Resident Evil 4/Chapter 3-2

Basilica
It appears that Ashley needs to be rescued again and, spoiler alert, it's not going to be the last time. She's a lot like Princess Peach that way.

There is another cutscene, your communicator is activated and you hear, not from Hunnigan, but from Salazar who has tapped into the channel. He doesn’t seem to know where Ashley went either but promises to look for her. In the meanwhile, he’s prepared a little surprise for you in the sewers.

The only way forward is the door on the right in the north hall, so go though.

Sewer
Get the two barrels and drop through the trap door to the sewer. As you continue there are sounds that tell you you’re not alone here.

Walk along the corridor until you get to the corner, then equip the rifle and aim down the next corridor. Zoom in and look a bit to the left to see what appears to be a cloud of mist; a scope will help with this. The mist is actually breath from a new enemy known as a Novistador. It's a giant insect that has the ability to make itself nearly invisible; the only thing you can see beside its breath is a kind of wispy, drool soaked beard. Occasionally you may catch the outline. Your rifle should kill it in one shot if you hit its head, but you're not always going to be able to spot them from a distance like this.

Get the creature's drop before it disappears; it's probably a gem known as a Novistador Eye and it comes in three colors, Red, Green, and Blue. They're attachments for a treasure we haven't gotten yet and eventually you'll need two of each color, but you do get extras so feel free to sell any excess. Blue is the rarest and also gets the best price.

Go back and explore a side path to get a box. Continue around the corner to a pool, but snipe the two bugs waiting in the water below before going in. Get the drops, then collect a Velvet Blue and Handgun Ammo from the bottom and TMP ammo from a pipe. Climb out on the far side and go through the door.

You enter a room with four prison cells. There are actually three bugs in here so just hug the wall to the left for a bit. With the scope you can just see the tip of a beard in the skylight, but there is no clear shot. Another one turns out to be hiding in one of the cells and is out of view. Some new tactics are called for, so advance slowly until the one in the skylight drops down. You'll notice that the camouflage doesn't work when the creature is moving, so shoot with your shotgun or TMP while you can see it. If you lose track of it then back into a corner and watch for the splashes it makes, but also watch the ceiling since it can crawl on it as well. If it gets close then it may pounce on you, in which case you'll need to shake it off, or it may bite or vomit acid on you and the only thing you can do is shoot and heal.

Fight the second one in more or less the same way; watch for it to break through the cell door and shoot while it's visible. You can sneak up on the third on which is waiting in the corridor across from the door you came in. Go to the corner and snipe it before it notices you. Head back to the cells to search; if you do this before eliminating the third bug it may notice and attack. One cell is rusted shut, but get a Yellow Herb and Handgun Ammo in the southwest cell, an Incendiary Grenade in the southeast cell where the bug came out, and Shotgun Shells and "Luis' Memo" in the northeast cell.

Turns out that Luis isn't just an ex-cop but some kind of scientist because the memo talks about research into parasites that can control their hosts. (The creatures mentioned in the memo are real; see Dicrocoelium, Galactosomum and Leucochloridium.)

There is a pool of water to the south, but the no swimming rule is still in effect so the water must be drained before you can go that way. Follow the passage east, then south through some disused cells, to reach the sewer control room; making note of the hole in the ceiling as you go. Get two boxes and open the treasure chest to get the Butterfly Lamp. Put an eye of each color into the lamp if you've got them. There will be another lamp so still save at least one eye of each color when you get them.

Operate the wheel to drain the pool seen earlier. Open the door to start back, but now more bugs have appeared so you need to go carefully. Snipe one, maybe two, bugs in the hole in the ceiling. Continue along the passage an another bug will pop out of the cell that was rusted shut earlier, and yet another will drop down from the skylight. Drop into the pool and go through the gate, another Novistador may drop in behind you. Get the Velvet Blue next to the stair, then go up, get two barrels, and go through the door. (You may find more or fewer bugs than the ones listed here because the game isn't exactly the same on every runthrough.)

The next room has some nice, visible, swinging pendulums. The biggest danger with them is not waiting until the blades are all the past since touching any part of them will kill you. Just time your way through them, grab the Velvet Blue on the right and climb the ladder on the left. Get two barrels and go through the door which takes you to the balcony of the basilica.

