Galerians: Ash
Spoiler-free FAQ
by Ron "Pscion" Newcomb
This is a bare-bones, spoiler-free FAQ, at least as the story is concerned.
Puzzles are solved within here, so if you prefer to find those yourself, beware.
Corrections welcome (pscion@yahoo.com).
Sequel to the PS1 game Galerians, it pretty much picks up where the last left
off. For those who didn't play the game (or finish it, like me), the game begins
with a synopsis of the last game.
BACKGROUND NOTE: "Galerians: Ash" is slightly influenced by yaoi manga. Manga is
the graphic novel counterpart to anime, and yaoi is a special subdivision.
Specifically, yaoi manga is about boy-boy romantic relations, hallmarked by
pretty, androgynous, and sometimes fairly feminine males. Oddly enough, yaoi
manga is not written by, or for, gay men. It is written by, and for, women, whom
find such relationships fascinating.
=== CONTROLS ===
X  interacts with the environment, like most RPGs / Survival-horror games.
[] uses your selected attack power - hold it down til the circle fills up
O  does a roll, for dodges. Very useful.
^  selects the attack power
R1 projects a psychic shield, like the PS1 game Psychic Force; it blocks nearly
anything
R2 locks-onto an enemy; walking controls change to typical pitchfork
configuration
START   calls up the subscreen
SELECT    calls up the map portion of the subscreen
L1 screws with the camera, as does the right analog stick
L2 fixes the camera
R3 toggles HUD, as well as displaying life guages & such in numeric form
=== GAMEPLAY ===
The square button uses the currently selected power, which I'll just name via
their colors as its easier that way. With the exception of the option of tapping
it with Green, hold square til the circle meter at the top fills up, then
release. Using powers requires drugs (also color-coded), and the amount left is
listed on the third gauge. Using powers causes AP to accumulate, which is kinda
bad, as when its full it'll give you a migrane that drains your life. OTOH, said
migrane causes damn near anybody less than a boss to explode.
Puzzles are usually of the go-fetch variety, and are easier than the first game
to figure out. There's seems to be more emphasis on fighting this time around.
Two difficulty levels are included, normal & easy.
Misc. gameplay additions:
* Enemies take double-damage from attacks from behind (that may just be for
tapping Green)
* If you charge up an attack, and then change your mind, cancel with R1
* The shield ability only blocks what's in front of you at first. A Skip tablet
for level 2 shields will block behind you as well.
=== DRUGS & THEIR EFFECTS ===
--- ATTACK POWERS ---
GREEN - physical force, pummels enemy like punches; works on just about anything
that moves; can tap the button for a quick punch; a quick punch to an enemy's
back does double damage
RED - fire, fries a cone-shaped area in front of you; useless on robots
BLUE - levitates enemies, then slams them down; affects small cone-shaped area
in front of you; has side-effect of acting as a shield against most attacks;
useless on heavier enemies, and most bosses
PURPLE - an electrical attack that affects a circular area around you; handy on
robots, and probably the strongest single-use power; charges slowly
YELLOW - multiple yellow projectiles home in on enemies; the number of
projectiles varies with the level of the power, 3 for level 1, 5 for level two,
7 for level three; this power charges up faster than any in the game
--- OTHER ---
Recovery Pills - regain health, half or full, depending on version
DELMETER - Cures the migraine you get when the AP gauge maxes out
APPOLIMAR - maxes out the AP gauge on purpose; fatal if you're out of Delmeter
Skip Tablet - gives an attack power (you decide which) a level-up
START GAME
==========
Talk to the dead guy to unlock the door. Run around the perimeter of the room
for free items. Through the door and up the stairs is a large room with your
first enemies in it. Practice if you'd like; all powers work on these guys. Walk
the perimeter of the room for more items, but the door of the building with red
lights on it is the one to use. Upstairs, a simple follow-the-light puzzle is
found, as well as some more enemies. You can destroy the enemies first; they'll
respawn several times, but not forever. Completing the puzzle powers on the
terminal, which unlocks the door to the bridge.
On the bridge, there's a save point on the far side. Fry or levitate these
enemies if you wish to fight them.
BOSS
----
Use R2 to lock onto the boss. Use the Green drug. When boss uses lightning or
eye-lasers, run away to the skinny part of the floor. When the boss uses a
flame-tongue, hold R1 to block it. If the floating eyeballs attack, dodge with
the O button.
END BOSS.
Repeat all actions above, twice. You'll understand at the time what I mean.
