Entering this area for the first time, you will see a few things right away. The shortcut rope to your right isn’t accessible from here, and there’s some big green frog below you. He’s friendly, so drop down and talk to him. Agree to help him and he’ll give you the Glutton’s Jug Trinket. At first, this doesn’t do anything, but if you wish for it to do something, then equip it. Basically, you need to defeat a total of 50 enemies while you have the Glutton’s Jug equipped, so putting it on now will help you and by the time you’re done with Nox’s Bayou, you will be done with it.
So, the Backwaters introduce a new thing in the game, which is deep water. This acts just like pits, where if you fall in, then you will take damage and respawn at the start of a section. However, unlike the various pits you’ve seen up until now, you can actually burrow and move under the water. Test things out in this starting area, so you can see how it feels. The Steady Soles trinket can make this area a lot more manageable, though, so having that really helps. To begin, go south and then look in the bottom left corner, at the sunflower-like things moving there. These are basically the breakable objects that hide secret paths in this region.
(1 of 4) Equip the Glutton’s Jug you get from the big toad, since you have to defeat 50 enemies.
Hit the flowers to open the way to a new screen, where you need to put your “swimming” lessons to good use. Make your way to the left end for the chest, which contains a Bonestone Gem. Return to the main area and make your way through it, ignoring the shortcut rope by the Sparks Door. Note that if you go left of that Sparks Door, up the stairs, you can reach the first rope you saw from the start of the area. Continue to the bottom right corner, where you should see a Kear Lock. If you have one handy, use it to gain access to Pinky’s Parlor, a shop.
Pinky’s Ladder¶
This is where things can be a little complicated, but before we go on, head inside the large building to enter Pinky’s Parlor. You should have enough Bones to purchase the Kear here, but more interesting is the Spark Catcher Trinket. If you buy both, purchase them in the order just listed, which will place the ladder on the far left side. This is important, for reasons coming up. Once you’re done, exit the shop and bust open the path to the right. Fight your way through the two screens here, until you reach another Kear Lock. This one will put you in the back area of Pinky’s Parlor, and there will be an item sitting on the higher ledge here.
In order to get it, you’ll have to “borrow” Pinky’s ladder. You can only do this if the ladder is on the far left or right side, and you can grab it by simply burrowing under it to pick it up. If Pinky doesn’t bother you, then you can carry the ladder to the ledge and toss it next to it, allowing you to reach the Joule Box Upgrade there. You might think this is all for the ladder, but there’s a lot more, so pick up the ladder again and exit to the top right. Remember that you won’t be able to burrow while holding the ladder, so you’ll have to toss it to the various platforms. Once you reach the front of the shop, you can use the ladder to break the roof sections on either side for some more Bones.
When you’ve gotten back to the first screen of the Backwaters with the ladder, toss it so you can go to the Sparks Door at the northern end. Enter it to find yourself in the Lantern Cave.
Lantern Cave¶
This is an annoying area, since it’s mostly dark in here and if you experienced that annoyance in Molten Foundry, then you know you can’t stay in the dark too long. There are lanterns that follow a set path here, which will help you in getting the two items found on this screen. You won’t be able to go right, so the only path to follow is on the left. Carefully make your way up the left side, until you can spot the large burrow hole in the middle, which will take you to the right side. You’ll have to be cautious here, since there is a moving platform that crosses paths with the burrow hole, which you’ll have to use.
(1 of 4) You’ll be tossing around the ladder for a while to get some of the secrets here.
Once you’re on the right side, ride that moving platform up and there will be stairs to your left, letting you grab the Bonestone Gem at the top of the central section. You can then go straight south to drop off a ledge, but stay there for a second. The next plan is to see the drop-off point on the right, but when you do that, you want to hold down the burrow button and simultaneously move south and then west. If done right, then you will go up some stairs that has a chest, with the Vial Pouch Upgrade inside. Leave to the south and return to the main area now.
