Japanese Playstation Game FAQ
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nisk@uscom.com <_)I ____
copyright 1999 Nick Flor _/|_ / / /
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http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Harbor/3904/geoyamato.shtmll
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This is my attempt to write an FAQ on the Japanese version of Space
Battleship Yamato. I do not know japanese.
This faq is intended to help those who have imported the game, don't
know japanese and are stuck. This faq best viewed with a fixed width font!
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0.0 - Contents
1.0 - What's new (updates)
2.0 - Story
3.0 - Game menus
3.0 - buttons
3.1 - start menu
3.2 - game menu
4.0 - Character menus
4.1 - Captain Avatar
4.2 - Nova
4.3 - Venture
4.4 - Wildstar
4.5 - Dr. Sane
4.6 - Conroy
4.7 - Eager
4.8 - Dash
4.9 - Homer
4.10 - Orion
4.11 - IQ9
4.12 - Sandor
5.0 - Character away party controls
6.0 - Walkthrough, so far very verbose, sorry.
6.1 - The begining, New Game Start
7.0 - Strategies
7.1 - The medic
7.2 - Boarded!
8.0 - Frequently Asked Questions
8.1 - Where can I get the game?
8.2 - Will there be a U.S. version of the game?
9.0 - FAQ Credits
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1.0 - what's new (updates)
9-01-99 - added section 8.0 FAQ's
8-30-99 - added walkthrough section (I started the game over)
- added to battle movement of section 4.3
- added radar functions to section 3.2
8-11-99 - addition of Dr. Sane option
- addition of credits, contents, strategies
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2.0 - The story
The Playstation game is based on the first television series of
Yamato, Having watched the series Star Blazers as a kid and watching it
over and over on video tape, I have sort of memorized the series.
If you have seen Star Blazers first series, retitled for video,
"The Quest for Iscandar" you will see that this game follows the events
in the series almost exactly.
Earth is under attack from the mysterious planet Gamilon. Gamilon
planet bombs cover the Earth in radioactivity, and in one years time
Earth will be unlivable. A group of Starblazers call the Star Force
undertakes a dangerous mission. Refitting an old Earth battleship,
the Yamato, the Star Force takes off on a 148,000 lightyear voyage to
the planet Iscandar, where Queen Starsha offers the people of Earth
a machine to remove the radiation. The Star Force must battle the
evil Gamilons to reach Iscandar and return within one Earth year!
Hurry Star Force, there are only 365 days left!
There is alot of new animation in this game as well as 3d
renderings. But the game uses the same music and sound effects from the show.
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3.0 - Menu functions
Buttons - "O" is select
"x" is cancel
"triangle" is toggle on/off (see auto weapon selection)
"square" brings up area maps
Radar shows the sector, enemy ships are dots.
Cosmo Radar shows the surrounding area, sectors
containing enemy ships appear orange.
3.1 - Star Menu - this is in English, you can "start new game", "load game",
or goto "options"
"load game" - this takes you to the load screen, you can only load
from memory card 1 and you have a maxium of 3 save slots.
"options" - you have 5 options here
option 1 - ???
option 2 - individual weapon fire animation: on = "o",
off = "x"
option 3 - station move animation: on = "o", off = "x"
option 4 - ???
option 5 - dual shock on = "o", off = "x"
3.2 - Game Menu - bring up by pressing "o", displays the characters,
pressing "triangle" shows you their posts instead of faces.
I only know the characters by their Star Blazers names, so here
they are as they appear on the screen. (note pressing up or down
on the direction pad flips the ring, so it will appear opposite)
Starting with Captain Avatar, you all know who he is right?
Captain Avatar - options, load, save, other
Nova - Radar
Venture - Pilot
Wildstar - Guns
Dr. Sane - medical
Conroy - Black Tiger fighters
Eager - navigation
Dash - Gunnery
Homer - communictions
Orion - engineering,
IQ-9 - medical (for now)
Sandor - repairs.
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4.0 - Character Menus - bringing the character to the bottom of the
screen by pressing the direction pad left or right displays
the characters hit points/health in the middle of the screen
You do have to watch this, when a character's health become low
you should move them to their quarters to bring them back up.
