keep him on the ground with combo finishers. Do essence of finishing heat action and a wall slam heat action. You can abuse his long drinking animation (he will do this twice before anything bad happens)

# Saejima Chapter 1
- The prison trading sequence
  - Kamiyama (by the save icon)
  - 3 guys by workout equipment (guy on right then center)
  - Kamiyama again
  - Guy on left in group by Hamazaki then guy on right ("hoe guy")
  - cigarette smoking guy
  - hoe guy
  - lighter in the back hallway
  - hoe guy again
  - Kamiyama
  - Hamazaki
  - Hide the thing
- **LEVELS**: Double Charging Finish, Triple Charging Finish (as soon as you level up during the escape, should be after killing one guard)
- **LEVELS**: Essence of Finishing, Combo Speed Boost (when you get to the rooftops)
- Saito can be kept on the ground with the light+charged strong combo (works on all bosses)

# Saejima Chapter 2
- Kiryu: Throw him at the start of the fight, Essence of Finishing, then keep him grounded

# Saejima Chapter 3
- Buy sake at the convenience store next to the taxi, taxi to west park
- Taxi back to the south, give the sake to the homeless man
- Taxi back to west park, walk down to champion district. Chase Kido
- Get locker key #B1 (Hyper Stun Gun) and open the locker when walking by with Kido
- Fight the guys in the sewers, talk to the homeless man on the right to learn about the florist, exit sewers and walk to west park
- Taxi east, AVOID THE SUBSTORY (guy getting beaten with a stick in the street), talk to construction worker (first option) then do the fight in children's park
- Go through the sewers, talk to florist about both options, enter the colosseum (2nd option to florist)
- Ibrahimovic: Essence of finishing, keep him grounded

# Saejima Chapter 4
- Follow the fighter to the dojo but decline to learn about it once there
- Long walking section: on the return trip, detour to buy 7 sledgehammers from the weapon van.
- big fight: sledgehammer light attacks. save two hammers for the bosses
- Minami 2: Hit him to the ground, then use sledgehammer heavy attacks
- Majima: Hit him to the ground, then use sledgehammer heavy attacks

# Tanimura Chapter 1
- Go to Ebisu Pawn, buy 2 fake silver plates
- Enter the mahjong place, talk to the owner then give the players the fake plates
- Taxi to west park. Talk to the guy with the blue arrow (500xp) then walk down to the parking lot
- Use a heat action on the theater square fight. Talk to the blue arrow lady there (500xp) after the fight to level up
- After returning to Homeland buy 12x Tauriner and 4x Sake from the guy standing outside
- **LEVELS**: Essence of Finishing (on the fight outside Jewel, also drink sake for more heat actions here)
- At the start of docks, only fight the man in the pink suit. Ignore all other fights until the end of the docks
- At the oil part, mash R1 (lock on button) to walk on oil fast
- **LEVELS**: Essence of Combos (you should kill the man with the machine gun right before the end of the docks and level up there)
- Hiiragi and Sakakibara: Focus on the two bosses first w/ essence of combos. Once they're dead deal with the minions.

# Tanimura Chapter 2
- After meeting Nair walk back to homeland to start a substory (this cannot be skipped)
- **LEVELS**: Increase Rush Combo, Knockdown Evasion, Combo Speed Boost (on the substory fight)
- Also, drink sake on the substory fight
- Taxi to the underground parking lot, the correct black car is right next to where you appear
- Buy 2x Steel Tonfa at the weapon van on the way to where the photo says, then back down and to the EAST ENTRANCE to little asia
- Get locker key #H5 (Lotus Clan Broadsword) before entering homeland. Talk to the chef (2nd option, "I'll stay here")
- Avoid the front of Millennium Tower. Get locker key #A3 (spicy knife) and open the both lockers for the knife and the broadsword. Now start the walk&talk cutscene (this cutscene is unskippable and 4+ minutes long - take a bathroom break)
- Kamurocho: skip the enemies until the road is blocked with cars in front of the tower. Use a steel tonfa (light attacks) whenever you don't have the briefcase.

