Draft:Shiren 5 DS:Location

There are many locations to unlock and explore in Shiren 5. As with previous games in the series, the bulk of the game's content is only accessible "post-game", after beating the main dungeon and completing the main storyline.

See location detail pages for strategies specific to those locations. Fair warning: location detail pages contain spoilers. For general strategy tips, see the Strategies page.

Categories

Shiren 5 locations can be broken down into the following categories.

Category 1: Starting Villages

"Starting Villages" refers to Inori Village and Nekomaneki Village and all the sub-locations therein. It is not a term used by the game itself. Taken together, these are effectively a large, playable, interactive menu. In these villages, the player can interact with a large number of shops and NPCs, advance quests, unlock game elements, and manipulate inventory, all in relative safety, without starting a potentially risky dungeon run. Almost all other locations can be reached from somewhere within these two villages.

A case could be made for grouping all "rest areas" together. That is, Inori Village + Nekomaneki Village + the Tower of Fortune Entrance + Hermit's Hermitage + Sparrow's Inn could be considered a category. Why? Because (a) all five of these locations are non-combat rest areas, (b) this is a full set of significant non-combat interactive areas, (c) you can launch 100% of dungeon runs and other locations (once you've unlocked access to them) from somewhere within these 5 locations, and (d) after beating the Tower of Fortune you unlock the "Sparrow Transport" which lets you travel directly from the east side of Nekomaneki Village out to the three other rest areas without needing to travel through a combat area. All this being said, Sparrow Transport is one-way only, so using it is not 100% safe as it means you have committed to a dungeon run. Leaving the starting villages will also increment your run counter (confirm). So, they remote rest areas aren't quite the same as the starting villages. Information about these other rest areas can be found under the Tower of Fortune location page.

There is a location between the two Starting Villages that is easy to forget. Ouma Shrine is a very simple training dungeon that initially separates the two Starting Villages. Once you beat it for the first time, it disappears forever and can never be accessed again, leaving an unfettered 2-way connection between the 2 villages. As it doesn't fit anywhere better, Ouma Shrine is categorized as part of the Starting Villages. (A case could be made for categorizing it as a trivial puzzle set as well.)

Category 2: Main Dungeon (aka the Tower of Fortune)

This category includes a large set of locations that comprise the main dungeon of the game. It includes everything from Destiny Trail through Miracle Alcove. The Tower of Fortune is special in many ways, including the fact that it's a mixture of combat areas, rest areas, cutscenes, and boss fights, and including the fact that you can divert off the Tower of Fortune dungeon path to launch other dungeons as well (once you've gained access to them). The main storyline of the game centers around clearing this initial dungeon. There are many not-very-interesting locations along the way (some of which are actually called "Tower of Fortune" but most of which are not), so rather than have a dedicated page for each of these not-very-interesting locations, see the Tower of Fortune page for a map and details of each sub-location. Note also that the game tracks expert badges for the Tower of Fortune as a whole.

Category 3: Puzzle Sets

These are similar to but distinct from bonus dungeons. Puzzle sets are groups of related puzzles all launched from the same location(s) and all using the same rules (which may or may not involve a twist over and above baseline Shiren 5 rules). Each individual puzzle is preset, not randomly generated, and usually consists of a single floor. Puzzles are not dangerous; you can fail but you can't really die in the same way as you can in a dungeon. Entering a puzzle doesn't count as "starting a run", and leaving it doesn't reset your opportunities in the Starting Villages. You can replay a puzzle as often as you wish, and you can reset or leave the puzzle at any time. You can't take items into a puzzle and start each puzzle with an empty inventory, but, you get your items back after leaving the puzzle, whether or not you solved it. (So, unlike bonus dungeons, you don't need to store your equipment before starting a puzzle.) You don't get to keep the items you collected in a puzzle when you are done, but for most puzzle sets, you get a reward item when you beat each individual puzzle for the first time. Some puzzle sets are deliberately set up as game training opportunities to play at your own pace, and even go so far as to offer commentary / tips, or to otherwise modify things for instructive purposes as you step on certain locations or perform certain actions. Some puzzle sets are more difficult, but even these are great opportunities to learn about various arcane aspects of the game in safety. If there's something you've always wanted to learn or test, you can likely find a puzzle with the right conditions to help you learn or test it. There are no expert badges available for puzzles or puzzle sets.

Category 4: Minigames

There is only one minigame in Shiren 5 -- Explosion Rocks. It is different enough from the other categories that it can't fairly be grouped with any of them. It is a randomly generated game most akin to Minesweeper but with a Shiren twist. You can't take your items in, so you must store them before starting or lose them, but you do get to keep items you find in the minigame if you win. Each minigame is randomly generated at one of three difficulty levels. See the Explosion Rocks detail page for further details.