It does not take long for them to regain hitpoints their, but
they will not gain any if you do not move them.
I have found this to be very important for Captain Avatar,
Conroy, and especially Sandor.
Hitpoints go down for various reasons, Conroy loses them in
fighter combat, Sandor loses them during repairs.
Each character has there own menu list.
The first option on everyone's menu is "change post"
each character has a few post specialties, for example,
if Wildstar wants to fly his fighter, he needs to be moved
to the hanger to launch. To take his place at the guns Dash
has to be moved over, and to take Dash's place, IQ-9 has to
be moved. IQ-9 cannot man the guns, but he can man Dash's post.
4.1 - Avatar - at his normal post not during battle
1 - change post / goto quarters
2 - the ship and crew rest a day, I don't know how this helps
3 - load game
4 - save game
5 - options screen (same as game menu)
- during battle another option appears between 2 and 3 or 1 and 2
I have no Idea what this does, the captain talks a bit
then his hitpoints goto half ????
4.2 - Nova - radar
1 - change post / 1-medical, 2-quarters
2 - main radar
4.3 - Venture - piolot
1 - change post / 1-navigation, 2-quarters
2 - move/rotate ship within zone
You can choose to move the ship.
move to a specific area, also use "R1" and "R2"
buttons to ascend or descend.
You can choose to rotate the ship.
You can choose to shift the ship.
this uses a burst of speed to move the ship
in any one direction a short distance very quickly.
3 - move ship one or more zones
4a - while moving this option is full stop.
4b - when stopped and not in battle this becomes warp
(jump several zones) - orion must boost energy to 120%
and ship must be repaired fully by Sandor.
4.4 - Wildstar - Guns
1 - change post / 1-gunnery, 2-hanger, 3-quarters
2 - fire gun, use this to select a single weapon to target and fire
3 - auto fire, select weapons to fire automatically in battle
by highlighting and pressing the "triangle" button
you can select upto 4 weapons. selected weapons appear blue.
you then have to press "O" to activate, pressing "x" will
not save your changes.
-Hanger
1 - change post
2 - launch fighter
4.5 - Dr. Sane - medical
1 - change post
2 - Whenever a character is killed (0 points), that character becomes
shaded and is no longer playable. At this point, Dr. Sane can
use his option It takes a while for the operation but the
character is completely healed.
4.6 - Conroy - Black Tigers
1 - change post / quarters
2 - launch fighters - select fighters by pressing "triangle", "o" to launch
- in battle - you can select ships by pressing the left shoulder buttons.
you can highlight them by pressing "triangle" then when you
give a command you give it to all the ships - make sure you
watch them, as soon as they are done with the target they return
to formation and will not attack again until you tell them.
1 - get in formation, options for flying formation
2 - attack
2a - attack closest target?
2b - attack target you choose
3 - return to ship
4 - (appears when some ships still in hanger) call more ships
4.7 - Eager - navigation
1 - change post / 1-pilot, 2-quarters
I am on day 48 and have found no other options for him
4.8 - Dash - gunnery
1 - change post / 1-main guns, 2-quarters
I am on day 48 and have found no other options for him
4.9 - Homer - communications
1- change post / 1-radar, 2-quarters
I am on day 48 and have found no other options for him
4.10 - Orion - engineering
1 - change post / 1 - engineering, 2 - quarters
2 - increase power 120%
- move Orion to engineering when you want Wildstar to fire the
Wave Motion Gun.
4.11 - IQ-9 - medical
1 - change post / 1 - radar, 2 - communication, 3 - gunnery, 4 -
navigation, 5 - quarters
I am on day 48 and have found no other options for him
4.12 - Sandor - repairs
1 - change post / 1 - weapon shop, 2 - quarters
2 - repair, choose the area to repair (damage in yellow)
and select how many points, out of 64 to delegate to it
- when in the weapons room, pick the weapon you want to
replace (missles, torpedos, lost fighters), how many
you want to make, and how many points to delegate.
- he has to be at the post inorder for the repairs to take place
Sandor will apear on the screen when the repairs are done.