BOSS
----
Destroy/avoid the spiders. He'll hop down every so often and tease you; fry him.
If he jumps on you and bashes you over the head, fry him as soon as you're able;
he's slow.
NEW AREA
========
Use the floating blue symbols in the first room to refill health and empty AP.
Cinema with the head soldier. Explore & converse. Save point on the 2nd floor,
west side, at the end of an otherwise blank hallway, and on the 3rd floor, in
the Tactical Ops room. Talk to Lilia in her 3rd floor lab for a map and stuff.
More cinema with the head soldier: intruder alert. Go down stairs (a lot),
cinema of soldiers getting whipped. Destroy enemies, meet woman soldier.
Continue (save point is down there), fry the soldier-cyborg enemies with a
single use of your power. Enter warehouse.
Use Green drug to kill all robots, and a boss will appear. (Finish off the
robots first, else they'll annoy you during the boss fight.)
BOSS
----
Use the Red drug, and use R2 to lock onto him at all times (else you'll be
fighting the game's camera, as well). When the boss raises his weapons, like
he's stretching his back, you've enough time to fry him if you're already in
range. Else, you'll see two small lightning bolts (harmless), followed by a big
3rd one (dodge-roll sidewards, else you'll have to re-position yourself within
range).  If your attack hit soon enough, the bolt won't finish. When the boss
glows with electricity, roll sidewards, as it's either a dashing slash (fry him,
maybe), or a flying drill. For the drill attack, roll sidewards, and then keep
walking sidewards. His homing ability and your lock-on will cause the two of you
to circle each other several times. When the drill finishes, fry him (timing's a
bit tight).  When the boss jumps at you, dodge sidewards. When the boss walks
calmly toward you, wait, and he'll usually stretch his back (fry him).  Fry him
about ten times or so and he'll fall.
END BOSS.
Cinema with the head soldier. Cinema with Lilia. Around the corner from Lilia's
lab (top-right of map) is a door she unlocks for you. Down, down, to a door(1)
that lacks power, and a door(2) with a manual crank. Crank door(2) open, and
straight thru it, veering right toward a long-ass hall, destroying or dodging
robots. Round the corner, all the way down to a dead-end, where there's a key on
top of a box. You may have seen this key before in the exploratory phase of the
game. Grab it and return the way you came to Lilia's lab's floor.
Down to the 2nd floor via the bottom-left staircase everyone uses (the guard
there is bored). The Emergency Power Room is right there; use the key on the
corner computer. Notice the wall panel next to it, sparking. (Press X for
message about the panel.) Needs cable. Go to Warehouse on this same floor for
the cable. Turn off power to insert cable, turn power back on.
Return to door(1), NOT by the way you went earlier (dipstick is blocking the
way), but via the main route through the SW stairs, and the two "tubes" leading
to the lobby. Destroy/dodge the robots and go in through door(2) you unlocked
earlier, to get to door(1). Flip its switch and off you go.
Walk into the anus of the ship parked there.
NEW AREA
========
Avoid Mr. Ugly and his friend (Green drug works on them, but they're strong).
Run the other way toward the save point & door. Inside, turn left, dodging
flame-throwers by walking in their direction of motion, rolling through for the
moment they quit. Through the door into General Sick Bay, avoid annoying
enemies, get the Blank Card from off of the lit-up exam table. Return to
flamethrowers, continue around the circle. "Control Office" room has water-
bubble spitting enemies. Fry at least one. Save point, and a book from off a
shelf. Through the other open door.
In here, activate the console. (Not that console, the other one.) Avoid enemies,
activate the first console. Use Blank Card, X button to swap two letters,
password = saturnus.
It's pretty straightforward from here. When you get a password put on your card,
it unlocks a door with the corresponding planet on it. Behind that door
somewhere is a computer terminal that puts the next password onto your card.
Just spell the planet's name in latin, which is pretty close to english (except
for Earth = Tellus). The location of the doors is:
Floor 1B = Mars
Floor 2B, Control Office = Jupiter
Floor 2B, General Sick Bay = Saturn
Floor 3B, Control Computer Room = Earth
Floor 2B, System Control Room = Venus
Destroy spiders with either Red, for a group of them, or Green, just tap the
button. The Tellus computer is in the same room as a short-cut to back to Sick
Bay. The Venus computer is in the same room as a shortcut to Floor 1B.
After the planetary nonsense, kill Mr. Ugly on the elevator and grab the Skip
tablet he leaves behind. There's a save point afterward.
