Community:Shiren 1 DS Tips and Tricks

These tips and trips will hopefully help you in your journey through Shiren the Wanderer.

Eating any herb fills you up by five points. If you've run out of food and are starving, they can make all the difference. This includes Herbs.
If you go to the bar before you leave Canyon Hamlet, you can get a free large rice ball.
Medicinal Herb and Restorative Herb damage undead monsters. This can be great when faced with an upgraded monster, a dead soldier, or other pests.
Riceballs can be used to instant kill any type of monster in the Rice Changer family. (Rice Baby, Changer, Boss. Master). It helps if you don't want the Rice Changers getting close to you to change any of your items (or you) into Riceballs.

Before Cryptic Rock Valley you can choose to go back at an exit, for whatever reason such as: to store up loot, you've run out of food, level up your weapon at the smithies, work on the Quests, refresh shop inventory.

You unlock the Melding Jar by speaking to Gaibara the Legendary Potter in Mountaintop Town. The first time he'll shatter a pot in your inventory and promise you a replacement. On subsequent adventures (gotta go back to start) he'll destroy some rejects, then finally give you a melding pot. The next adventure, the pottery shop will be open for business.
Destruction Scroll can be unlocked for use and writing on blank scrolls if you manage to complete the main dungeon without using storehouse jars, storehouses, warehouse and even couriers. Also you aren't allowed to backtrack or to use the wagon to skip forward either. The easiest way to achieve this is to get all your powerful items from the warehouse, head directly to the last floor using the wagon, "win" the adventure, now you're back in Canyon Hamlet with all your best gear in a new "adventure" where you haven't used a warehouse yet. Only then should you attempt on taking the trek to Table Mountain and avoid using the warehouses again for the trip.

Always swing your sword before entering a new room. Swinging your sword will uncover traps, but can become tedious. However, the second worst place to trigger a trap is right upon entering a room, only to discover a monster is also nearby - and you've been unequipped. Once you're in the room, however, traps still are a problem, but at least you know you'll have time to deal with their effects, or to wait for the monsters to come to you first. When a level is created, traps, items, and monsters are only spawned inside rooms, never in corridors. Alternatively, you can simply transform into a monster by eating a monster meat, and become immune to traps. See Trap Strategy for more.

Fay's Puzzle: Long-Range Attacks provides an easy way to stock up on decent equipment. Complete the puzzle (which takes less than 5 seconds) and collect your reward. If it's not an item you want, repeat the puzzle until you get something good and then store that in your warehouse. Don't forget to grab a Big Riceball from the Bar while you're at it.

The Rescue Passwords for Items page details great ways to get lots of loot quickly.

References