Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan!: story walkthrough, prologue to Chapter 4

Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan!: story walkthrough, prologue to Chapter 4 STORY SPOILERS: This covers the original Japanese PS3 game's opening, Sekigahara flashback and arrival in Gion. Names follow KHHsubs where translations differ. These opening chapters teach the combat system before the main city investigation opens. They also contain places you cannot revisit. The useful habit here is simple: search a location before accepting the conversation that moves everybody somewhere else. PROLOGUE: COLLECT THE THREE PAYMENTS Ito sends Kiryu to Arigataya, Tenguya and Ebisuya. You can collect their payments in any order. Arigataya is the straightforward stop: speak to the shopkeeper. Look for its gourd-shaped sign near the southern end of Gion's main street. Tenguya's payment requires a small investigation. Speak to the pharmacist, visit Koyoro and talk to the woman outside, then go to Suiten Inari Shrine. The conversation at the restaurant is a required trigger. Heading directly to the shrine before asking her will not advance this errand. At Suiten Inari, rescue the apprentice through the unarmed tutorial. Follow the on-screen requirements rather than trying to defeat everybody immediately: land strikes, use grabs, attack with objects, build Heat and perform Heat Actions. Square is your basic attack, Triangle is the stronger attack, Circle handles grabs and pickups, and R2 taunts. A grabbed opponent near a suitable wall gives you an easy environmental Heat Action when the Triangle prompt appears. The tutorial protects you from damage. Its Heat Actions still count for completion, so this is a useful place to understand the prompts without fighting for survival. Repeating a valid action satisfies the lesson; you do not need three different finishers merely to continue. Ebisuya's owner has put his payment in a locker and lost the key. Search Gion Inari Shrine, near the guardian statue on the left when facing the shrine. Collect key A-1, then open A-1 at the storage lockers in the alley beside Gion's main gate. Older guides may call this I-1 because they transliterate the Japanese row label rather than replacing the rows with English letters. These are references to the same opening locker. Return toward Kiryu's house once you have all three payments. The returning troublemakers trigger the defensive tutorial. Collect the indicated enemy drops, guard with L1, move while holding R1 to practise facing an opponent, and use X with a direction to evade. Two quick evades produce a roll. Finish the fight and talk to Ito outside the House of the Dragon. Do not panic when the game leaves this inventory behind in the flashback. The prologue's money and items become available again in Chapter 5, with stored items retrieved through item storage. This is not a reason to restart the opening. CHAPTER 1: MUSASHI'S DOJO AND THE MANSION At the dojo, complete the single-sword lessons before speaking to Marume. Right on the directional pad draws the single sword; down returns to unarmed. Practise the full Square combination, then end an attack string with Triangle. Circle becomes a kick in this style and helps against an opponent's guard. The final lesson introduces zanshin. After a connecting strong attack, keep Triangle held so Musashi maintains the stance and builds Heat. This is useful when an opponent has given you room, but remaining in a pose beside an active enemy creates an obvious risk. Learn to judge the recovery window rather than holding it after every attack. Accept Marume's test. This is an intentionally difficult early encounter, not a requirement to grind before starting the story. The test ends when Musashi falls to half health, and the story continues with the same outcome even if you defeat Marume. A victory gives an EXP bonus, but it is unnecessary for progression. Before speaking to Marume in the barn at night, save at the Jizo statue and right the overturned turtle nearby. The conversation takes you away from this location permanently for this playthrough. Do your searching first. The next proper boss is Majima Gorohachi. His movement matters more than simply trading damage. He circles, dodges and tries to attack from behind, where the single sword's guard does not protect you. Turn or roll away when he gets around you. His spinning attack and laughing pauses leave opportunities to punish him. Use a short, clean attack string, then be ready to face him again. After the military-camp scenes, Musashi and Majima enter the enemy mansion. Clear the opening courtyard and entrance enemies to open the route. Majima helps in combat, but keep enough control of the fight to land your own finishing attacks and collect EXP. Inside, your next destination is the dirt-floor room toward the upper-right of the map. Before committing to it, check the storeroom toward the upper-left for the Unsigned Sword and equip it. It improves on your starting Mimasaka Sword. Pick up useful recovery items as you move through the rooms instead of waiting until your health is nearly empty. There are also early completion opportunities here. The mansion provides suitable sliding-door spaces for Secret Sword: Shadow Stab, and loose spears let you perform Thrust Mastery. These opportunities are worth using, but they are not the three unique boss Heat Actions that become critical later in the game. Speak to Majima in the dirt-floor room when you are finished