This is a FAQ for Mojib Ribbon, ver. 0.3 By Mark Green Email address for submissions/updates: mark [at] antelope [dot] nildram [dot] co [dot] uk The latest version of this FAQ will always be available from http://www.gamefaqs.com. ----------- wwwwwwwwwww If the block of characters on the left has a straight mmmmmmmmmmm right-hand edge, you are using a monospaced font. iiiiiiiiiii This FAQ looks far better viewed in a monospaced font. OoOoOoOoOoO Use EDIT, DOS TYPE, the Netscape text viewer, or MORE 12345678901 to view this file. ----------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- **************************** LEGAL BITS ****************************** ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Neither the author of this FAQ, nor any person who distributes it in any way, shall be responsible or liable for anything that results from using this FAQ for any purpose, including but not limited to damage to your Playstation 2, hands, eyes, controllers, or reading ability. This FAQ may be freely distributed provided that it is kept unmodified and in its entirity. This FAQ may not be sold, or included as part of a publication that is sold (including a website to which a subscription is charged), without the author's express permission. Mojib Ribbon, Playstation 2, and all the characters therein, are (c) and (tm) Sony Computer Entertainment and NanaOnSha 2003. The use of any trademarks within this FAQ is not intended to be a challenge to their validity. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 - INTRODUCTION --------------------------------------------------------------------- Mojib Ribbon is the Playstation 2 sequel to Vib Ribbon, NanaOnSha's surreal music game. While Vib Ribbon had a vector-like display, Mojib Ribbon's theme is Japanese calligraphy, and this means that the graphics have a brush-stroked appearence. Unfortunately, it also means that the Japanese level in the game is intense. The FAQ aims initially to sort that out and later to offer more tips. A brief note: you CANNOT use your own CD's in Mojib Ribbon. However, you can create your own texts for stages. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 - MENUS AND INTERFACE --------------------------------------------------------------------- The important thing to bear in mind about the menus in Mojib Ribbon is that very often the rightmost option is in fact the menu title, and won't be selectable. Now, the actual menus, all from right to left: Opening menu: (this is the only one that doesn't have a title) Start game How to play Start game menu: TITLE (names of any players you've created) New player Rename player After choosing player name: TITLE (player name) Play Options Options menu TITLE Custom Words (available after completing stage 6) Last Score Ranking ?? Analogue Stick Vibration System Save System Load Network After choosing play: TITLE Stage select (press up and down, circle to select) After selecting a stage: TITLE Text selection [At the start there will be only one of these - the story mode text. After you have unlocked the editor, the editing option will appear to the left of the story mode text, and any new texts you've created will appear to the left of those.] If you choose an editable text: TITLE Play text as it is [not selectable if you chose the editing option] Edit text ?? Note editor [only appears once unlocked by finishing stage 18] After selecting a text: Play stage Autoplay (only after completing a stage; costs points from your Ranking) When starting, you must first choose New Player to create your initial player account. To enter text, use the right analogue stick to choose a gyou (or 'consonant sound'), hold down R1, use the left analogue to choose a dan (or 'vowel sound') and then hit L1 to lock in the selected symbol. Press X to delete a character and START to end the name entry. WHen entering your name for the first time, you'll also be asked to place beat marks in it; move the cursor and place them using the circle and X keys. Your name will be included in the texts in the game, and will have start mark(s) at the point where you placed them. Later in the game, you'll be asked to use the "Yomikata editor". To do this, enter a phrase in the normal way. You can then hit the L2 key to copy it directly to Yomikata (the easiest way) OR hit the R2 key to choose from several possible kanji versions of the phrase you typed. Pressing SELECT will show the final kana version of the kanji you wrote. If you don't know Japanese and are just typing random symbols, just use L2. