Resident Evil 4/Chapter 3-1

Castle Entrance
You're now in a large castle that functions as a monastery for Los Illuminados. The drawbridge back to the village is closed permanently. You start in a courtyard at the castle entrance.

First enter the small building on the right to find the Merchant. He’s got lot’s of new stuff for you, including a larger attache case and new weapons. Assemble the Beerstein and Elegant Mask pieces as much as you can and sell them now, even if they're not complete; the missing pieces are all back in the village beyond reach now. The weapons for sale include a new and improved handgun, shotgun and rifle and you may want to get these depending on your cash and how much you’ve invested in your current models. Sell the weapons you're replacing for cash and to make room in your inventory. The larger attache case has a hefty price tag but is almost always worth the investment. \

Two new types of weapons are for sale now. First, the Broken Butterfly, a magnum. It's not a good investment right now because ammo refills won't appear until later and it uses up a lot of space. You'll find one for free later anyway. The other new type is the Mine Thrower, also not a good investment because ammo is hard to find and it uses even more space. If you want, buy them to try them out then reload your came without saving.

Get the Green Herb from the table; there is a typewriter next to it if you want to save. Exit the building and start exploring the courtyard for items. There are four barrels near the stairs and two boxes and another barrel in the northeast corner; the box on the right has a snake inside. Open the treasure chest behind the Merchant's shop to find 5000 PTAS.

Go up the stairs and through the door to the next area.

Battlements (lower)
This is a large and complex area and you face new enemies called zealots. Protecting Ashley is tricky here so it's a good idea to keep track of where you can safely leave her.

Follow the path to find an open area. There is Rifle Ammo sitting on a large box and you can see monks in the distance, so you're probably meant to snipe them but you could also spare them for now defeat them when you meet them up close.

Follow the stairway on the right. At the top there is a short cutscene where a priest sees you and screams "Mátalo! (Kill him!)". Now catapults barrage the area with balls of fire; they may be medieval but they hurt a lot and will probably kill Ashley in one blow. Their timing is regular though and they always hit the same places so they shouldn't be too difficult to avoid once you learn the pattern. The first thing the catapults destroy is a well on the right, examine the wreckage to get a Spinel, but keep moving and watch your timing to avoid being hit.

Follow the path and go down the stairs on the left. You meet the monks you may have spared earlier so defeat them now it you did; you should be safe from the catapults here. Continue to find a room with a canon. There is a clue that you need to raise it up somehow. Get three barrels here.

Go back and continue into the arch. Snipe the red barrel on the high balcony the wall ahead of you to disable that catapult. Go forward to another stairway, but don’t go up yet. Have Ashley wait on the landing, then turn around and watch for monks that start coming up the path behind you. Style points if you can trick the catapults into throwing a fire ball on them, otherwise snipe them from a distance or defeat them normally.

Battlements (upper)
Park Ashley on the stairs for a bit and go nearly to the top. Aim through the embrasure, or gap, on the right and shoot the red barrel next to the monk manning the catapult. The area at the top of the stair should be safe now. Aim to the right at the top of the stair and shoot through the window of a small building to hit a zealot. He is wearing a bullet proof mask so it will just make him mad; wait for him to come for you and defeat him with a short range weapon. Check the gate for another clue on how to proceed.

Step out on the bridge a short distance, turn around again and get a third barrel on the balcony to the north; only the top is visible. Continue across the bridge, staying to the right as much as possible. If you didn't get him earlier, the masked monk will attack; step to the side a bit so you don’t have to worry about the catapult and defeat him.

Pick up Ashley and go into the small building. Get two boxes and open the treasure chest to get a Yellow Herb. Have Ashley wait there. Go to the left side of the building and find the Gold Bangle in a treasure chest.

There is a final catapult on the north wall to the right, it will attack if you try to cross the bridge east so go half way and snipe the monk before he sees you. Or better, shoot him from a window in the gazebo at the end of the bridge. There is no red barrel with this one.

Now that it's safe, operate the crank at the far end of the bridge, this will lift the canon seen earlier to the top. (It may be that you need to have Ashley operate the crank while you deal with the two approaching Cultists.)

Stand behind the canon and fire, it will demolish the gate near the top of the stairs. Go through and find the merchant on the other side. Then go through the door to the next area.

Barracks
Ingrid checks in and you tell her about the castle. She’s about to tell you something important when she’s cut off by interference.

