A few (very) basic strategies

[Technoccult]

I have only just started playing the game so these are quite simple and are almost certainly not the best ways to do things but I thought I would start a thread so people can add theirs as well.

(I will use the word 'area' to mean a room or space outside where ghosts can be placed)

Mortals
To start we have 2 kinds of Mortals.

Muggles are just your regular guys and gals.

Mystics are the ones who have powers to fight your ghosts. They can be priests, witches, psychics, whatever... They all work the same way.

Basic dealing with Mystics rules
You use a power, on them, they block ( a shield symbol), they counter attack (red ligtning bolt), they are left weak to one of your powers for a little while (red cricle). Their attacks hurt all ghosts in the area, and if you use a power in an area nearby the the one the mystic is in, they will detect your ghost and move to attack it.

Now we have our targets, we come onto three basic actions we can do to them:

• Herding (Making them move where we want them to)
• Scaring (Making them leave the level)
  
• Milking (using them to collect large amounts of plasm)

Why do we start with herding? Well, alot of the puzzles require you to get people to places, plus alot of tactics require you to group people into the same area, so it's a good place to start. we'll get onto scaring people soon enough.

Herding Muggles

This is dead easy (excuse the pun), just put your attract type ghost in an area and have it use a general attract power(like water spout or stench but not swap places) and any Muggles in range should come to you. I think the chance that they are affected or not is random, it might have something to do with their resists, but you should be able to herd even those with full resistance.

When you are down to 3 bars of plasm, Attract powers are essentially free, as you can spam (repeatedly use) them over and over again until you have everyone you want in the room.

If a Muggle is too far away from the room you want them in, they might be out of range of the Attract power, if so you need to lure them closer by either moving the attract ghost nearer to them and then moving them in stages or by scaring them towards the room you want with a Chase ghost. Be aware, that each Muggle can only be affected by 1 attract power at a time and that attract effects can be broken by using another power on that Muggle.

Special mention must go to the swap places power. this is the 'Snipe' of attraction, it allows you to force 1 Muggle to come to the location of your ghost (and the ghost goes to their location). The only limits are:

• It costs more than 3 plasm, so you need to build some up before you can use it.
• The Muggle can't move through any locked doors, so make sure they have a clear path before using the power.
• (Preliminary) It doesn't appear to work if the ghost and Muggle are on different floors. (I tried it on the free willy and billy mission, with Billy in a safe place downstairs and the ghost outside the polce station. The security door was open but when I used the power nothing happened.)

Chase powers can also be used for herding but it is harder, since it can be tricky to get Muggles to run in the direction you want them to. They will generally run through the exit they are closest to, so chasing multiple Muggles through rooms with multiple exits is very tough.

Herding Mystics
The good/bad thing about mystics is that they will block attract powers but unless they are close to the ghost that used them (I think they have to be in the adjacent area) they won't be able to tell where they come from. This means it is very easy to seperate Muggles from mystics using general attract powers.

The bad side of this is, what if you want to lure a mystic somewhere? Well, that's easy as well, there are (at least) two ways. The first is just to use a power on them, have them block it and counter attack. Afterwards, when the red circle is above their heads, they will be affected by attract/chase powers the same as Muggles are.

Another way is to lead them to the room you want, using a ghost as bait. Move just one a ghost to an area next to the one the mystic is in, then use a cheap power. The Mystic wll sense your ghost and move into the room to attack them. When they do this, just move your ghost to the next area (heading towards where you want the mystic to go) wait for them to finish attack and then use a power where you are. They should detect this again, and move to that room. repeat til they are where you want them.

Special, secret super Mystic mover tip!!!!!

This is somethig I noticed, and will take more research to determin how it works but....

Once again, the swap places power comes into it's own. It seems that mystics can detect a swap places power being used if the target is in the same or a nearby area, like other powers. However, they will move to attack the ghost, in the area they were when they used the power! This means you can use swap places to move a Muggle to an area and lead a mystic(s) there for free. The best part is, your ghost isn't there anymore, so it isn't in danger. To be fair, i haven't found a use this this tip, but it is nice to know.

Scaring Everyone

It's no use pretending, we all love do it, so here's a run down of the basics. Mystics are the same as Mugles in this regard, but the tactics to scare them are different.

Some ghost powers scare the victims, these powers belong to your chase and tamper ghosts (although some resistance powers will also scare people). A mortals 'health' (the game calls it health, so I will too)is the green bar above their head. It has 10 segments, each green one repesents 1 point of health. If you get them down to 0 health, they will run away. You can sometimes get a mortal without any green in their health bar who won't run away. As far as i can tell, the actual health is measure in decimal format, so a mortal could have say 2.4 health left. the .4 part won't show on the health bar. So if this happens, just give them a extra scare to push them over the edge.

Now we come onto the thorny subject of reistance, which is the yellow bar under the mortal heath bar. This bar respresents how easy a mortal is to scare, the higher it is the tougher they are.

This is how I think the scare system works. Each yellow segment on the resistance bar represents 10% resistance. to work out how much damage a scare power will do to a mortal you:

Multiply the cost of the power (how many plasm bars it needs) by the percentage that isn't resisted.

