Blog:Syega Researcher - The Legend of Dark Witch: Chronicle 2D Act

The Pure Syega pieces are an integral part of the Dark Witch games. They are secrets hidden throughout the level that, when picked up, can reward you with an upgraded slot, currency, or the ability to level up, depending on the game. I always go for getting all of the Syega pieces hidden throughout the stages, even on my first playthrough. But some of the Syega placements can be a bit…let’s say…cryptic *cough* *cough* Seama’s stage *cough* *cough*. It also doesn’t help that there are barely any guides on Youtube on how to find the elusive Syega, apart from the first game. So what better way to mitigate this than to create a series of blogs detailing the Syega placements that I’m calling Syega Researcher.

I decided to make this a 3-part series for each of the 3 mainline platformers, and we’re going to start with The Legend of Dark Witch: Chronicle 2D Act (plus its remake). Like I said, there’s already a Syega placement guide on Youtube, so to differentiate this from just a regular Syega guide, I’m also gonna be giving my opinions and commentary on the Syega placements for each stage (as if the Technical Skill ranking wasn’t already long and unfunny enough), so to not make this confusing, the Syega placements will be in bold like this. I’ll be going over the Syega placements in the stage order I usually go in, and in the end I’ll give my general thoughts on how the Syega was handled.

Before we start, however, I want to give a massive shoutout and HUGE thanks to Mali, who came up with the idea of making a Syega guide blog (and also came up with the amazing name). If not for them, I wouldn’t be here making this blog today, so massive thanks! Anyway, let’s get started!

Klinsy's Stage
We’ll be starting on Klinsy’s stage, the typical starting stage because you can get one of the Speed Syega here. You’ll be playing the level as normal, and just before the first book enemy, you’ll happen to jump and there it is. No indicator it was there at all, just smack dab in the middle of the level. Okay, that’s kinda weird, but whatever. Soon, as you head through more of the level, eventually you’ll come across a key in a crevice blocked off by the pages this floating book enemy spits. Use that key on the next door that appears, go past the two floating book enemies and on the highest point, jump in the center and one of the Line Syega will be there. And it’s also invisible with no indicator as to where it is ...oh...

Once you beat the level, you’ll see the two Syega you’ve collected hovering over Klinsy, and that’s when the disturbing realization, and soon the existential dread, start to kick in. There are ten more of these things that you have to find, and they are completely invisible and could be anywhere throughout the level. And you’re probably thinking, “Well, it can’t possibly be THAT bad to find them, especially since there are only two of them, right?” No. It is that bad. It forces you to just jump and shoot everywhere like an idiot until you eventually come across it, and that’s not fun at all. It’s like a sadistic version of [|Milon’s Secret Castle]. The placements of the Syega absolutely don’t help with this problem at all, and this is especially true for the Syega in...

Blad's Stage
I go here because you can immediately find the other Speed Syega. But in order to do that, you’ve got to hop past the two platforms as soon as the stage starts. Kill that annoying fairy enemy and then it’s time for a- drumroll please... trial and error jumping section! Or you could just shoot at the highest point of your jump until the 2nd Speed Syega appears. But see what I mean when I say this invisible Syega bullcrap sucks? Because you’re jumping around randomly like a lunatic, and there are a bunch of enemies below you as you’re jumping, finding the Syega can actually get you hurt! Later installments add a flash so if you’re observant, you can actually see where the Syega is (thank god). If the first game had that, this still wouldn’t be a good placement, but it’d be at least 10 x better than this garbage. The placement for the Comet Syega isn’t as bad, thankfully. Once you get past the first skeleton enemy, '''there’s a pit with two skeleton enemies in it and some wind boxes going up. Go to the left one and in the empty spot, the Comet Syega will be hidden there.''' Overall, the placements in Blad’s stage suck just as much as her stage does. One Syega is either a trial and error jump or takes too long to shoot at, the other is located on the left side of that pit specifically? Thankfully, the stages coming up are a bit of a palette cleanser.

Stoj's Stage
Stoj’s stage is the one that I first initially chose when I picked up Renovation, and honestly, it’s one of my favorite stages in the game. As for the Syega placements, they’re alright. Once you start the stage, you go to the right and fight some crab enemies. Then, there’s a section where you’re supposed to go up, '''but if you keep going right, there’s a small platform. Jump in the center of it and the 2nd Line Syega is yours.''' From there, it’s all fun and games until you reach the 2nd Comet Syega. This time, you’ve gotta go past the goal (yes, you indeed go that far) and jump just a little bit past the edge to capture the coveted Comet collectible. Oh and, by the way, if you happen to miss the Syega as it falls, you can’t get it back by respawning it or dying. You gotta click Retry and start the stage ALL OVER just to get that Syega again. Unlike the sparkles in the later games, they never fixed this. Though, aside from that annoyance if you happen to miss, the Syega placements aren’t too bad in this stage.