Get 2000 PTAS from the cabinet and Handgun Ammo from the table. Check the gold panel on the wall and take the platinum sword. You're going to find a gold sword in a platinum panel later to swap with it.

When you go upstairs a group of zealots attack. Let them funnel down the stairs to control the rush. Once at the top of stairs more monks will enter at the lower level, so don’t leave Ashley down there waiting. Stand at the top of the stair and let them funnel up; there are several groups.

The leader of the attack, a zealot dressed in red, has a new type of parasite which appears when he's taken enough damage; it doesn’t swing a blade as with the villagers but if it gets too close it will decapitate you.

Check the room at the top of the stairs for goodies; find two boxes next to the bed, 1800 PTAS on the table, and a Red Herb in a cabinet. Now take the Golden Sword from the platinum panel and place the Platinum Sword here. Go back downstairs and put the Golden Sword in the golden panel to complete the swap and the platinum panel will open. Go though to the next area.

Castle Gate
You enter a walkway leading to a gate to the part of the castle to the north. There is a cutscene where Luis catches up to you. He is about to give you an antidote for the parasite when he realizes he must have dropped it. He knows you were both infected and confirms the symptoms. Then he leaves to find the antidote again.

They only way forward is the door to the west but there are zealots inside. Go in and wound the one that's visible, then go back through the door and wait for them all to bunch up at the door. Fall back to the walkway if you need to. If you go through the door and look to the right you'll see a red barrel in the corner, so another approach is lure the enemies near it and blow it up. Leave Ashley outside the door area if you do this since you will have to dodge the monks to make it work.

There is a small building in the corner; get two barrels, 2500 PTAS from a cabinet, and Handgun Ammo from the table. There in an archer shooting from the corridor on the left so watch that you stay out of his line of sight. If you do avoid being seen then snipe him through the window, otherwise park Ashley in a safe spot and defeat him as best you can.

When you go through the next arch, two monks with shields come out. These take twice as much firepower to defeat because you first have to destroy their shields. If you have a spare Hand Grenade then toss it behind them to bypass the shields. The Riot Gun will destroy the shields completely, otherwise try to punch holes in the shields and then shoot through the holes. If you haven't used the red barrel yet then you could also lure them to it and use it now to good effect.

Enter the next building and get a Green Herb and a (plain) barrel, saving the treasure chest for last. Before you open it, make note of the position of the red barrel near the entrance. When the open the treasure chest and get the Castle Gate Key, a group of zealots will come through the door, so quickly turn around and shoot the barrel to put a big dent in their numbers. If you don't pull off the trick with the barrel then you might want to toss a grenade of your own to slow them down. If the remaining zealots get to be too much for you, pick the route with the fewest to get by and rush past them to make a stand at a better spot.

You now have the key so use it to unlock the castle gate and go through.

Audience Hall
You enter a large entrance hall and you can hear creepy laughter coming from somewhere. Go forward a bit to trigger a cutscene where Ramon Salizar appears and introduces himself. He’s in charge of the castle and says that because of the parasite you and Ashley will soon join him, but it’s only Ashley that’s important. He leaves the way he entered.

Go forward a bit and the door ahead closes, there is a relief on it which is missing some pieces. You need to find these pieces and that will be the main objective for this part of the castle.

There are four large ceramic jars next to the steps; break these open to get items as with boxes and barrels. Some contain snakes but again, since no one remembers that when the time comes, we'll let you know which ones. Shoot the sparkling object in the arch over the steps to get the Green Gem, an attachment for the Elegant Mask. (If you didn't get this gem on in the village then you could use it to complete the Elegant Mask you got there, but we'll be getting another Elegant Mask in the castle so that won't really help.)

There is a a typewriter here and it's a good idea to save since it's been a while and it will be a while until the next one. In general save points are farther apart now that we're no longer at the beginning of the game, so save when you can. It may even be worthwhile to backtrack to a previous typewriter after a tough battle.

The door to the west is locked. You'll also find that zealots have repopulated the area south, so backtracking will be somewhat inconvenient. That leaves the door to the east, so go that way.

You enter a long corridor on a ledge overlooking another room. Get two barrels on the left and check the door next to them to learn that the other room is a prison. Get a jar on a cabinet and check the portrait of Saddler on the other side of the corridor to get 5000 PTAS. There are similar portraits elsewhere in the castle so keep an eye out for them. Pick up Handgun Ammo next to the portrait. Continue and get two more barrels at the end of the corridor; one of these will have a Yellow Herb.