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 - HOW TO PLAY --------------------------------------------------------------------- Mojibri (or whichever character you play - the rules are the same for all of them) will be shown walking along a circular path. The path is made up of clouds, circular symbols, and a triangle symbol at the end. The clouds indicate areas where Mojibri must fill in characters; the circular symbols indicate points where he must start writing, and the triangle (actually a shogi piece) indicates the end of the whole sentence. To write the sentence, you must push UP on the analogue stick just before Mojibri's pen reaches each symbol (to wet the pen with ink), then push down on the analogue stick as Mojibri's pen actually reaches the symbol, and then hold it until the end of that section (which will either be another circular symbol, the triangle symbol, or a gap in the clouds). f the end is another circular symbol, you must quickly push up and down to start the next section. While you are holding down the stick, Mojibri will fill in the sentence, removing the clouds. Now, of course, there is ample room for error in this process, so here's what can go wrong and what the consequences will be: - YOU PRESS DOWN LATE, OR NOT AT ALL. Mojibri will fall over the circular symbol and won't be able to write the section this time. - YOU PRESS DOWN EARLY. Mojibri will roll over when his pen hits the ground. He'll get up, but he rolls for just long enough that you'll usually miss the circle's actual arrival and won't be able to write the section. - YOU RELEASE DOWN EARLY. The section will vanish and the area will turn back to clouds. - YOU RELEASE DOWN LATE. Mojibri will smudge the final letter of the section, losing you points. Of course, if releasing down late causes you to miss the next symbol you'll be penalised that for too. - YOU DON'T PRESS UP. Mojibri will write the sentence but it will be in a scratchy and distorted hand. This still counts as having written the section, but scores less points. - YOU PRESS UP EARLY. Mojibri will write the sentence but it will be smudged. This still counts as having written the section, but scores less points. In order to actually finish the sentence, you have to write all of it (ie, there must be no clouds left) and then push UP when over the triangle symbol. Not pressing UP when over the triangle has no consequences if the sentence is not finished, nor if Mojibri is writing at the time he reaches it. But if you have finished the sentence and loop back around to the shogi piece, Mojibri will fall over if you don't hit up at the right time. As in the original Vib Ribbon, Mojibri has several forms. He begins in his third form. The meter on the left hand side shows how much ink Mojibri has. Every time you make a mistake, the amount of ink he has is reduced; when you finish a sentence, the ink remaining is converted to points score. If Mojibri runs out of ink, he will switch to his next lowest form (from third to second, and from second to first) and his ink will be refilled. This doesn't help your score, though - Mojibri's form number also acts as a multiplier to his score, so the lower form you're in, the worse you'll score. If he runs out of ink while in the lowest form, the game is over, and you'll be offered a restart menu (circle to restart, X to abandon). There's a good side, though. When Mojibri writes a section correctly, birds will appear flying around him. If he writes sections badly, no birds appear; if he falls, all the birds he has vanish. If he manages to get a full circle of birds around him, he will move up to his next form (first to second, second to third). This will enable you to recover lost forms. If you managed to get a full circle of birds while in third form, he will move up to his fourth form, "super form". This form provides the most points. However, if Mojibri falls while in super form, he will immediately revert to third form regardless of the amout of ink he has left. The four forms of each character are: Mojiburi: 1: Tiny and strawberry-shaped. 2: Two spheres on top of each other; like a fat person. 3: Normal form. 4: Radiating lines added around his head. Mojiko: 1: Tiny little onion-like form. 2: Slightly shorter, resembles a Panda (difficult to tell from 3; easiest way to tell is that the lines of the bottom of her dress are missing) 3: Normal form. 4: Has wings. Osorezan: 1: Flying saucer replaces his feet. 2: Half size and wears an enormous hat. 3: Normal form. 4: Has big jet wings. Mojibri must finish a certain number of sentences to finish a stage. Depending on the stage, you may be able to see the later sentences in the stage as circles of cloud floating above or behind Mojibri. If you see a "stamp" with two symbols in the air when Mojibri jumps up to the next sentence, you did well on the previous one; if you see a stamp and hear a shout, you were near-perfect. After each stage, you'll get two screens. The first screen shows how you did on the stage - the total score you got, and an extra bonus for the form you finished in. After each stage, your score is added to a total bank; score in the bank can be "spent" for various features. The second screen will show your overall score being added to the score bank. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 - STAGES ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Each stage has a general theme and a title. The stages together also tell a story. As I haven't been able to translate much yet, here's a few notes on special things that happen during the stage: Stage 1: Mojiwakka ishi. ("Understanding Letters Stone") Stage 2: Shitaku ishi. ("Cleaning Stone") Stage 3: Unkorasho ishi. Completing Stage 3 gives you the 1-dan rating. Stage 4: Tadoritsuki ishi. ("?? Moon Stone") At the start of this stage, you'll be asked to enter a "shout" phrase that Mojibri puts at the end of some sentences. Stage 5: Uzu ishi. ("Swirl Stone") Stage 6: Rabuguri ishi. ("Love Stone") At the start of this stage, you'll be asked to enter a romantic complement for Mojibri to use on Mojiko. Completing Stage 6 gives you the 2-dan rating and makes Mojiko playable. Stage 7: Tobidashi ishi. Stage 8: Matatabi ishi. ("Wandering Life Stone") At the start of this stage, you'll be asked to enter a "magic charm" phrase. You *must* use the Yomikata editor to do this. Stage 9: Pikapika ishi. ("Sparkly Stone") Completing stage 9 gives you the 3-dan rating and activates the text editor for stages 1-9. Stage 10: Warukichi ishi. Stage 11: Kaitei ishi. ("Underwater stone") Stage 12: Kazare ishi. Completing stage 12 gives you the 4-dat rating and makes Osorezan playable. Stage 13: Tachiagashi ishi. At the start of this stage, you'll be asked to enter a phrase (not sure what it's used for) Stage 14: Otenami ishi. At the start of this stage, you'll be asked to enter a phrase describing things you like. This will be a line on its own so it must be fairly long. If you don't enter enough, the game will give a warning and display a menu: pressing CIRCLE will go back to editing the text, pressing TRIANGLE will cause the game to insert its own text. Stage 15: Getsumen ishi. ("Moon Surface Stone") Completing stage 15 gives you the 5-dan rating. Stage 16: Hibiki ishi. ("Sound Stone") Stage 17: Shiki ishi. ("Four Seasons Stone") Stage 18: Shinri ishi. ("Truth stone") Completing stage 18 gives you the 6-dan rating, activates the note editor for stages 1-9, and enables the extra texts on stages 10-18. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 - MISC. TRANSLATIONS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- An attempt at translating the "how to play" sequence. "*" in Mojibri's speech means that's the point at which he reaches the marker symbol. Announcer: MOJIB RIBBON wa ANALOGUE STICK Mojib Ribbon is a game played with one ippon wo tsukate, moji wo kaki analogue stick, of writing characters and RAPPU de yonde asobu GEEMU desu. reading raps. Soredewa, sassoku MOJIBURI wo So, let's immediately meet Mojibri and minagara asobikata wo oboemashou. learn how to play. Mojibri: Sonzana iku yo.. Here we go.. Nanimo shinai (falls). Doing nothing (fall) Nanimo shinai (falls). Doing nothing (fall) Announcer: Korekore MOJIBURI. Sumi ga This is Mojibri. You're not supposed to kobarete mottainai kara majimen spill that ink, so please try harder. ni yarinasai. Mojibri: Koko de * orosu. Here * press down. Koko de * orosu. Here * press down. Announcer: Sousou. Pureiushimon ni mukatte That's right. (?) pure wo furi(kuda - mono? moro?) shimasu. Mojibri: Koko de * oroshi, hanashide, Here * press down, talk, and write moji wo kaku. characters. Announcer: Pure wo oroshitamamade, moji When you give the down command, you wo kakimasu. write characters. Mojibri: Koko de * oroshi, hanashide, Here * press down, talk, and write moji wo kaite, tochuu de age.. characters, all the wa... (cuts off sentence) Announcer: Tochuu de agete shimau to moji ga If you stop in the middle, the tokireteshinai. Mou ichidou kakina characters disappear. You'll have to osoku narimasu. write it once more. Mojibri: Koko de * oroshi, hanashide, moji Here * press down, talk, and white wo kaite, tochuu de agezu ni owari characters, all the way to the end, de ageru. then release. Announcer: Sou desu ne. Shikkari kumono owari That's right. When you have written all made moji wo kakitte kara fude wo the way to the end of the clouds, lift agemashou. Tsugi wa, jyouzu na the pen. The next lession is how to tanshitsumoji wo kakikata desu. write beautiful characters. Please watch ANALOGUE STICK no yogoki wo yoku the analogue stick display carefully. mite kudasai. Mojibri: Age * orosu to, tappitsu moji. Up * down means, beautiful characters. Announcer: Houhou, ikkan agete taba joozu ni Nice. You raised it once and wrote well. kakete. Iki na Kohoubi ga moraeru You'll want to do that, because you get wake desu ne. a reward. Mojibri: Age, hanashide * orosu to, mijini Up, talk * down means, smudged characters. moji. Announcer: Araara, kore wa tsuyosu gite tsugi Hey! Write less strongly next time. That's no jikai. Heta desu ne. no good, is it? Mojibri: Agenai de * orosu to, kasure moji. No up, * down means, scratched characters. Announcer: Uun. Korewa yoba subete yomi Ugh. That's really hard to read. That's no nikui. Chou heta desu ne. good either. Mojibri: Kon de * maaka no moji wo zenbu When all the characters in the sentence are kaitara koko de agete JUMP! written, press up here to JUMP! [Rest is mostly repetition] Whenever you win a stage, a cut-scene occurs, as follows: Mojibri only stage: "Tatsu Mojibri koko ni ari!" "The rising star Mojibri is here!" Mojiko only stage: "Mojiko-chan CUTE!" "Mojiko is cute!" Mojibri and Mojiko: Mojibri: "Watashi wa COOL!" Mojiko: "Atashi wa kurukuru!" Mojibri: "I'm Cool!" Mojiko: "I'm Spinning!" [Japanese Pun: "Spinning" (kurukuru) sounds like "Cool" (kuuru)] All three: Osorezan: "Muteki!" [Invincible!] Mojiko: "Suteki!" [Wonderful!] Mojibri: "Kanpe.." [Sounds like Kanpei "Cheers!" - corrected to..] "Kanpeki !" [Perfect!] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 - EDITING ---------------------------------------------------------------------- There are two different editors available in Mojib Ribbon: the text editor and the note editor. The text editor is unlocked first, and you can make stages with it on its own; the note editor lets you customize stages further but is not necessary. To enter the text editor, select one of the editable texts on a stage and choose the "Edit Text" option. The text editor is basically the same as the editor you've been using throughout the game to enter things for Mojibri to say. The main differences are as follows: - You MUST use the yomikata editor. - You can enter Romaji (english characters) by cycling to them with the circle button. However, when actually read out in the text, the english text will be turned into their Japanese katakana equivalents (so if you write "HELLO", Mojibri well say "H, E, L, L, O") - As you enter text, the game tries to split it into lines of text for the characters to say. At any time, you can press SELECT to see how it's doing. Your text will be displayed divided into the lines that the characters will use in the game. - By pressing the square button you can enter "control mode" where you can add special symbols to the text. Here you can do the following: - CUT/COPY/PASTE: Use the digital stick to move the cursor to the start of the text and then mark it using R1. Once you've done so you can cancel the marking with R2, or you can use the left analogue stick menu to pick a command. Pushing RIGHT is Cut, pushing RIGHT AND DOWN is copy, and pushing LEFT AND DOWN is Paste (which you don't need marked text for). Press L1 while pushing the appropriate direction to confirm the command. - CUSTOM READING. Mark an area of text, then push the left analog to the left and hit L1. This will allow you to enter a custom reading/pronunciation for the text displayed. The text will have a red border around it to indicate this. - CUE SYMBOLS. With no area marked, use the left analogue as in the standard text entry mode to enter the symbols for Mojibri, Mojiko, and Osorezan. Insert these symbols in your text forces the game to switch to a new line at that point, and also causes the active character to change appropriately. You will not be allowed to insert this symbol unless there is a line's worth of text between it and the previous cue symbol, or if the game otherwise cannot work out how to divide text between lines (use the SELECT display to see how it's doing it at the moment) You cannot place circle symbols in your text in the text editor; the game will insert them itself based on the text you've entered. The NOTE editor is a completely different kettle of fish. To access that, pick a text you've already edited and choose the Note editor option. (The note editor option isn't shown until it's unlocked.) Note that you should write your text in the text editor before using the note editor - you can't change the text in the note editor (well, ok, you can, but it's stupidly slow). The note editor is used to edit the timing and pitch with which Mojibri raps. You will be shown a music-score like display with your phrases written on it, with the text above. The system tries to work out a default set of phrases based on the text you entered. You can scroll around with the digital stick. The bottom line is a continuation of the top line, so when you scroll the top line right, what will actually happen is that the notes from the left of the bottom line move up to the right of the top line, and the actual new notes appear on the bottom of the right line (it's rather confusing first time). The X button here will undo. Pressing SQUARE will put you into a VERY limited text editor where you just use the digital stick to scroll between characters (really, truly, don't bother); SQUARE again gets you out. CIRCLE will insert a rest (pause) into the current phrase at the cursor point, or will remove a rest if you push it while on top of one. Note that it's illegal to have two rests in a row. The SELECT button will play back the current phrase. To actually edit the notes, press L1 or R1 over the note you want to edit. You can then press UP or DOWN to change the pitch; X to toggle whether or not a circle symbol should appear at that point in the phrase; CIRCLE to add or delete a rest (as in normal mode) and SQUARE to add or delete a break in the phrase at that point (adding a break will automatically add a circle symbol ). TRIANGLE will transform the rhythm under the cursor into a triplet, or undo this transformation if pressed on an existing triplet. It's illegal to have two circle symbols next to each other. Note also that, although the display resembles a music score, you cannot actually select all the notes and they don't really correspond to actual music notes anyway. When you have finished with either editor, hit START. You'll get the menu: CIRCLE - Exit and save X - Don't exit TRIANGLE - Exit and don't save If you exit and save, you will make a brief stop in the text editor to edit the name of your level. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 - CONCLUSION ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Fairly short at the moment, but I'll add more as I get to it. Feel free to send contribution to the address at the top!