Hints and Tips for Jade Cocoon
(English version) for the Playstation 
by
Zhou Tai An (kain@pacific.net.sg)

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Disclaimer : Please notify me when using this guide for any purpose, thanks.

(looks up) Hey, the English version. Not often I do this. ^_^

Anyway, this is only going to a short collection of (as it says above) hints
and tips because I don't really like this game enough to do a full guide.
Enjoy it anyway, 'kay?

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1. Try to keep your Speed at an average of 20-30 or so...heavy armor, while
useful, lets enemies get in too many whacks. Go for the speedier but lighter
weapons, too.

2. Early on, you're quite effective against the enemies (Knife, not Dagger to
reduce HP in the beginning game, BTW) but as the game progresses, you'll 
need powerful minions to do all your fighting for you. Enemy attacks also 
become really powerful, so one false move could spell doom.

3. Some hints on capturing and the like :

a) Remember that you ONLY gain experience from capturing. Your minions gain
by killing, but not you. 

b) It's the only way to make money in this game, too, so spin a few captured
minions to make cash. DON'T spin those you've taken a long time to 
gather\combine; try to get useless ones. Higher level results in better quality
silk, BTW.

c) You can only capture successfully if the target minion is at red health
or less. The higher your Capture Level, the easier this is : for instance, 
at Level 1, a difference of a few points can make a world of difference, but
at let's say, Level 21, you can capture even when the enemy has half it's 
life. If you fail the first time your second try usually gets the minion, BUT
three tries mean that you need to lower it's HP more.

Unconfirmed - at about Capture Level 24-25 you can capture straight off the
bat; no damage required.

4. Since you get back minion HP and Mana from each successful battle, 
rotating your minions in a cycle ensures that at least 2 are fresh with full
stats. Another method is "splitting" fights - letting one minion weaken an
enemy, then it retreats and another finishes it off. At the end of the fight,
both recover fully. 

Or you can go around picking fights with weak enemies; that works too. Your
choice.

5. All the "Deva" spells - you know, those that change the surroundings to
favor and match the element of your minion, are VERY useful; your attacks
do a LOT more damage and your defense goes up too. Try to have each of your
minions have the spell. 

*Special note : This spell does NOT work on the Bosses in the Netherworld
Forests, nor on the last boss.*

6. Mugwort and Shab Liquor are cheap and effective. Stock up.

7. Sleep Spores put all minions in an area to sleep for a period of time -
good for avoiding fights. You don't get a free turn when attacking a sleeping
minion, though.

8. Speaking of which; NEVER let a minion get the jump on you (approach you
from behind) It gets two free attacks, which in the later stages can kill
you outright.

9. Ensure that you have one minion of each element - and when going into the
forest, bring 3 of different kinds unless you know what enemies you're going
to face. 

10. On merging :

a) Monsters which are made out of as many combined ones as possible seem to
gain more stats upon levelling-up then purebreed ones, so combine often and
well.

b) Try not to mix elements since almost ALL spells and attacks depend on a 
high ratio of the particular element to do damage. You could conceivably
create a 4 element minion to deal with any situation, but it wouldn't have 
any specials.

c) Get good specials like the Flesh to Stone attacks (spells are useless; you
want the attack to do damage as well), added Power, Medina (water healing 
spell) and the Deva magics. Get the more powerful elemental magics ASAP.

d) Specialize. Don't try to create a monster with good speed, power AND 
magical ability. (Unless of course you have a lot of time...) You'll probably
only get good at two; for instance, speed and magical ability. Take this into
account.

11. When fighting the Bosses in the Netherworld Forest, bring two of the chosen
kind of minion, not one - they're tough.

12. Because Skeleton Keys work on ALL chests, sometimes you should save them
to be used on the more important chests later in the game; they're hard to
find.

13. Blessing items can be used to duplicate the Deva magics in a pinch, so
carry some. The Seal items suck, though - too little damage.

14, Before seeing the sacrifice scene with Garai after the completion of the
third forest, stock up on items, heal and then SAVE. I'll say it again - 
SAVE. The reason being, of course, than you can't heal, shop or anything from
the forth to the fifth forest.

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That's it for now. Be seeing you. ^_^