This planet is the first in the game and the only one accessible in the beginning. When you start off as Juno, you will be armed with nothing more than your standard Jet Force pistol, and half a ring of health. But don't worry; by the time you reach Mizar's Palace, you should be beefed up in health and weaponry.
When you arrive on Goldwood, cross the bridge that connects the landing pad to the mainland. Oddly enough, you'll find that your ship has disappeared! Don't fret, this is normal. Just head to where Magnus is, and he'll tell you that the Tribal King, Jeff, is waiting for you in his hut. Finish talking to Magnus and go through the door. Now you should be in a new area, and ahead of you there should be a hut. Cross the small bridge and enter the hut, where you will find the king waiting for you. He'll tell you that an evil being (Mizar) has invaded Goldwood and that the entire place is in a state of chaos. After talking, if you wish, he'll show you a little cinema showing you what happened. Finish talking to King Jeff and get ready to leave the hut. But wait! If you looked around the room, you will have noticed a set of stairs that lead to a ledge above. Climb the stairs and cross the ledge to gain a Gemini Increase! This will increase your health bar by one or two units. Not only will this give you more health, it is very useful later in the game.
Exit King Jeff's hut and head to your right. If you walk all the way to your right, you will see a door with a yellow symbol beside it; ignore it for now. Keep veering toward the right in an arc-like direction, and you'll see a door-and Magnus standing in front of it! Talk to him, and he'll tell you that Goldwood is not as safe as it used to be, and to enter the next area with caution. He'll also show you the three Cyclops Drones that will hover behind him and basically tell you to practice your Manual Targeting by taking them down. Once you do, go through the door, and listen to the mechanoid voice telling you what to do before you begin.
Goldwood: Outset[edit]
The Outset is the first area on the planet, and possibly the most easiest area to complete. There is nothing too difficult about the area and even the average newbie should pick up their basic skills with ease. If you rescue all the Tribals in here as well, you'll have made it a little bit easier on yourself for the second half of the game. However, you will need to return to this area with Vela later in the game, in order to access the Lodge (a Vela-only area).
Fill up on your pistol ammo and go forawrd. Up ahead there should be two Drones; dispatch of them immediately and keep going on. When you reach a sharp curve, stop, and with your Manual Targeting, kill the Sniper Drone cleverly (or maybe not) hidden on top of the tree that's just around the bend. Rescue the Tribal underneath, and keep going on. Soon, you should reach a big clearing that is littered with Tribal huts and two Tribals (hidden behind the huts). Unfortunately, you've alerted the other Drones to your presence, so take them all down. If a Tribal comes running at you, don't shoot. Rescue it first, then keep on shooting. If you accidentally kill a Tribal, you will have to start the entire Outset all over again, and there's no need to restart a painfully simple area all over again. When all the regular Drones are dead, a door up ahead should unlock. Don't enter that area yet. First, kill the Sniper Drone hidden in the tree near that door; you should see another door unlock as well. Enter the door. If you've not found it already, grab the Weapons Increase crate behind the hut that's right beside the first door.
You should be in an underground tunnel. If not, then you've taken the wrong door. Backtrack and find the first door to your left. Almost immediately upon entering, Drones will begin shooting at you. Wipe them all out. Now, take the path to your left, where you will encounter yet more-yes-Drones. These guys are gonna be hiding behind crates, so get rid of them one by one. Go past the crates to encounter another Cyclops Drone. Unlike the ones you shot in the beginning, however, this one will shoot beams of energy from its eye. Shoot and kill it (or you can ignore it, it doesn't really matter, since it does not follow you.). If you keep going, you'll reach an intersection with Drones ready to attack. Just shoot them and keep going straight. If you kept going straight, then you should reach a small clearing, with Drones and Tribals-not to mention, an odd-looking crate. Don't shoot! Immediately go for the Tribals, then after you've got them all (which at this point, you should have all the Tribals for the Outset Area), get rid of the Drones. Then, destroy the strange crate to get a... Yellow Key! This key will be extremely useful to access until-now unreachable places! Now, to get out of the underground area, you have a few options:
- retrace your steps and get out the way you came in.
- go back to the intersection, take the second path, and risk setting off Timed Mines.
Either way will take you back outside. Once you're back to the surface, take the door to the right to get to the next area. You should be standing in front of a bridge, but don't cross it yet. Instead, veer to the left and go down a set of steps to gain another Gemini Increase! Now go back and cross the bridge, and the Outset Area will be complete!
Now that the Outset's behind, you should be in a strange new area that has what look to be oil barrels. Whatever you do, don't shoot them! They will explode and drain your health uneccessarily. Besides, there's no need to use your pistol, since there are no enemies in this area. Keep going ahead until you reach a fork in the road. To the right the path will twist and wind and take you to a door that you can't unlock yet. So instead, take the path to the left, and at the end of the road, you'll find Magnus! He'll speak about trivialities (and drop a subtle hint you won't understand until much later in the game) and tell you that Vela and Lupus passed by not too long ago. He mentions something about scavenging for supplies on the SS Anubis, then gives you the Red Key! Finish talking to him, then go back to where the door up high was. Once you're inside, you'll find yourself facing an immensely huge Weevil Drone! Take this sucker down. Now you should see a flashing metal chest that was previously hidden by the Weevil Drone. If you open it (something that is HIGHLY recommended, unless you don't want to advance) you should receive a...Machine Gun! This baby is the only weapon in the entire game that'll you need to destroy Drones and enemies, aside from the occasional Tri-Rocket (more on that later) and the Homing Missile (again, more on that later). Get out of the cave-like room and get back to ground level. Now, head on over to the left and approach the door in front of you. See the strange key-like sign? Before, you wouldn't have been able to open that door because you had to shoot the center and your pistol would not suffice. Now, however, you can take your Machine Gun and shoot the target until it turns blue. Go through the door (it is better if you reload your Machine Gun with the conveniant ammo crate that is nearby before exiting the area) and down the stairs, don't use you ammo (there are no enemies in this area) and walk all the way to the end of the winding path to finally leave the Outset.
