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Back to Part 2: Fundamentals of Cave Raiding

From the title screen, you can select options to change the settings to what you’re comfortable with. You’ll be able to do this once you’ve started your game, so there’s no pressure. It might be better to put off messing with the controls until you’ve spent some time controlling your character. Just go with what’s intuitive for you.

To get things started, at the title screen, select Start New Game. Because of course. From here, you have the option of two game modes:
Hello Abyss
Deep In Abyss

You can select Hello Abyss if you want to, which acts as a sort of tutorial that follows an early part of Riko’s story with her as the protagonist. However, this guide doesn’t cover it. It’s your choice.

After a brief cutscene, you proceed to the character creation screen. You get to name your cave raider, design various aspects from the options available, and even select their voice. You get to change any of these, so there’s no pressure to go with anything. If at any point in this guide I use the name Aki, I’d be referring to the protagonist.

Nat says that “Plenty of kids wish to join the orphanage”. Just how bad are the parents in Orth? Anyhow, scope Aki out with the bell rank, because it doesn’t last long. That aside, this Raul kid seems plenty spirited. I can hardly wait to see how he develops!

Anyhow, from your room, you’ll be able to save the game from the journal, access the trunk, and change Aki’s appearance at the mirror.

Tips for Red Whistle
Each time you level up, you get points to spend under the Skills tab in the menu. At first, you don’t have any of these, but once you start leveling up, here’s what I recommend prioritizing: Pretty much everything in the Cave Raid category, especially under Climb and Backpack. Under Battle, Emergency Dodge and whichever of the melee weapons you prioritize. I recommend Pickax, but it doesn’t change your play experience much. If you’re wondering when to fret over Box in the Craft tab, consider doing so when the trunk in your room is nearing capacity.

By the time you reach level 13, you can aquire all Red Whistle skills, though you probably don’t have to. For example, you probably don’t have to bother with Hatchet skills if you don’t plan on using one much.

If you need EXP, your best source is to complete quests, so when you can access the guild, accept any and all quests that may be available. Remember, progress towards quests doesn’t count until you’ve first accepted the quest! You can also get EXP from Relic Appraisal. It’s recommended that you keep at least a few of each kind in the trunk, as they may come in handy for crafting and quests.

Recommended armor is the Rescuer set. Don’t worry if you aren’t able to afford it right away, since the starter set will suffice for most of what you’ll face at the outset. Once you spend a point on 1-Star Items (Craft tab), you’ll be able to upgrade these using Hemostatis Leaf and Red Guaze Poison, so it’s not a bad idea to stock up on these items. In fact, there’s a possible Hemostatis Leaf spawn point in plain sight of the entrance to the Abyss, so if you wanted, you could simply exit and reenter to scum for as many as you care for.

By the way, if you come across any Bird Eggs, hold onto them, as there will be a quest that requires 5 for completion.

Of what’s available at Laffi’s shop from the start, Salt will be the most valuable. It’s cheap and light, so stock up.

The first cave raid is a simple set of quests which involve going to certain locations, watching the cutscenes, and then returning to Jiruo once prompted to. The first raid involves climbing, so exercise judgment to try not to climb beyond your potato kid’s stamina.

At this point, you’ll have more money, so spend it wisely on the supplies you need, and save up for any armor you might want. Usually, the best armor is what’s crafted, which provides incentive to occasionally spend points on Items in the Craft tab.

The next story mission is to find an unexplored area. There is no hurry to do this, so you can go on expeditions just to gather up relics and complete quests for more experience. When you’re ready for this quest, go from Netherworld Gate to Waterfall Gondola to Stone Ark to Jumping Rock. Taking this route requires 2 ropes at Jumping Rock, so be sure to have some in your kit. The destination is indicated by a yellow whistle on the map. It’s recommended that you bring some weapons with plenty of durability remaining, and some ingredients needed to make some food (which you can aquire during the quest without much problem).

Once you travel to the point indicated, you’ll be stuck in a cave with Tiare, unable to leave. When you have another cave raider in tow, they can act autonomously, including defeating enemies, which you can then dismantle for resources. This is not a bad thing to take advantage of. Keep in mind that they have a health bar, and if it runs out, they’ll be unavailable for a short time until they respawn.

First, climb down to the rock pile with the yellow exclamation point. After some dialogue, climb back up. You can make the climb with the help of some ledges. Go to another exclamation point. After Tiare’s character develops some more, all you have to do is cook something. Anything. You don’t even have to hunt any Man Toyers or obtain ingredients from them, but you can go about it that way if you want. Hablog shows up, and it’s mission complete, and you’ll be taken back to the Orphanage automatically. If you’ve watched Dawn of the Deep Soul, then you’ll probably recognize the obvious foreshadowing.

The next quest is First Layer Investigation. The description isn’t specific, but you can get this quest underway by traveling from Netherworld Gate to Waterfall Gondola to Tree/Fossil Abode to Wind-Riding Windmill. Here, you’ll find Detchuanga. He’ll send you to look for another cave raider, who’s also in the Wind-Riding Windmill. Go to him, and the quest will automatically conclude, and you’ll be brought to the surface.