Basilica (cont.)
You see that Los Illuminados are performing a ritual on the ground level; it's a grisly business and they're chanting "Morir es vivir (To die is to live)". Take the opportunity to drop a hand grenade into their midst to get rid of as many as possible. They won’t attack but will run away, perhaps to ambush you later, if you don’t get them now. Try to make sure the one in red doesn't get away because he drops the valuable Illuminados Pendant. The other monks all drop Spinels. Drop down and collect the loot. There is a chance that the zealots will notice you before you drop the grenade and if that happens they will probably all get a way.

There have been a few changes to the room since the last time you were here. The north hallway is now blocked and the merchant has moved to the top of the stairs. More importantly, there is a ladder you can use to reach the balcony. (If only it was there earlier you could have avoided messing about with those bugs!)

Get back to the balcony, then jump to the chandelier and on to the far side as in the village church. Get two jars here, then follow the balcony to a different chandelier and cross again the same way.

Smash the glass case and open the treasure chest to get the second Elegant Mask. Now pull the lever here to raise the gates so you can get around more easily. Go to the typewriter and save your game because it will be a while until you reach the next one, then go up the stairs and sell your treasures to the Merchant. You can now reach the door here, so go through to the next area.

Gallery
You enter a small room. Get the Red Herb from the table, then go up the steps and get Handgun Ammo from the chair. Also get “Castellan Memo” from the table. It's by Salazar, the 8th Castellan, and is about giving the parasites to Saddler as a way to atone for the 1st Castellan persecuting Los Illuminados.

Open the door; there is a large room with a kind of stage on the far side and balcony going around. Two archers on the stage will start firing as you enter, so quickly open the door, snipe, and exit before they can fire back. Other zealots are waiting under the stage.

Go through the door to the southwest to a side room. Get two barrels here and go up the stairs where a zealot is waiting. The stairs lead to the balcony of the main room. Circle around it to the right side of the stage. Shoot the red barrel on the stage to take out at least some of the remaining zealots, then drop down onto the stage.

The leader of the zealots, dressed in red, takes the side door off the stage and stops on the balcony. The goal of this room is to get his key, meanwhile he's trying to reach his Gatling gun at ground level. It may be possible to kill him before he reaches the gun, but it can be so difficult to do this that it's not worth trying.

Once you're done dealing with any remaining enemies on the stage, snipe the leader from across the room. He will then make a dash for the side room with the stairs, but try to snipe him again before he can make it. Follow him or drop to ground level and go through the northwest door to get one last chance to kill him, but once he escapes from the side room he'll get to his gun. There will be another zealot with a shield there to cover his escape.

We're just going to assume that the leader has made it to the Gatling gun. It's actually much easier, though more dangerous, to get him now since the gun only works for a few seconds at a time. Find cover, wait for a pause, then pop out, snipe him as he takes aim, and duck behind cover again in case he's still alive. The best spots to take cover are probably the double pillars on the stage and on the balcony opposite the stage.

Once the zealot in red is down, grab the Gallery Key from him. Search for other goodies here.
 * Rifle Ammo on the balcony to the left
 * Shotgun Shells and 1000 PTAS x4 in a small room to the right of the stage
 * Seven pots on the wall at ground level

Unlock the door at the back of the stage and go through. Shoot the sparkling object in the deer trophy to get a Velvet Blue, then get three pots from sides of the room.

There is now a little puzzle to get to the next area. There are four pictures, each showing either 1, 2, or 3 executions; you must make it so there are 6 executions showing. Operate the console to press the buttons, each of which flips two or three of the pictures. There are 16 combinations of pictures, but only one with 6 executions showing. You can get there by trial and error but a simple solution is to press each button exactly once, the order doesn’t matter. Press Ok to slide the wall back so you can get to the next door. It may be a good idea to backtrack to the last typewriter and save since there is a battle coming up.

Go into the next room to get a cut scene, Salazar greets you, apparently he’s still looking for Ashley. He has no use for you however and orders his minions to dispose of you.

You must fight a large number of zealots with scythes. There is a door to a stairwell on your right which you can use as a choke point for the first wave; you might also use a grenade to thin them out a bit. Archers appear as reinforcements, but there is plenty of cover on the balcony and you can even dump fire on your opponents by shooting the lamps. Eventually two monks with grenade launchers appear, but they basically just shoot blind so you should be able to avoid being hit by ducking behind a wall.

When the battle is done scout for goodies.
 * Four pots on the ground level
 * A Yellow Herb in the stairwell
 * A Spinel, Handgun Ammo, and a Green Herb on the balcony.

You must now unbar the doors since Salazar locked them down as he left. First you need to press the button on the wall on the west side of the balcony, this raises a chest in the middle of the room. As you step away more grenade launching monks appear, so find some cover as before. The chest isn’t quite reachable yet.