Get "Capture Luis Sera" from the wall. Apparently Luis is back on top of Saddler's most wanted list because he took a very important "sample". The way forward is blocked by two fire-breathing horses, but if you examine the portrait to the right you'll find the Prison Key.

The only place to use the Prison Key would be the prison, so start heading back there. On the way, stop at the cabinet where the jar was, equip your rifle, and shoot the object off of the beam above the prison. Continue to the prison door, unlock it, park Ashley safely at the top of the stairs, and get the Shotgun Shells you just knocked down. Pick up the Green Herb from the corner as well. Make note of the bells here since they will be useful in a bit.

As you approach the cell on the far side, you get a close-up view of the prisoner inside. He's chained in and his eyes have been sewn shut. In case you get any bright ideas, he's invulnerable as long as his back is to the wall.

There's a switch inside the cage that shuts off the horses in the hall, but entering the cage causes its occupant to break free. Quickly turn around and exit the cage.

The monster drops 15000 Pesetas, so collect it, go back to the cell and pull the lever, collect Ashley, and exit the room.

With the horses no longer breathing fire it seems that zealots are free to approach from beyond, so look for them coming down the corridor. Style points if you can shoot the lamp to make it spill fire on them, but they shouldn't be hard to defeat if you don't pull this off.

Around the corner are two archers and a zealot with dynamite. Have Ashley wait in a safe spot and pick them off. A fourth zealot will be waiting in a small room past this. Get the Handgun Ammo next to the pillars here.

You just had a tough battle and there is another one coming up, so it's a good idea about now to backtrack to the typewriter and save your game. Continue on to the next area.

Hall of Water
Equip a Hand Grenade, and rush forward. Throw a grenade to take out the Cultists ahead, and deal with the next wave that enters through the side doors. Grab anything they drop, break all the pots in this area for items, and move down the stairs. Take out the lone Cultist here, break the pots, and open the door. Grab the Green Herb and the Shotgun Shells here, and walk onto one of the yellow pads on the floor. Command Ashley to wait here while you walk onto the other one. This will cause a crank to rise on the upper level. Command Ashley to follow, and use the shotgun to blast the Cultists that enter through the door and the hole in the ceiling. Once the Cultists stop coming, exit the room and use the rifle to snipe the crossbow Cultists on the left and right platforms. It doesn't matter who turns the crank, as there are no enemies around. Turning the crank causes a ramp leading to the upper to drop down onto the level you're currently on. Move up the ramp, and piggyback Ashley onto the above level. Use the rifle to protect her from the Cultists that attempt to carry her off as she turns the cranks, but watch out for Cultist that attack you as well. Once she's finished turning both cranks, she runs to the edge. Catch her from below, jump across the platforms, and exit the area.

Observation Hall
This area is, thankfully, Cultist-free. Move forward, turn around, and shoot the glinting object out of the statues eye to find a Spinel. Search the side areas for items, and head over to the Merchant. The door behind him leads to the Shooting Gallery.

Minigame: Shooting Gallery
The Shooting Gallery is exactly what it's called. Grab the document on the table to learn the rules of the game, and speak to the Merchant behind the desk to get your weapons. There are two weapons categories: Rapid-Fire and Sniper. The Rapid-Fire weapons set contains the Shotgun, TMP, Hand Grenades and ammo for each weapon, and the Sniper weapons set contains the Handgun, Bolt-Action Rifle, and ammo. Scoring over 3000 points will earn you a bottlecap that you can view in the Treasure screen, and shooting every target except Ashley will earn you a rare bottlecap.

Scoring is as follows:


 * Hit Target: 50 points


 * Headshot (Male Villager): 100 points


 * Headshot (Female Villager): 200 points


 * Salazar*: 500 points (Salazar will appear after hitting five targets in a row)


 * -Ashley: -1000 points

Completing a row of bottlecaps will award you with varying amounts of Pesestas.


 * 1st Row: 15,000


 * 2nd Row: 25,000


 * 3rd Row: 35,000


 * 4th Row: 50,000

Complete the only level available (A), visit the Merchant outside, and save. Walk down the hallway to trigger a cutscene and end the chapter.