# Tanimura Chapter 3
- Go to police HQ (bottom option at the taxi)
- The evidence is in front of you and on the left
- Taxi to west park, walk down into little asia

# Tanimura Chapter 4
- Taxi to south Tenkaichi, walk to sky finance
- Walk back south to the taxi, go to docks
- Boat chase: mash triangle to shoot, ram him (square), when he gets to the tanker and turns right ram him from the front to end the chase
- Sugiuchi: Drink sake. Equip the Tonfa and spam light attacks. Essence of Finishing him when he's down, there are two versions of it that count separately for staleness.

# Kiryu Chapter 1
- Talk to Haruka at the beach, then talk to Hamazaki (2nd option)
- **LEVELS**: Double Finishing Blow (as soon as you level up, should be against Saito at the start)
- Collect every free drink in the building, except the staminan in the side room
- Take the gun from the enemy right before the ground floor
- Saito on the ground floor: shoot him, get the drink, then combo him infinitely on the stairs

# Kiryu Chapter 2
- Walk to Serena
- Walk to Kotobuki Drugs and get locker key #C5 (Zero Jewel), then walk to millennium tower to end the chapter

# Kiryu Chapter 3
- Open the locker to get the zero jewel, talk to the blue arrow guy next to the lockers to get the locker key radar
- Walk to ebisu pawn and sell the radar and every drink you picked up (you should have 100,750 yen. Anything over 100k is fine)
- Return to serena then follow Akiyama & Tanimura into the sewers
- Akiyama & Tanimura: Focus Tanimura, try to keep him grounded. You can throw them into each other to maintain control of the fight
- In Purgatory, go to the casino (DO NOT go to florist's palace yet)
- Buy 1,000 chips (100k yen), play roulette, use the zero jewel and bet all 1000 chips on either 0 or 00 to win 36,000 chips (50/50 odds, if you fail this bet your run is over unless you saved)
- Buy 20 platinum plates with 30,000 chips then end the chapter at florist's palace

# Kiryu Chapter 4
- Walk to ebisu pawn, sell the 20 platinum plates for 3 million yen
- Go up the stairs outside the pawn shop, walk to the weapon van and buy 13 double action revolvers
- Go back downstairs and taxi to west park, enter kamurocho hills
- Kamurocho Hills: use the revolvers on everything. On your third set of 3 guns, leave 5 bullets in the last gun before going to the final fight on the roof
- Kamurocho Hills Roof: Use your gun that has 5 bullets left, use 12 bullets from another gun, and 8 bullets from another gun
- You should have 2 guns both with 15 ammo, 1 gun with 7 ammo, and 1 gun with 3 ammo at the end of this

# Finale
- Use the item box: transfer Tanimura's Lotus Clan Broadsword to Akiyama, transfer Kiryu's 3 ammo and 15 ammo gun to Saejima (Kiryu should only be holding a gun with 7 ammo and a gun with 15 ammo now)
- Talk to Date, 2nd option twice to start the finale
- Arai: use essence of finishing and the broadsword heat action (Tauriner+), then spam broadsword light attacks for the rest of the fight
- Kido: Equip the two guns and the hyper stun gun. Use the 3 ammo gun, then the 15 ammo gun. When he starts healing, cancel it with the hyper stun gun heat action. Drink a staminan x and cancel the second heal. Fail the QTE on purpose (mash triangle) then hit Kido once with the hyper stun gun after to finish
- Daigo: Use the 7 ammo gun, then the 15 ammo gun
- Munakata: Drink tauriner+ and use the spicy knife heat action to kill all the normal bodyguards and the elite bodyguards. Use the rest of the steel tonfa on the bodyguard captain and spam essence of combos on Munakata.

Name	Author
All Substories Route (Last updated 17 May 2024)	Tomppaa 9 months ago
Any% Easy Route (2024)	PlayingLikeAss 5 months ago
Any% New Game (Easy) Route (2/2021)	tapioca 3 years ago