searching. The next section separates the partners. Defeat the two corridor enemies before entering the central hall so they cannot join the tougher encounter inside. The bodyguard uses swordmaster behaviour. When he sheathes his blade and approaches, expect a quick drawing attack. Guard or evade that attack, then punish the recovery. Charging into the sheathed stance lets him choose the exchange. Clear the room, then enter the central bedroom to finish the chapter. Do not step into the final objective expecting another opportunity to explore afterward. CHAPTER 2: THE TEMPLE TRAP At the temple, inspect the grounds before returning to Majima. The rain makes pickups harder to see. There is another overturned turtle, along with supplies and materials including the Temple Fragment. Reach the far end of the outside area, finish your search and speak to Majima. Marume's arrival begins a group fight. Clear the ordinary soldiers, then use the two-on-one situation against him. Majima can attack while you defend, especially if you keep Marume between you and your ally. Musashi must deliver the finishing hit: waiting indefinitely for Majima to end the fight will not work. This is also a reminder that guard discipline is valuable against strong enemies. You do not need to interrupt every attack. Let an opponent finish, strike during the opening, and stop before the next retaliation. The following battle introduces two-sword combat. Complete its guarding and attacking tasks, including the attacks performed without holding R1. Two swords can guard from every direction and cover a wider area than the single-sword style. That makes the style particularly useful when a crowd surrounds you. Omnidirectional guarding does not mean every move in the game is blockable. Later bosses have low attacks, throws and other exceptions. For this lesson, however, it gives you a much safer way to handle attacks from several sides. Finish the remaining soldiers to escape. CHAPTER 3: THE BRIDGE AND UKIYO'S FARM The bridge fight begins with five pursuers, followed by reinforcements as their numbers fall. Avoid standing in the middle of enemies approaching from both sides. Two swords help you survive the crowd; crossing into the wider area gives you more space and access to a recovery item. This bridge is an early opportunity for Throwdown Mastery. Build Heat, switch to unarmed, grab a suitable enemy and move to the edge until the prompt appears. Thin the group first. Switching away from your swords while several armed enemies surround you makes an optional completion attempt unnecessarily dangerous. After the bridge scenes, Musashi reaches Ukiyo's farm. Search the outside area before following her inside. Collect the available materials and right the overturned turtle. If your inventory is full, use a needed healing item or otherwise make sensible space rather than walking past every material pickup. Speak to Ukiyo inside to continue. The night encounter has two durable pursuers and does not allow two-sword combat. Keep both opponents in front of you. A short attack followed by a safe zanshin opportunity can build the Heat needed to cut down a long exchange. The later farm defence restricts you to unarmed combat. The farming tools and other objects are your answer to the armed bounty hunters. Pick up a usable object, attack with it and replace it when it breaks. Having a battlefield weapon also lets you defend against sword attacks that bare hands cannot safely stop at this stage. Prioritise the archers rather than allowing them to fire while you grapple with someone else. Throws can knock other enemies down and buy breathing room. The objective is to win the encounter, not preserve every loose tool. Use what the farm provides. CHAPTER 4: FINDING A NEW LIFE The mountain-gate ambush allows single sword and unarmed combat. Start with the sword while the group is large. If you want Heavy Drop Mastery, build Heat, isolate a target and use the nearby stone lantern as the environmental trigger while unarmed. It is another useful early opportunity, not something worth dying over when you still have a full crowd to manage. After the monk's intervention, interact with the clothes on the floor. Then follow the route through Mountain Road, past Kiyomizudera, through Forest Road and into Rakugai. Meet the monk outside Gion's main gates. Ordinary street encounters start appearing during this part of the journey. Fighting some as you travel builds EXP and your encounter count for later training. There is no need to stop the story for a long grind here, but skipping every encounter makes later encounter-based requirements more work. Inside Gion, visit the information desk and ask about the woman in the butterfly kimono. You learn about Yoshino at Tsuruya. After the conversation involving Ito, return to the monk at the gates, then speak to Ito again near the information desk. Follow him to Tsuruya. The chapter's final fight is against a drunken swordsman, with Musashi restricted to unarmed. Grabbing him prevents him from freely swinging while you attack, and the hibachi in the room is a useful pickup if you want something with which to block his blade. Defeat him to complete the opening journey. At this point you have seen the important foundations: facing matters with one sword, two swords help with crowds, objects matter in unarmed fights, and a conversation can close a location behind you. Chapter 5 returns to the present-day investigation and opens far more of Kyoto's side content.