Category 5: Bonus Dungeons

Shiren 5 has 27 bonus dungeons, some of which are only available "post-game" after beating the Tower of Fortune at least once. Some of them must be unlocked, while others were apparently originally bonus content or downloadable content in the original Japanese version but which are included for free in the English version and accessible from the "Dungeon Center" in Nekomaneki Village. This external webpage has great info about unlocking the ones that are more difficult to unlock, not all of which has been replicated to this wiki yet. If you want to do everything it's possible to do in this game, the lion's share of your dungeon gameplay time will be spent in these bonus dungeons. Considering the Tower of Fortune as the baseline, these dungeons tend to be much more dangerous and difficult, entering them tends to risk (or outright discard) the items/gitan you are holding, you usually get to keep the items/gitan you have on hand if you win, and they tend to have a twist on the baseline rules or a difference in game balance emphasizing one particular aspect of Shiren play. For example, one bonus dungeon focuses on shops, one focuses on gitan-eating equipment, one focuses on monster licenses, one focuses on nighttime play, etc.. Most bonus dungeon start with an easier/shorter end goal, but after you beat it once, its end goal becomes harder (usually 99F) and stays there, with no way to play the shorter version ever again. Beating the initial, shorter goal counts as a victory in your Adventure Log. The game doesn't make it obvious if you've ever beaten the hardest version of a dungeon (that is, achieved a victory by using the staircase on 99F) though, so hardcore players trying to beat 99F of every dungeon will need to track this themselves. (Because there are unusual ways to achieve victory in some bonus dungeons, you can't simply assume that 2 or more victories in a given dungeon means you beat 99F.) Note also that going from a goal of 50F to 99F can be 3x (or even 10x) as hard, not just 2x as hard. For the real masochists, the game tracks 8 expert badges for some bonus dungeons and for the Tower of Fortune, though not the same 8 for each location. To obtain an expert badge, you must beat the dungeon while adhering to some constraint that seems absurdly difficult, such as winning without ever attacking a monster. You can learn more about the specifics of each expert badge by viewing the expert badges in your Adventure Log and using the left shoulder button.

(Open question #1: it's not entirely clear what increments the game's run counter and what resets the opportunities in the Starting Villages. Playing the main Tower of Fortune definitely does so. In at least one case, failing a bonus dungeon did not reset the opportunities. Open question #2: is it possible to get expert badges when you play the first, easier version of the dungeon, or are they only available on the full 99F difficulty? They don't show up in your Expert Badge game menu until you've beaten the dungeon for the first time, but that doesn't necessarily mean you can't win one on your first run if you know the constraint to adhere to.)

Summary Chart

Here is a summary of all locations in Shiren 5, sorted by category and then sorted roughly by how quickly you can gain access to them. Click on a location's name for details about that location.