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5.0 - Character away party controls
Coming soon.
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6.0 - Walkthrough - there are no translations only descriptions of the
happenings based on the series Star Blazers.
6.1 - New Game begining
The game starts showing Captain Avatar's fleet, the only remaining Earth
fleet, facing Gamilons at Pluto. Captain Avatar issues orders.
*load* The Gamilon fleet opens fire on the Earth fleet. The Captain gives
more orders.
*load* A ship flys passed the Earth fleet at a very high speed.
*load* Mars. Derek Wildstar and Mark Venture on the Mars base feel a
crash. They are ordered to investigate.
*load* Princess Starsha's sister Astra lies dead next to her crashed ship.
Venture and Wildstar find the message capsule she is still holding.
*load* Back to the battle. Captain Avatar orders a withdraw. Alex
Wildstar decides his ship will remain behind to protect the retreat
against the Captain's orders.
*load* CGI movie of Alex's ship attacking and then being destroyed.
*load* Captain Avatar's flagship returns to Earth.
There are pictures of planet bombs heading toward a green and blue
Earth, and the destruction they caused as the explanation scrolls up the
screen. Radioactivity has forced humanity into underground cities.
In only one year, the radioactivity will reach the cities and all human
life will become extinct. The surface of the Earth is a red desolate
desert.
*load* The General and Captain Avatar review the message capsule. It is
from Starsha on the planet Iscandar. She offers a machine to remove the
radioativity from Earth. But she cannot send it. Earth must send a
ship to retreive it. For the 148,000 light year voyage to Iscandar,
Starsha sends plans for a Warp drive. With Earth's fleet decimated,
a project was started to rebuild the sunken battleship Yamato. They
decide to fit it fit with this Wave Motion Engine. Alarms sound.
*load* Wildstar is distraught that his brother is dead. The alarm sounds.
There's a Gamilon ship scouting the Yamato! Venture and Wildstar take a
fighter and head out to get some revenge.
*load* From their fighter they see the Gamilon plane. It flys away
with a burst of speed. Wildstar's and Venture's plane has engine
trouble and plumets to Earth.
*load* Animation of Wildstar and Venture seeing the Yamato.
*load* Wildstar and Venture, in a hallway are called to the Yamato bridge.
*load* On the bridge Wildstar and Venture meet Captain Avatar. The ship
shakes.
*load* CGI animation of the ship powering up. Wildstar and Venture
take the controls.
***You are promted "Yes" or "No", "yes" is default. This is for a
tutorial of Wildstar's menu and functions, gunnery. One screen shows
you can have a maximum of 4 weapons on auto fire. One screen describes
firing ranges.
****You are prompted "Yes" or "No", "No" is default. I believe this asks
you if you want to go through the instuctions again.
*load* The halfburied Yamato is shown.
****You are prompted to press "O", the character menu selection appears.
You can only select Wildstar, and from his menu #3, auto fire. Then
only one weapon, the main guns. Press "triangle" to activate (turns
blue), then "O" to confirm changes. Then press "X" to get out of the
menus.
*load* CGI of the guns firing on a Gamilon carrier.
*load* Back on the bridge.
*load* Captain Avatar addresses the Star Force crew.
*load* Venture's brother, Jordy says goodbye as the Star Force marches by.
Nova's parents say goodbye. Orion's grandaughter says goodbye.
Back on the bridge. In Captain Avatar's quarters, Wildstar confronts
Avatar. Wildstar believes the Captain is responsible for Alex's death.
Wildstar see's a picture of the Captain and his son and daughter.
Does Wildstar know that the Captain's son was on Alex's ship?
*load* Pluto Gamilon Base, Conl. Ganz and Bane fire an Ultra Menace
Missle at the Yamato on orders from Leader Desslok. CGI animation of
missle launch.
*load* Back on the bridge, they have the missle on screen. The Yamato
prepares for launch. CGI of Yamato lift-off, and destruction of the
missle. The Yamato flys on!
*load* Back on the bridge.
*****You are prompted "Yes" or "No", "Yes" is default. This is a tutorial
of Venture's menu, Navigation. Shows how to move in battle.