BOSS
----
Walk up and fry him. Quickly. If he tosses shooting stars, block. Just because
he's a pretty boy doesn't mean he's strong.
END BOSS.
Return to the surface, hitting the save point outide, and fly away.
OLD AREA
========
Destroy all enemies to proceed out of the hangar. Go thru the door(1), and then
thru the door(2) that you manually cranked earlier to open. Up the double tubes,
then up the main stairway near the emergency backup generator; the stairway
looks closed but it will open. See Lilia in her lab, then go upstairs all the
way to the hyper-sleep room. Fill your life and empty the AP gauge, then talk to
Lilia.
NEW AREA, sort of
========
Use the terminal beside the one you're in front of to unlock the door. Thru the
door, use the save point, and then into a room with a pair of Mr. Uglies. Kill
'em, use the side door. Thru the corridor to a room with walls of energy.
Proceed forward, navigating the little maze as it appears and use the terminal
the cinema showed you. Then use the terminal in the very back of the room to
rotate pieces of the building once, (so that III is lined up with the same-
colored block). Return to Mr. Ugly's room, use the other door. In the center of
the new room..
BOSS
----
Remember your block button here! Use Green to pummel her. Little will o' wisps
orbit her; your pummeling will kill them leaving items behind. She flies around,
dropping fire, just block it til she sets back down. From the ground, she'll
send a wall of fire advancing toward you; roll sideways and shoot her,
repeatedly. She'll also use a homing-snake o' fire; either block it, or ignore
it and just keep shooting. Moving around, you're just as likely to jump into it
as out of it.
END BOSS
Go downstairs, and examine Cain's sarcophagus. You'll be zapped, and your eyes
will glow. (If you wish, then look into the other sarcophagi for pictures of the
previous generation of Galerians, from the first game.) Go into the 'N' security
pod - the one you used at the beginning of the game. Walk toward the elevator
and a familiar animation will play, IDing you as Cain. Use the terminal to line
up the 'N' building with the same-colored 'I' block. Then the elevator is
activated and you can return to Lilia via Dorothy's terminal.
OLD AREA (again)
========
Use the restorative thingy, then go downstairs and around the corner into
Lilia's lab. Talk to the guy on the raised dias for the Breakaron PPEC (the
Purple power). Then down the SW stairs (by the guard-who-is-no-longer-bored),
then zig-zag left into the Armory (use the map), and thru the far door via its
manual-override into the computer log room. Read the terminal, then return the
way you came. Once back in civilization, go to the sick bay and chat with the
pilot for the Key to Hangar 1.
Go to Hangar 1, thru door(1), and unlock the locked door in the sewer. Once
inside, a console switch by the pair of bubble-enemies swaps out the ship with
another. Crawl up the ship's anus for the Backup Computer Key. (The other ship
doesn't have anything up its butt.) Return via the lobby.
BOSS
----
You can use your new power on the robot if you wish. It has a circular area of
effect, centered on you, and it does nice damage, especially on robots. Then an
old friend hops out, the only real difference here is that when you circle each
other while he's doing the drill, he'll occasionally do a right-angle turn right
at you. Just tap roll (sideways, of course), and keep circling. He'll usually
try the right-turn twice per drill.
END BOSS.
Return to the computer log room, located on this floor, and in the back of the
room amidst the bubble-boys is the main computer. Use the new key to activate
it, then return to Lilia in the Hyper-Sleep chamber. Use the restorative thingy
in here before walking toward her.
NEXT AREA
=========
This is just like the last time you came here, except you don't have to go *all*
the way down to the family room where the sarcophagies are at, just as far down
as the moving buildings (1F Dome Area). Of the moving buildings (where you found
the female boss of fire), a new one unlocked its doors (Security Area W). You'll
have to enter it and use the room-rotation terminals. One snafu: the new one
only rotates rooms an even number, but its an odd-number of slots off -- you
can't line up the W with the II. Use one of the other rooms' terminals (like
Security Area S) to rotate an odd number of slots first. Then, return to W, use
the room rotation terminal if needed, and take the elevator upstairs.
BOSS
----
I actually think he's weaker this time around. Well, he seems to have a laser,
now. But only for very far range.
END BOSS.
Grab the item off the glowing white shelf, use the terminal to open the door to
the bridge, and use said door. (The item won't work where you think it should.)
I suppose you could go see Lilia if you wish, but, back in Dorothy's room, use
the side terminal to escape back to the bridge. You're led to the pair of Mr.