After this, Nat will ask to go cave raiding with him and Dorothea. This is your next main quest, so go ahead and accept. When you next enter the Abyss, Nat and Dorothea will be in tow, which will make things a little easier (banter aside). Head to the Waterfall Gondola. After triggering the cutscene there, head to the Stone Ark and trigger another cutscene there. The next destination is in the Wind-Riding Windmill. You can reach it by climbing down a bunch of ledges and taking the gate to Multilayer Hill, then taking a nearby gondola to the Wind-Riding Windmill. You can complete the whole trip without using any ropes. You get a Feather Helmet like Nat’s as a reward, which is strictly worse than Rescuer Hat (Blue) that you’re probably already wearing aside from an extra accessory slot, so stow it in storage as the trophy item it probably can be considered. As far as I know, you don’t get another.

For the next main quest, go to the classroom and talk to Jiruo. You get to mission with Tiare, towards Grand Bridge Way. Bring weapons with you, as there’s a fight at the end. You can get there pretty simply by going from the Netherworld Gate to Waterfall Gondola to Grand Bridge Way.

At the destination is a simple battle with a Silkfang. It’s quick and easy, and you can probably do it with no problem with the weakest weapon. Avoid going right in front of it, and don’t walk directly into one of its threads, and you should be fine. Once you’ve reduced it’s HP, you get a simple quicktime event. Fail it, and it’ll come back with a little HP. Pass it, and you’ve won.

At the classroom, there will be another Main quest. Remember how I told you to hold onto Bird Eggs? If you already have them, great! If not, it’s time to do some hunting. You can get these from those small birds. I already had a couple, but got the rest that I needed from the Forest of Temptation in the second layer, which is probably more trouble than you need to go to, but there’s technically nothing keeping you out of the place even if you’re still a Red Whistle.

Your next main quest is… three more quests. Red Whistle is kinda quest-heavy, isn’t it? Here’s what’s needed:
Laffi wants 3 Demonfish Liver
The Guild wants you to deliver parts to the big gondola
Jiruo accompanies you to a destination in Twin Falls

If you haven’t gotten a Fishing Pole until now, now’s the time. You can fish up Demonfish in Twin Falls, where you’re going with Jiruo anyway, so you may as well go for it while you have the opportunity. Demonfish are drawn to Lugworms, so get a bunch of them.

You can reach the destination in Twin Falls pretty easily if you bring plenty of Rope with you. Just head from Netherworld Entrance to Twin Falls. You’ll probably use about 4 or 5 ropes along the way, but bringing 10 might be safe.

How you reach the Waterfall Gondola is up to you. But as soon as you’ve completed Jiruo’s quest, you can move on to Grand Bridge Way and then to Waterfall Gondola from there. If you’ve managed to get three Demonfish Livers along the way, then that’s all three quests in the bag. If the fish weren’t cooperative, just leave and return to refresh their numbers. Just mind the wear on your Fishing Pole, they can break just the same as your weapons.

The next mission, Search for Tiare, takes you to the Waterfall Gondola. All there is to this is to go to the spot, and the story advances.

The next main quest can be found at the Caravan Fleet. Mio wants 5 each of Red Gauze Poison and Burnt Blue Poison. If you have some in your chest already, then there you go. Otherwise, it’s time to hunt some in the Abyss. Among the rewards is the famed Type 4 Energy Rations, which is the best food item in the game (putting aside that it tastes like a wall). You don’t get to buy more until much later in the game, so until then, it’s kinda too cool to use. But whether you do is up to you. Further the story by visiting the Caravan Fleet then Guild HQ.

There’s just one more Main quest to do as a Red Whistle, so talk to Jiruo in the Classroom to accept it. That description, though. Tell me there’s a boss battle without telling me that there’s a boss battle.

A previous version of this guide stated that you need to scan the boss to obtain its Notebook entry, and that you don’t get another chance. You actually don’t have to. The boss’s Notebook entry is automatically added.

Bring plenty of healing items and weapons with you, and perhaps also a Mail Balloon to use right before drawing close enough to battle, in case things go wrong and you want to make another attempt right away. You can find the boss in Multilayer Hill, right near the entrance to the 2nd Layer.

BOSS: Interference Device #1
The main trick to this boss is to stay away from it’s large right arm, which can swing forward for a lot of damage, and can also stretch straight ahead to reach a long distance. It can also swing about as a distance attack, so you’re not necessarily safe if you’re not directly in front of it. You can emergency dodge its attacks, and because its attacks do a lot of damage, you might want to practice doing that. It possible to beat this boss by just running up to it and hammering away until its HP is gone, but you might have to be pretty strong to pull this off. I was at about level 20 at this point, and used an ordinary Pickax.

After the battle, you’re automatically taken back to the surface. This seems to be the only Interference Device that automatically takes you back to the surface in this manner. This would seem to be a convenience, but it means that you can’t take this opportunity poke your head into the second layer to make a fast travel point, but you can still do this later if you haven’t already done so.

Enjoy your promotion to Blue Whistle!

To Part 4: Blue Whistle