****You are prompted "Yes" or "No", "No" is default. I believe this asks
you if you want to go through the instuctions again.
*load* You are now on the "Yamato View" screen.
*load* Dash describes the enemy ship which appears on screen with stats.
*load* the Gamilon ship
*load* battle screen.
Ok, your first battle. Press "square" if you want to bring up the radar
which overlays and shows the ships in the area.
First lets start moving. You don't want to be a sitting duck do you?
press "O", select Venture, select option 2 (the only one available
right now), select move. Now move the arrow until you are over the
enemy ship (a spinning triangle with arrows will appear) and press
"R2" to lower your ship below it, now press "o" to confirm. Ok, you're
moving. Now press "o" again, pick Wildstar, and pick option 3:auto fire,
move up and down to choose your weapons. I like the main gun turrets.
Press "triangle" on upto 4 weapons (they will turn blue when active), then
press "o" to confirm, and "x" to return to the main menu, "x" again to
return to the battle. Use your "d" pad to move your view.
Different ships require different tactics, this ship keeps decending so
main guns will be less effective, you can go back to the autofire
screen and choose front torpedos.
*** You destroyed the ship! Now a screen appears that shows the
experience points your characters have earned.
*load* Back on the bridge
*load* The opperations room. Your mission is explained
****You are prompted "Yes" or "No", "Yes" is default. This is asking
you if you want an explanation of Warping, Orions option. You must
have the ship at 100% energy (ship must be fully repaired, and all
autofire weapons must be off) and the ship must be stopped and
not in battle. Orion must be on the bridge (default station).
Then pick Orion's 2nd option (it says "UP") this brings the ships power to
120%. Then pick Venture's 4th option, Warp. You are shown a map and
may move the ship to the desired destination. A line between positions
means the warp can be done, it can only be straight, and any celestial
objects between the points will cause the ship to stop.
****You are prompted "Yes" or "No", "No" is default. I believe this asks
you if you want to go through the instuctions again.
*load* Gamilon base on Pluto. Ganz and Bane send out a ship
Dr. Sane and IQ-9 have some kind of discussion, then the enemy
ship arrives, Dash describes it with stats. Conroy says send out
my fighters!
***** Don't forget to save your game frequently via Captain Avatar's
5th option.
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7.0 - Strategies
At various times trough out the game certain strategies are
needed to advance. These can occur during battleship flight or battle
or they may require the crew to venture out on there own.
7.1 - The medic
Don't forget to take a medic! The medic heals injured players
and can even heal dead players on the scene.
7.2 - Boarded!
I am adding this one on memory alone, I cannot remember the specifics.
Early in the game (before day 40 I think). The crew is boarded by
a gamilon ship and addressed by an unknow character, a gamilon captain
or general. A long discussion ensues, then you must choose the crew
members to go out and battle the invading gamilons and ( I think )
shut off their time bomb.
Anyway, pay close attention to the discussion and watch for the number
he gives you, you can only take that many crew members. If you take
more, the gamilon says something like "you cheated!" and blows up
the ship! (feel free to fill in the blanks on this section anyone!)
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8.0 - Frequently Asked Questions
8.1 - Where can I get a copy of the game?
I got my imported, japanese version of the game at www.buyrite1.com.
They took over a month to get me the game, and they have poor reviews
on various newsgroups. I also saw the game for sale at www.gameclub1.com.
I don't know anything about there service. Basicly find a place that
imports playstation games and see if they can get it for you.
8.2 - Will the game be available in the U.S. format?
I don't know yet. But visit
http://homepages.msn.com:4890/WindowsWay/yamato_forever/
and sign his petition and maybe we can make them bring it over sooner!
Thanks to Captain 3man john.coon@macdill.af.mil for help with
Dr. Sane's options!
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THAT'S ALL FOR NOW.
I'll try to get more info to you asap!
thanks
Nick Flor, nisk@uscom.com
For great Star Blazers and Yamato info visit
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Harbor/3904/geoyamato.shtmll
Please mail me anything you have discovered, or with anything I have
done wrong!