A quick eample, Mortal A has no resistance, Mortal B has 5 resistance and Mortal C as 10 resistance.

You use a scare power that costs 2 plasm on each of these mortals.

Mortal A has 0*10 = 0% resistance, so he takes 100-0 = 100% of all the damage, so you reduce his health by 1*2 = 2.

Mortal B has 5*10 = 50% resistance, so he takes 100 -50 = 50% of the damage, so you reduce his health by 0.5 * 2 = 1.

Mortal C has 10*10 = 100% resistance, so he takes 100-100 = 0% of the damage, so you reduce is health by 0*2 = 0.

So a mortal with a full resistace bar can't have their health reduced.

All those numbers are aproximate, and based on very limited testing. also, there may be some rounding involved. But in general, if you have a mortal wth 7 resists, you will need to hit them with 3 level 1 powers to reduce their health by 1. (each hit should do around 0.3 damage).

Resitance ghost have powers that an lower the targets resistace (and so makes scaring them much easer). These work on a simple subtraction, so if you spend 2 plasm to use a resist power, you will reduce the targets resistance bar by 2.

(some) Mind ghosts have the ability to heal mortals with powers such as 'chill out'. whilst it is loathsome, sometimes you can get carried away and be in danger of scaring away someone you need. As far as I know, mind powers aren't affected by resistances.

Also, some mortals are weak to certain ghost types, which is indicated with the little icons on their picture in the mortal carrosel. If they are weak to that type of power, the effect will be doubled. So a mortal with no resistances was to take 2 damage from a power, a mortal with no resistances who is weak to that power type will take 4 damage.



OK, gone over budget on this post, see below for the exciting conclusion!

(also, sorry for any spelling mistakes. My spelling isn't naturally very good, and I have a new keyboard that keeps making me miss out letters I have typed.)

[Technoccult]

Muggle scaring tips
Ok, you have a muggle you want to get rid of.

First of, lower their resistance so you can get the most bang for your buck out of your scares. Their resistance obviously needs to be lower than 10, but try to get it to at least 2. Then, pick a scary ghost:

a) chase ghosts, the expert scarers, their only problem is that they make people run out of the area when they use their powers. when this happens, just follow the muggles and keep using powers. Eventually, their health will drop to 0 and they are gone.

b) Tamper ghosts: These bad boys (and girls) have the abiliy to scare soeone without making them run (normally). The downside is that their powers are generally more expensive than chase ghosts and they need some sort of item in the room to work. For example, 'lights out 'doesn't do anything in a room that is already dark.. But if you find a room you can use and have a cheap (costing 1-3 plasm a pop) tamper power, you can just reuse it over and over, pinning them down to that area as you wear down their health. This works fantastically with 'lights out' since you hit it, they scream, they switch the lights back on, you hit it again.

Mass Muggle scaring
Picking them off one by one shows great craftghostship, but get with the times! In todays fast paced afterlife, you have to think big, so here's some tips on scaring groups of multiple muggles.

You already know how to get them together (see Muggle Herding), but where should you gather them? That depends on what kind of ghost you will be using to do the scaring.

Chase Ghosts: You wany a big area with as few exits as possible, ideally only one. Why? Well, the bigger the room, the more powers you have time to activate before they make it to the exit. With a standard chase ghost, in a big room(two powers, one level 1 and one level2) you can go level 1, level 2 and have time to use level 1 again before any of the muggles makes it to the door.

Why only one exit? because that means when the Muggles do run, there is only one place for them to go. They will all go to the adjacent area and cower, meaning you can move your ghost and hit them all again. If there are multiple exits when you use a chase power, your group of muggles could scatter.

So, big room with one exit, gather the Muggles to the back, as far away from the exit as possile and let rip.

Tamper ghosts: If you have a tamper ghost, with a low level power (1-3) and a reasonable recharge (Lights out or tremour work fine), then any group of muggles in the same room (provided the power works there) are as good as... gone. Just keep using it over and over, they will be scared to the spot and will stay there til they are out of health. As long as no pesky Mystics show up, its game over for them.

Also, when you are scaring multiple muggles, you will notice that you will be building up plasm.(see below for more on plasm buildup). If your only goal is to scare them, why not use that plasm to do a hit them with a big power? Either a big tamper power or maybe a big resistance power (to speed up the scaring)?

Scaring Mystics

Ok, you want to get rid of them, so how do you do it? Well, same rules apply for Muggles, you just need to use the dealing with mystics rules (see above). Alot of Mystics have high resistance to start with, so you need to lower that first. So, use a weak scare power, wait for them to counter attack and when they are weak, move in a resist ghost to hit them.

A good thing about mystics is that it is easier to keep them in the same area as a scare ghost. Use the scare ghosts weak power, they block and counter, then use your big power to scare them. Then straight after, use your weak power again (before they have chance to run). They will stop, block the weak attack and counter again. this means you can keep them pinned down with just the one chase ghost.