Final Tribal Count:6
Goldwood: Interior[edit]
The second default area on the planet Goldwood, this area is about as easy to complete as the Outset (You should be able to gather all the Tribals in one run here as well), and an important area because you must return as Lupus in order to access the Rim (a Lupus-only section of Goldwood). You should have a Machine Gun and Pistol as your only weapons right now. If you don't have either, then you must go back to the Red Key-only access cave to get the Machine Gun (although the latter not likely, else you would still be stuck at the final door of the Outset).
In this area, there will be at least two Drones (if not more) chittering and shooting at you; send 'em aback to the grave and grab the ammo crate to your left to reload (don't forget to grab the Weapon Increase crate!). Head up the path until you reach an open clearing chock-full of Drones and a lone Tribal standing atop the ruins of a hut (how did the little fellow get up there?). Kill all the Drones on the ground and, if you can, snipe off the annoying Sniper Drone hidden in the treetops. Then, jump up to the hut and try your best to get to the Tribal. Once you have saved the little furball, continue on the path until you reach another huge Weevil Drone. Now not only do you have to take this big boy down, there are two more regular Drones here as well, ready to impede your progress. Just quickly--while trying to take the least amount of damage--kill the two regular Drones (preferably with your pistol), then with your machine gun, take down the Weevil Drone. If you managed to do that without dying, great! If you weren't so lucky...Well, at least you won't have to kill everything all over again. If done correctly, the door the Weevil Drone was guarding should unlock. Go right through it.
Now you should be in the second part of the Interior. Look familiar? Look again. This time, there are a couple of Drones trying to shoot at you, not to mention, an irritating Sniper Drone hidden in the tree above you. Snipe him out first, then deal with the other two. Now stick to the path, and ignore that great, huge yawning chasm that can kill you if you're stupid enough to try and cross it with Juno. Instead, focus on the horde of Arachno Drones that have congregated with the intent to kill you! Once you massacred them, keep going on until you find another set of aerial drones with better firepower than the first ones.
Keep going one, and you should reach a clearing littered with what appear to be the remains of Tribal huts. Perhaps this is where the Tribal massacre that we saw in the prologue of the game happened? Either way, because you entered this area, you'll have triggered a trap: About 50 Arachno Drones have appeared and are ready to kill you. Ignore the Snipe Drone that's not far off, and start picking of the aerial drones. Once you're done with them (and this will take a little while if you've still not honed you Manual Targeting skill to perfection) kill the Sniper Drone and use the nearby Pink Geminis to gain any lost health. Notice that when you killed the Arachno Drones, the door ahead opened up, but when you killed the Sniper drone, the door on the other side of the chasm was unlocked; keep this in mind for when you return as Lupus. Once you're done taking a quick breather, go forward and through the door.
Almost immediately upon entering the next area, you should see the brown-colored Drone. KILL IT IMMEDIATELY! This is the much-despised Ninja Drone, who will start shooting the poor Tribals in the area in order to prevent you to go forward. Dispatch it to the grave (or if you're feeling sadistic, let him kill all the Tribals) and rescue the little furballs. Once again, it is not necessary to rescue all of King Jeff's subjects right now, but if you do it where you can, it will make things easier for you in the second half of the game. Reload if you must, and go through the next door.
This is it, the last area on this planet. The next door ahead will take you to your ship and finally get you off Goldwood--for now. But before you take a breath of relief, watch out! There will be a huge group of new aerial drones gunning for you! Take out your machine gun, and quickly run up to the strange rotating icon that's almost in front of you. This is known as an Invincibility pack. Though you won't find it very often, it's best you use it when you do, as it usually means that there is a very difficult area up ahead.
While your Invincibility is still in effect, run across the bridge that's ahead and take cover behind the bunch of crates to your left. There should be a group of Tribals gathered behind the crates, so save them, and you'll have rescued all the Tribals in the Outset. Once that's done, your Invincibility should still be going; this is when you take advantage of your hiding place and quickly snipe out the aerial drones that had previously been following you.
You'll know all those suckers are dead when you hear the door open. If you're low on health, you can attempt to grab the bouncing red Gemini gem before it disappears, or ignore your health. Either way, you're finally done with Goldwood! Now you can go through that door and enjoy a little cinema before you board your ship and head to the Anubis in search of Vela and Lupus.
However, this adventure is far from being over. After you've unlocked all three characters, you will have to return to every planet with a different character to unlock a new area in search of Tribals and ship parts.
Final Tribal Count: 10
Goldwood: Lodge[edit]
Unless you have already beaten Mizar 1, do not read on.