Uglies again, and use the side exit to the room with the glowing maze. Use the
center terminal again, and the glowing maze will no longer appear. Use the other
terminal to unlock the elevator door so you can continue downstairs. In the Dome
Area again, go *all* the way down to the sarcophagi, again. (Geez! The
developers really really want to get maximum use out of this area, don't they?)
Walk to the fountain in the middle and use the new item for an even newer item.
Now return from where you got said item (via the elevator in Security Room W, by
first using the room rotation terminal in Security Room S, as before), and use
your new key in the wall.
Through the corridor, to the room, where the terminal you need is protected by
targeting lasers and an advancing wall of light energy. Hide behind the blocks
from the wall, and the lasers will announce their target before they fire. Use
the terminal, dodge your way back thru the connecting corridor, and then, once
again, use the terminal to unlock the bridge, over to Dorothy's room (save
point), and her terminal teleports you to Lilia.
Down & around to the R&D lab for your second new power, Bustanor, the Yellow
one. It's on the raised dias against the far wall. Then, to the Tactical Ops
Room, where there is a book on the table. (The camera highlights it.) And talk
to the chief soldier.
Next destination is Hangar 3, which you'll be trapped in as a little cinema
tells you. Kill everything in there to get back out. Then, Lab 2, where you can
blow away all the robots with a single use of Purple. Grab the key in the back,
and head toward the System R&D Center (with the backup computer on the 1F).
Check out the log screen in that room while you're at it. Then upstairs via the
Armory (and a cinema), to Lilia in the Hyper-Sleep chamber. You'll notice no
one's home on the third floor. As usual, use the recovery thingy before speaking
to her.
BOSS
----
Again, same as before. Green works well, as your new powers are either at a low
level (read: weak), or do not have a long, straight range needed to reach her
when she stops flying. You'll frequently find yourself trading attacks with her,
so blocking is your friend.
END BOSS
Teleport to the hyper-sleep chamber. Return to Dorothy's room in the Mushroom
Tower. Same rigmarole: go down to the Dome Room, then back up through Security
Room W, up, through the weird aztec-door to the room with the laser system and
advancing wall of light. Use the terminal, and unlock Security Room E. Go back
down the elevator (no need to use the Bridge to Dorothy's), and into E.
Inside Security Room E is a great place to gain experience and items. A half-
dozen enemies always respawn very close to one another. Although its fun to
levitate them with blue, then squash the lot of them simutaneously, it works
better to trigger a migrane with some Appolimar, and just walk around collecting
the spoils. Some Delemeter and health pills are a must for this strategy to
work.
Use various room-rotation terminals to line up the white E block with the red I
block at the top. This opens the elevator in E, which takes you to the room with
the face in it. Walk to the center of the room and use the terminal. Then thru
the face, down the hall, to the very end, and press X for a cinema. Return to
Lilia.
Now, go to the Flight Control Office. It's that unused room on the first floor.
A quick cinema plays, then Hanger 2 is the next stop. Into the ship.
NEXT AREA
=========
Down the elevator, and straight ahead thru the Mars door. Down the hall to the
former Venus door for a cinema. Backtrack to follow the characters, down to
where you fought spiders, back and across to the Management Office, upstairs and
left again to General Sick Bay, through the far door to the Enriched Uranium
Storage, and then down thru the former Venus door again.
BOSS
====
Circle him using lock-on, and fry him between barrages. He'll dash or toss a
grenade every so often, but a roll sideways and keep at him.
Then he changes form.  And gains two lasers.
You can destroy the lasers if you wish, using Green. And green works probably
better than anything, especially if it's at level 3. His dashes will be faster,
but just roll sideways until he decides to walk casually toward you. Then nail
him. He'll go down after a barrage or two.
END BOSS
BOSS
====
Fry or pummel him, usually, as your newer powers aren't at level 3. Block a lot.
Circle him a bit and some of his attacks will miss, as most of them affect a
cone-shaped area in front of him. In the second part of the fight, he'll start
levitating up & down, and in that case, your red power will miss if he's near
the top of his oscillation. If you have trouble aiming, try Green instead. He
has a bit of life, and goes through yours pretty quick, so keep an eye on
yourself and use those recovery pills.
END BOSS
========
END GAME
========
You'll be scored on your progress throughout the game, and win various still
shots as well, to be viewed in the Movie Gallery (the still shots are at the
bottom). Also, you may unlock Short Mode, which allows Rion better movement when
he's got a migrane attack.
NOTE: If you start a new game, be sure to save to a different slot. If you save
over the completed game, you will lose everything from the Movie Gallery, as
well as Short Mode.