Go through the door on the south side of the balcony and break the pot at the end of the hall. Press the switch there to extend a bridge to the chest. Open the door to get out, but back into the room again since more zealots with grenade launchers appear. They remain next to the chest and are easy to defeat unarmed. Additional zealots may appear as well.

Go around and open the chest to get the Goat Ornament. This unlocks both exit doors. Go though the door on the west balcony to enter the next area.

Fountain
You enter a long hallway. Save at the typewriter near the start, then continue to the end, get the pot here, and take the door on the left. There's another door but it's locked from the other side.

There is another hall but with open windows; you can try to shoot the crows here, but they don’t seem to drop anything so it’s probably better to save your ammo. Shoot the sparkling object above the next door to get a Spinel and go on through the door to a balcony.

There's another locked door to the side with a view of a treasure chest through the window, but we'll have to ignore it for now. Continue to a fountain and check it multiple times for gems and PTAS. Get five barrels that block your way forward otherwise, and go on through the door to the next area.

Hedge maze
You’re now on a ledge overlooking a hedge maze. Continue and pass by a locked door; obviously the key must be hidden in the maze somewhere. Continue on for a bit to get a cutscene. Salazar calls to taunt you again but he lets slip that there are actually two people he’s hunting for besides you, implying there is someone besides you and Luis that is making trouble for him.

Go through the gate into the maze. Follow the path under a bridge to be attacked by one of what Salazar called his pets, parasite infested dogs. Fight these as with the wolves in the village cemetery. They try to get around behind you so try to fight them where they can't do that. Don't let them get too close since these beasts have long tentacles that they can use to whip you. Keep your ears open since you can usually here them coming. They don't all attack at once but in groups of two or three when you pass certain points or get certain items. Some are locked in cages but be careful attacking them since the first shot may only serve to let them out. They may break out anyway if you get too close.

There are gates here which you can kick open, but they only serve as shortcuts so we won't need to, and it may attract the dogs anyway. With that in mind, you can explore the entire maze and find your way out by following the left wall, which is the route we'll cover in detail.

Get two barrels under the bridge and another one on the far side of the central pedestal.

From the entrance path turn left to see a dead end. To the right of this is another dead end with a gate on one side, there is a kennel visible through the gate but leave it for now.

Go back, then left of the pedestal and take the path on the left (south) to the edge of the maze. On the left you can see the cage again but with no gate in the way. If you have a spare then toss an Incendiary Grenade in there with them to take them out with no fuss.

Go east past the cage to and take the first path on the left over a bridge; this is the bridge you went under at the start. Turn immediately to the left to get TMP ammo from a chest at the end of a dead end. Go back and continue north, then around the corner to an area with a fountain. Pick up Moonstone (Left half) from it, but this triggers what is probably the trickiest battles of the area. As you cross back over the bridge a group of dogs attack, so either back into a corner to fend them off or run past them into the dead end with the TMP ammo to make a stand.

Continue over the bridge and turn left to the southeast corner of the maze. Follow the path as it spirals around to reach a chest with shotgun shells, this triggers an attack.

Go back past the cage and continue to the southwest corner of the maze. Get the Yellow Herb from the dead end on the right. Go back and start down the path you just passed. Zigzag northwest to a bridge, but watch for dogs here and pause at defensible spots to see what appears. Go over the bridge to the top of the central pedestal to find another fountain. Get Moonstone (Right half).

Go back over the bridge and circle left to go underneath it. Follow the path north, where they may be another dog coming after you. The path winds its way west to the edge of the maze; turn left here to get get First Aid Spray in a treasure chest. Go back and continue to the northwest corner where there is another kennel, but there are only one or two dogs in it. Get the barrel next to the cage. Continue east, past a gate on the right, to dead end to get a Spinel. The attacks should be starting to peter out now but stay vigilant.

Backtrack to where you crossed under the last bridge and keep going south. At the end of the path there is a chest with the second Red Gem. Go back, round the corner left, continue back to the central pedestal and then east to the gate. Watch for a final attack from behind as you get close to the end.

Assemble the Blue Moonstone and use to use it to open the door you passed earlier; you enter Salazar's bedroom and a cutscene begins.

You meet Ada Wong, an old acquaintance, and after you and she playfully try to capture each other she manages to escape. It seems Ada is the other person troubling Salazar, but her motives are unclear. If you did the optional cutscene in Mendez's house then you'll recognize her as the woman who rescued you.