Also, if you have the plasma, use a big move on them every so often to speed things up. But remember to only use it when they are weak (red circle). Otherwise it will be wasted.

A word on dodging: The simplest way to dodge a Mystics attack is wait until you see the attack symbol and then just move your ghost(s) out of the area. However, when your ghost is in orb form (when it is moving from one spot to the other and is a glowing ball of light) it can't be affected by attacks. So, if the room is large enough, you can keep your ghost moving through the attack. It is a lot easier to just move to the next area and come back, but dodging whilst in the same room is more stylish (note, it doesn't work for teleprting ghosts, so just move them out of the area).

Scaring Multiple Mystics

Works the same way as scaring 1 Mystic, since they should all block, counter attack and be weak at exactly the same time. But dodging is more important since your ghosts can't stand up to multiple attacks.

[dreamonman]

Wooooooooooooooooooooo!

Seems we have the PS2 Guru already!

[Technoccult]

Ok, now the good stuff.

Milking TheMuggles
The vast majority of puzzles in the game require use of a higher cost powers, so you need to build up some plasm. You do this by scaring people, using powers belonging to 'chase' and 'tamper' ghosts. For each scare you get, you get 1 plasm point, regardless of power used. However, using powers costs plasm, so the idea is to use a power on a number of people higher than its cost.

For these purposes a target is any non sleeping/fainted Muggle in the area Or any Mystic in the area with a red circle above their head.

For example, a power that costs 1 plasm to use, if you use it on 1 target, you spend 1 point and get one point, so you break even. If you use the same power on two targets, you spend 1 and get 2, giving you a profit of 1 plasm. Use it on 3 targets and you make 2 profit etc...

Another (scary) power costs 3 plasm to use, if you use it on 1 target, you spend 3 and get 1, so you have lost 2 plasm points. If you use it on 2 targets, you lose 1 plasm. On 3, you break even. So you need to use that power on at least 4 targets, just to make 1 plasm point.

So, it is obvious that using low cost ( 1plasm cost) scary powers on large groups of people is the best way to go if you want to build up your plasm bar. Use the above herding and scaring tips to maximise your profits. Eventually, people will run away but it is imprtant to remember that resistances have no effect on how much plasm you get from scaring people. Even if someone has 10 resistance (they take no damage) you can still make plasm off them if you hit them with a scare attack. Therefore, people with high resists are much better for milking purposes since their health will go down very slowly, allowing you to make maximum profit off them.

Maximum milk, minimum Moo
Now, be careful. In alot of the levels, your best source of plasm will be people whom you must not scare away, so you need to keep an eye on their health. This leads you into my patented milking cycle:

1) The gather phase. you have 3 plasm in your bar. these 3 points will always regenerate so everything you do in this phase is free, but you can only use powers which cost 3 points or less.

Here you herd as many viable targets into a good scaring space as possible, using the above tactics. In some levels, people will naturally group together, so if there is a nice group in an area you can skip this stage.

2) The milking process. Begin scaring the targets (using above scaring tactics) ensuring you only use powers when they will make a profit (no big powers and don't scare any lone targets). You may use the odd point on attract powers to regroup targets, but that cuts into your profits. Other than that, keep to powers that will scare people and make you plasm. Keep an eye on the health of all targets and stop when the wakest member is on 1-2 health. (or you have enough plasm to do what you wated to do). Watch out for targets that are weak to your scaring powers, since their health will go down twice as fast.

3) Spend your points. Use the points to use whatever power you wanted them for (Gust, Brainwave, switch places, a big resistance attack on a high resist mortal etc...)

4)Restock the fridge. At this point you should be back down to 3 plasm, so everything is free again. If you have one, Use your mind ghosts healing power (usually 'chill out') to refill everyones health to 10.

Then just repeat the above process as many times as you need to do whatever it is you want to do. (i.e. solve all puzzles and complete the level.

Milking Mystics?

You can use Mystics a source of plasm, but it is far less efficient, since you get no plasm back for attacks they block. This eans you have to use a power twice (one to make them vulnerable and the other to affect them) on a Mystic to get 1 plam point back. So esentailly double the cost of the pwer when working out the profit. For eample, when using a 1 cost power, you need to use it on at least 3 Mystics to begin making a profit (you will make 1 plasm point every other 'combat cycle'). A mixture of Muggles and Mystics works fine though, since the cost of hitting the Mystic twice is absored by the profit from the Muggles.

Notes on Brainwave

If you have ghost that has this power, then you will need to use it to solve the level. The power works on every mortal in the same area as the ghost (so try to hit as may mortals as possible). When it is used, either a red X will appear above the mortals head (which means the power has no use for that character) or a picture of an object will appear. An arrow will appear on the game map pointing at that item (so they are quite easy to find). Just herd the right character to the right object and they will interact with it in some way. In one case, you will need to use Brainwave on a Mystic, so remember to soften them up with a cheap attack before you use it on them (wait for the red circle), otherwise they will block it.

[James]

If you don't mind I'll put some of these tips on to the Hints & Tips page.
These are really going to help me tackle the PS2 version, thanks.

[Technoccult]

Sure, feel free :-)