Category	Name	Prerequisite(s)	Entrance(s)	Entrance(s) Details	Start Level	Allies In	Rescues	Items In	Items Out	Day / Night	Puzzles	Initial Floors	Final Floors	In-Game Description
Starting Village	Inori Village	(None)	(Start) Neko. Village	(Middle of S edge) Take main road W										(None)
Starting Village	Ouma Shrine	Talk to Jirokichi	Inori Village	Take main road E (until Ouma Shrine beaten)										(None)
Starting Village	Nekomaneki Village	Beat Ouma Shrine	Inori Village Ouma Shrine	Take main road E (after Ouma Shrine beaten) Use final floor staircase										(None)
Main Dungeon	Tower of Fortune	(None)	Neko. Village	Take main road E	1	3	3	Y	Y	Both	N/A	35	35	(None)
Puzzle Set	Training Facility	(None)	Inori Village	Talk to lady in Beg. House	1	0	N/A	Saved	N	Day	54	1	1	(None)
Puzzle Set	Night Training Facility	Talk to hermit near N exit of Hermit's Hermitage	Inori Village H. Hermitage	Talk to hermit in Beg. House Talk to hermit near N exit	1	0	N/A	Saved	N	Both	1	3	3	(None)
Puzzle Set	Statue Cave	(None)	Neko. Village	Dungeon Center, SW desk	1	0	N/A	Saved	N	Day	150	1	1	(None)
Minigame	Explosion Rocks	(None)	Neko. Village	Dungeon Center, NE desk	1	0	N/A	N	Y	Day	3	5	5	(None)
Bonus Dungeon	Underground Manor	(None)	Neko. Village	Dungeon Center, NW desk	1*	0	0*	N	4*	Day	N/A	10*	99*	(None)
Bonus Dungeon	Hunter Pond	(None)	Neko. Village	Dungeon Center, NW desk	1	0	0	N	Y	Day	N/A	29	50	Note: Steal items from monsters
Bonus Dungeon	Warning Valley	(None)	Neko. Village	Dungeon Center, NW desk	1	0	3	Y	Y	Day	N/A	50	99	Note: Explore with a step limit
Bonus Dungeon	Page of Youth	(None)	Neko. Village	Dungeon Center, NW desk	1	0	3	N	Y	Day	N/A	29	50	Note: Use the Complicated Scroll
Bonus Dungeon	Rousing Paradise	(None)	Neko. Village	Dungeon Center, NW desk	1	0	0	N	Y	Day	N/A	50	???	Note: Monster spawning paradise
Bonus Dungeon	Merchant's Hideout	(None)	Neko. Village	Dungeon Center, NW desk	1	0	3	Y	Y	Day	N/A	50	99	Note: Consumable items are rare
Bonus Dungeon	Froggo's Fury	(None)	Neko. Village	Dungeon Center, NW desk	1	0	3	N	Y	Day	N/A	29	50	Note: Gitan will be tight!
Bonus Dungeon	Master's Footprint	(None)	Neko. Village	Dungeon Center, NW desk	1	0	3	N	Y	Day	N/A	50	???	Note: Mysterious, but no heal items
Bonus Dungeon	Aura Ruins	(None)	Neko. Village	Dungeon Center, NW desk	1	0	0	N	Y	Day	N/A	10	30	Note: Monsters have auras
Bonus Dungeon	Sleeping Lands	(None)	Neko. Village	Dungeon Center, NW desk	1	0	3	N	Y	Night	N/A	29	50	Note: Permanent night
Bonus Dungeon	Double Strike Trail	(None)	Neko. Village	Dungeon Center, NW desk	1	0	3	N	Y	Day	N/A	50	99	Note: You and enemies fall in two hits
Bonus Dungeon	Gorger's Manor	(None)	Neko. Village	Dungeon Center, NW desk	1	3	3	Y	Y	Day	N/A	50	50	Note: Get stuffed with special onigiri
Bonus Dungeon	Storm Forest	(None)	Neko. Village	Dungeon Center, NW desk	1	0	0	N	Y	Day	N/A	50	???	Note: Forest of the Field Knave
Bonus Dungeon	Monster Hotspot	(None)	Neko. Village	Dungeon Center, NW desk	1	0	3	N	Y	Day	N/A	99	99	Note: Monsters on floors where the 1st digit is 9
Bonus Dungeon	Perilous Rocks	(None)	Neko. Village	Dungeon Center, NW desk	1	0	0	N	Y	Day	N/A	50	99	Note: Monster houses are likely to appear
Bonus Dungeon	Trapper's Sandbox	(None)	Neko. Village	Dungeon Center, NW desk	1	0	0	N	Y	Day	N/A	10	???	Note: Can only level by defeating enemies with traps
Bonus Dungeon	Aksys Challenge	(None)	Neko. Village	Dungeon Center, NW desk	1	0	0	N	Y	Day	N/A	10	???	Note: Run away!
Bonus Dungeon	Inori Cave	Beat Tower of Fortune	Inori Village	N end of Beginner House	1	3	3	Y	Y	Both	N/A	42	99	Note: Pray to the Catstone
Bonus Dungeon	Pitfall of Life	Beat Tower of Fortune, Kojirouta side quest	Inori Village	N end of Rich Man's House	1	0	3	N	Y	Day	N/A	25	99	Note: Cannot level up
Bonus Dungeon	Old Road	Beat Tower of Fortune, unlock & level up Koharu, Okon, & Gen	Inori Village	Middle of S edge	1	0	3	N	Y	Both	N/A	38	???	Note: Fullness depletes in real time
Bonus Dungeon	Onigiri Hollow	Beat Tower of Fortune, long & mysterious side quest	Inori Village	Rock wall in NE corner of this location	1	0	3	N	Y	Day	N/A	20	???	Note: Exiting a room makes it vanish
Bonus Dungeon	Heavenly Lake	Beat Tower of Fortune	Neko. Village	Talk to old man in SE corner	1	0	3	N	Y	Both	N/A	28	???	Note: Dropping items makes them vanish
Bonus Dungeon	Gen's Turf	Beat Tower of Fortune, talk to old woman in Inori Village	Neko. Village Neko. Village	Giant pot in Gen's House Talk to sparrow near E edge	1	0	3	N	Y	Day	N/A	30	???	Note: Control the monsters!
Bonus Dungeon	Bizarre Tower	Beat Tower of Fortune, Tao side quest	ToF Entrance	Talk to Tanuki	1	0	0	N	Y	Both	N/A	45	45	Note: Reach the Floor 15 stairs, which lead to a special floor
Bonus Dungeon	Destiny's Descent	Beat Tower of Fortune, beat Inori Cave, wish for it in Inori Cave	ToF Entrance	Spiral staircase down in center of this location	1	0	3	N	Y	Both	N/A	99	???	Note: Very mysterious dungeon
Bonus Dungeon	Primordial Chasm	Beat Tower of Fortune	H. Hermitage	Inside Blacksmith building	1	0	3	N	Y	Day	N/A	50	???	Note: An even more mysterious dungeon
Bonus Dungeon	Lost Well	Beat Tower of Fortune	Sparrow's Inn	Talk to sparrow, SW corner	1	1	3	Y	Y	Both	N/A	30	99	Note: Can use upgraded items