Courtesan Games

Minigames

Courtesan Games

"I have misled you
My presence here was merely
All for the trophy"

-Handwritten haiku discovered left in a courtesan's possessions, author unknown

Location: Yamabuki brothel in Gion

Completion: Pass each of the three minigames on the three standard difficulties. It is not necessary to pass Sensual Healing on "Super Asura".

So look. Sex work is a complicated subject, and this is one of the few Like a Dragon games to go so deep into the concept. In essence, Ryoma can visit the Yamabuki brothel to buy the time with its #1 courtesan, Anna. By the way, if you find it odd she has a Western-style name, it's because she's based off her actor, Anna Konno, a Japanese film and television actor.

In your first visit with Anna, you'll go through the entire "set" of the three Courtesan Games on the Novice difficulty. Once you complete that set, you'll then be allowed to pick a single game at a time, at the difficulty you want. You can also choose "The Whole Package", but you'll be relegated to the Novice difficulty.

Sake Showdown

In this minigame, you'll have a drinking contest with Anna. You need to be able to drink sake out of the bowl without spilling it.

PlayStation	Xbox	Control
		Influence marker to the right
		Influence marker to the left
		View Controls
		Exit Minigame

As Ryoma drinks, you'll see a curved meter in the center of the screen. The marker on this meter will move on its own. Your goal is to make sure the marker doesn't hit the far right or far left end. If it does, you automatically lose and will have to leave and try again. You cannot 100% control the marker. All you can do is influence it. Pressing one button will "influence" it towards the right, and the other goes back the other way.

As a general rule, trying to keep it as high as possible without going over is the best policy, although you don't have to keep it in the "alarm" state.

Once you finish your cup (indicated by the sake bottle(s) at the right edge), you'll pass the bowl to Anna. Anna automatically drinks her meter half-full (two and a half markers) and hands it back.

From here on out, Anna's "drunk meter" will go down slowly as you drink your next. The idea is to finish your drink with as little lost on her part so that she can eventually max out on her turn.

Now how many "cups" that will take is different depending on the difficulty. You can easily get it done in three cups on the Novice difficulty, but it took me six on the Asura difficulty. Also note as you go further into your cups, you'll have to empty a bigger cup (represented by more sake bottles). Don't try to force getting it done as fast as possible. Just keep a good rhythm and eventually you'll outpace Anna.

Rock, Paper, Scissors

PlayStation	Xbox	Control
		Rock
		Scissors
		Paper
		Third Eye
		View Controls
		Exit Minigame

And now a friendly game of Strip Janken with Anna. Simply win five times before Anna wins five times. Press either the Rock, Paper, or Scissors button at any time during the song to ready your choice.

The big kick here is that you a mystical "Third Eye", which you can press at the last couple of seconds (marked on the meter at the bottom of the screen) to slow down time. This will allow you to see exactly what Anna is throwing and should guarantee a win. Of course, you've only got the three, and you have to get five wins.

On the lower difficulties, it is possible if you're keen enough to eyeball what she's going to throw without even needing the Third Eye. Just watch her hand and she'll "start" to make the shape, such as separating two fingers as she's ready to throw Scissors. On the higher difficulties, even with Third Eye going, she won't form her hand into the proper shape until almost the last moment.

Also, if you get a tie, be ready. You'll have to do the next throw immediately. I can't speak to this for every time, but in my experience, every time I got a tie, Anna would next throw out the "previous" shape. So, if we tied on Paper, she'd switch to Scissors for her next immediate throw, as if she was assuming you wouldn't change for the next throw, so I suggest going to the "next" shape to catch her.

Sensual Healing

PlayStation	Xbox	Control
		Move Ryoma left and right
		Love Beam. Tap to fire small shots. Hold down and release for large shot.
		Care Bomb
		View Controls
		Exit Minigame

Well, you won the game of Janken, so now it's time for whatever this is. It's a bullet hell shooter, is what it is. Ryoma's at the bottom and you can move left to right, but ONLY left to right, not up or down. Tap the fire button to shoot your little laser shots, and hold down to charge a big shot that will travel through everything.

Your goal is to shoot at that pink heart that drifts back and forth. You will have to avoid the "Love Leeches" to do that. Basically these are just "intrusive thoughts" that can distract Ryoma from what he's doing (things like "Restoration" and "What is my purpose?". We can also just call them "enemy bullets". You can shoot those down, but if one collides with Ryoma, you'll lose one of your lives. You have a total of four (three in reserve). If you lose them all, you'll fail the minigame.

You also have in your stock a "Care Bomb". Use this to blast all the enemy bullets in the area immediately, which can give you some breathing room. Sadly, you just have the one, and the only way to get more is to lose a "life".

The heart must be destroyed three times to win the minigame. After you destroy it once, the enemy bullets will get more difficult on the second round, and then again on the third round.

And of course, you'll have to do it all again on the harder difficulties, and that's where things get real.

The "Asura" difficulty has been considered a pretty serious challenge by a lot of people, and while I can't do it for you, I can at least provide some hints:

1. From the top two corners, you'll have twin streams of bullets. Your only safe spot is between all four of those streams. GameFAQs user Altrus02 referred to them as "spotlights" and I feel that's pretty apt. Instead of trying to position yourself to get the heart, just watch these streams and try to move back and forth between them.
2. It'll be more obvious here than anywhere else, but Ryoma's hitbox is his head. His legs can pass through enemy bullets with no problem, so trying to fit in between bullets will be better if you keep that in mind.
3. To start with, instead of trying to shoot randomly, follow the rhythm of the sweeping bullets left and right. Eventually, the bullets will settle down. You'll find that they'll kinda stop in a "middle state" after a while. This is your opportunity to charge up and shoot the heart (regular bullets won't be able to get through much).
4. The second round has the bullets coming out a bit faster, and the third round adds additional larger bullets coming from the top, which can be shot as normal (or use a charge shot to get a bunch). The big key, though, is getting the pattern recognition for when to drift left and right. That will keep you alive.