Pinky’s Ladder Again¶
Back outside, you can carry the ladder towards the southeastern corner and leave via the south. On the next screen, deposit the ladder to your left and look to the right to see another Kear Lock. Despite this being here, you can swim across with the Steady Soles to save a Kear. However, the lock is hiding a chest inside it, which has a Bonestone Gem. This will be the Fishing Hole, so talk to the NPC on the right to get the Fishing Rod Sidearm. You have now unlocked fishing, a sidequest that you will want to work on throughout the rest of the game. Basically, whenever you enter an area with some kind of water and the Fishing Rod equipped, you should notice shadows in the water source.
Use the Sidearm button to cast your rod and guide it to the shadow. If you haven’t fishing in that area, then the first catch will likely be a fish. Unlike normal fishing, these fish aren’t docile and will come up on land to attack you. That is when you fight them as normal enemies and upon defeating them in combat, you can pick up the item left behind to add them to the Fish Board found at the Fishing Hole here. On this screen here, you can fish up the Fleeper, so do that and ignore the exit to the right, since you won’t be able to go over there quite yet.
(1 of 5) The lock up in the northeast corner is hiding a chest that has a Bonestone Gem.
In the previous area, continue your progress to the south, with the ladder of course, until you reach the southeastern corner. You can perch the ladder here to reach the Evasion Powder Trinket on the ledge. Take the nearby exit to find the train station, where you can discover a secret passage to the south. This will bring you to Loner’s Landing again, but at the Shipwreck. Note that you’ll want three Kears on you for the next part, but even two will work.
Loner’s Landing - Shipwreck¶
The enemies here might seem familiar, and they are in terms of appearances, but they are a tier above the normal ones and hurt a lot. Thankfully, the ladder makes quite the potent weapon, so use it against them. You can grab a new fish here, too, the Buck Toothed Trigger, but it is really strong. If you feel extremely confident, though, use the ladder against it, too, to make quicker work of the creature. With the coast clear, carry the ladder over to where the shortcut rope is located and use it to climb up to the ledge. Continue right and clear the path to the right, where another rope awaits you.
Down here, you can burrow to some floating barrels, but it doesn’t look like there’s anything here. While it’s not easy to notice, you can go underneath the shipwreck to the left of the third barrel. Inside, take care of the large toad enemy with the club, then check the north side of the ship for a chest that has a Bonestone Gem. To the south will be two weapons behind some Kear Locks, which are the two you didn’t pick at the beginning of the game (so, they’ll be different for everyone). To get to them, hit the vines just north of them and quickly go around to unlock the lock to reach the chest.
To the south of the weapons is a cracked door, bringing you to the deck of the shipwreck and back to the beginning of the game. Feel free to ignore this and return to where you left the ladder, as you still need it. You’re backtracking to the screen just prior to the train station, so when you get back there, toss the ladder on one of the moving platforms going left and quickly get on it. Before you reach the rope blocking you, position the ladder so you can climb atop the building, where another Bonestone Gem is sitting out in the open for you.
(1 of 3) Back in the main area, the last use of the ladder has you getting this Bonestone Gem.
Drop down onto the moving platforms again and ride them to the southwest corner. Instead of going there, you can bust a path open just above the exit there. This leads to the trio of NPCs at the top, who have nothing to say except that you need to keep a lookout for their froggy friend. In the northwestern corner is a shortcut that takes you back to the first screen. See the building in the center of the area with the moving platforms? Burrow under the building to find a small area with something on the left side. This is actually an NPC and after talking to him, you will receive a Kear. Note that he gives you a hint about Pinky’s ladder, although we’re already done with that.
Take the southwestern exit now and carry onward past it to finally arrive at Nox’s Bayou.
Jarrod started writing walkthroughs for games in 2002, and has been playing games since he was three years old, on the original NES. He is a huge fan of JRPGs and platformers, with Chrono Trigger being… More about Jarrod Garripoli
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