6 Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise Tips That’ll Make Your Head Explode

The post -pocalyptic landscape of Fist of the North Star can be a harsh place to eke out an existence of some kind, but not if you’re a trained martial artist who can explode the heads of thugs by poking them in the arm. Good old Kenshiro and his nonsensical Hokuto Shinken fighting style.

Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise is no exception, as you control Kenshiro as he explores the savage wastelands, finds solace in the city of Eden and has to contend with a series of escalating threats. We’ve been getting hands on with the game for the past few days, with a review coming very soon, but we’ve compiled a few tips that should make your time with the game much better.

 

1. Don’t just focus on the story

It’s a basic tip, but one that’s always worth reiterating: in an RPG, do the side missions whenever you can. The substories in Lost Paradise work like they do in Yakuza, taking Kenshiro on a short but enjoyable diversion granting EXP (Destiny Points), cash and items as a reward. Though the cash and items are always handy, the Destiny Points are your preferred currency, allowing you to upgrade Ken’s abilities.

In order to unlock some of the substories, you will also have to partake in some of the game’s diversions and extra challenges, including managing a Hostess Bar, becoming a bartender elsewhere, hunting bounties and becoming a top tier race car driver. Tending bar and channelling your inner Dog the Bounty Hunter (minus the racism) yields the most rewards, so they’re worth doing.

This mantra of completing side quest also feeds back into the game’s achievement system, which rewards you with Destiny Points when you complete certain actions or trials, like killing a certain amount of enemies, completing so many substories and more. It’s all about the Destiny Points, and the more you can do to earn them, the better.

 

2. Upgrade Everything

In an RPG like this one, it’s all too tempting to just pump your upgrades into health and damage, but there’s more to Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise once you’ve dug deep into the different upgrade paths. While Body upgrades (health and attack power) are still important, Mind and Skill contains just as many lethal additions to Ken’s arsenal.

Mind dictates how Kenshiro builds his Seven Star Gauge, which allows him to enter Burst Mode when filled. In Burst, you deal increased damage and have access to new moves. Meanwhile, the skill tree gives Kenshiro new secret techniques and combos in battle. The secret techniques are important, as the more varied techniques you perform in combat, the more Destiny Points you’ll earn. It pays to be stylish.

 

3. Realise Your Destiny

One of the features that separates Fist of the North Star from Yakuza is the Destiny Talismans. As you meet different characters in the story, you unlock the ability to craft Destiny Talismans based on the abilities of those characters. In turn, these will help you in a variety of ways, either in battle, while driving around the ruined wastes of the lost world or when scavenging for items.

These Talismans are worth having as they can save you from some sticky situations. One talisman in particular allows you to be revived if you lose your life, which is handy later on when the bosses start getting a little tricky. You can also upgrade the Fate tree, which has abilities completely dedicated to Destiny Talismans. Make sure you don’t forget about this feature.

 

4. Armour King

Upgrading your abilities is one way to succeed, but you also need to make sure you’re well equipped to deal with anything that the post nuclear war world has to throw at you. You need to make sure your armour and accessories are in order, otherwise you’re just going to get melted by late game enemies.

As mentioned before, the bounty hunting side-quest provides more than enough cash for you to spend on armour upgrades and accessories, giving you the edge in battle over the thugs and hooligans that plague the streets of Eden. Building your offense is always good, but it’s better to make sure you can actually take a punch.

 

5. Always Be Channelling

Finally, an actual combat tip. One of the combat mechanics in Fist of the North Star is the ability to use channelling to stun enemies, opening them up for a massive secret technique attacks. A few chapters in, you unlock the ability to use Perfect Channelling to deal extra damage to an opponent. It’s one of Ken’s best abilities and should be abused at all times.

In fights with low tier jobber bellends, using the perfect channelling technique can often decimate opponents in a single hit, while providing a decent Destiny Points boost to boot. As for boss fight, they’re a great way of dealing significant damage while opening the opponent up for more punishment.

 

6. Pick the right music

Pretty simple one this: when driving around outside of Eden, always listen to the Super Monkey Ball soundtrack, because it’s about as close as you’re getting to a new game in that series.

We miss you, AiAi.

From our Fist of the North Star review:

“Though it feels less developed than the more recent Yakuza offerings, Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise still provides plenty of head exploding bang for your buck.”