Sola's Stage
Sola’s stage is one of my favorites in the series. It’s definitely my favorite stage in DW1 alongside Stoj’s stage, and fittingly enough, it has by far my favorite Syega placements in the game. The first Syega in this stage is located after the first few dolphin(?) enemies in the stage. There will be these fake blocks for you to hop on to progress, but if you go under them to where the right wall is and jump, you’ll find the first Wing Syega. After that you’ve just gotta go through a few more enemies and fake block sections until you reach one where they’re all individually (and seemingly randomly) placed. There will also be parakeets ready to attack you in this section. '''Once you reach the block that the 3rd parakeet enemy is in that section, hop on that. There’ll be two more blocks to the left that are higher, and on the last block, jump''' and the Power Syega will be there waiting for you. That one was kinda confusing to explain, but when I first played the game and I discovered this, I felt pretty proud. All in all, the Syega placements in Sola’s stage are hands down my favorites. They reward people for being observant and noticing a segment that the Syega is likely to be in, and I think they’re really the only placements that work kinda well for the whole “Syega being invisible thing”.

Papelne's Stage
Just like her stage, the Syega placements in Papelne’s stage are boring and just kinda there. Around the start of the stage you’ll reach a segment with no enemies where you have to get up using the switch blocks. The 3rd (yes, THIRD) Comet Syega is located above where the switch is. Personally what I like doing is that glitch that gets you to the top of the screen using the switch blocks, then falling down from there and collecting it that way. After you get past the [|somewhat familiar looking axe enemies], there are two switch segments. '''On the 2nd one, you’ve gotta make sure that you get to and stay on the top. Continue past the spear throwing enemy and jump near the end of the segment''' and you’ll have found the 3rd Line Syega. Overall, the placements in Papelne’s stage are alright. Just like her stage, they don’t do anything wrong per se, they’re really just nothing to write home about.

Al's Stage
Al’s stage in this game was hands down my least favorite when I first played this game. Probably not anymore, but it still sucks. The Syega placements in this stage definitely didn’t help matters at all. Once you get past the penguin and the buff snowmen, there’ll be a section with a penguin below a snowman and a wind blowing enemy. Now, you’d think the Wing Syega would just be down there, simple as that. Except no, you have to FALL DOWN the hole leading into that section and THEN the 2nd Wing Syega will appear. Why not just put in the section, why’d you have to make it worse for people who just want to search for the Syega by making it so that you have to specifically do that?! Thank goodness the next Syega isn’t nearly as bad as that. Once you get past another segment with penguins (also, I could talk all day about how much I despise the penguin enemies from this stage, but this blog is already too long as is), '''there will be a wind enemy waiting for you at the end. Kill it, and then hold right and Wing as you fall down the hole. There’ll be a platform above the stage where the 2nd Power Syega is located.''' Looking back, the placements in this stage aren’t the worst ever, but when I was first playing through this stage, the Syega placements did not help at all towards my negative feelings towards Al’s stage. Fortunately, there’s only one Syega left to collect in Zizou’s quest for all of the pure Syega in DW1.

Verri's Stage
The final Syega in Verri’s stage is easy to talk about and collect, so I don’t sound like a complete idiot talking about this one. In the middle of Verri’s stage, there’ll be a segment where you temporarily go back into the Aurora Borealis area that you start in. After you get past the spear enemies in that segment, there’ll be a section where you climb up to progress through the stage, but keep climbing left and you’ll find a crevice that contains the Guard Syega. The Guard Syega feels like such a cool reward after having to trudge through and shoot and jump everywhere to find all of the Syega. And that’s it for Zizou, there’s no Syega in Riva’s stage. But don’t think your quest for Syega is over just yet. Because there’s more Syega you have to collect – just as another character.

Riva
(Skip this very long tangent if you don’t care at all about my feelings on Riva and her Syega).

As a reward for beating the game, you get an extra playable character, Riva. And I’m just gonna be blunt here, Riva sucks. She’s a terrible reward. Her main attack, Cobalt Fire, has a pathetic range, but it feels like the game clearly was not designed around this. Her other shot, Sword rain, is 50 times worse. And don’t even get me started on the Dash. You’re legitimately better off not upgrading it at all. But the worst part was when I first played as her. I got to the platform in Sotj’s stage where the Line Syega usually is, and came to find out it wasn’t there. Yes, not only did I have to play as a character I didn’t like, I had to search for the Syega ALL OVER AGAIN! After discovering this, I gave up. Basically, I used the only other guide on the internet.

Call me a cheater, but I didn’t want to just jump around willy-nilly as a character I didn’t like. I’ve never done this for any other character. I’ve asked around before, but maybe for like one or two Syega. And when doing this, I found out the placements were EVEN WORSE as Riva! How is anyone supposed to figure these out without a guide! But hey, what better guide to use than one that takes too long to get to the actual Syega placements AND has terrible segues? So let’s go find the placements in Riva’s quest, so you don’t have to.

Klinsy's Stage
Arriving in Klinsy’s stage, you’ll have to defeat most of the book enemies until you reach the 2nd fountain in the stage. Before the 2nd fountain, jump off the edge and right next to the two bushes in the background, you’ll find the first Speed Syega. This is especially a pain in the ass to get because the book enemies respawn and damage you from offscreen, so be careful. After the segment with the falling books, there’ll be a key that’s seemingly out of reach from your normal jump. Upgrading Dash (ew) or Speed with the Speed Syega helps with this. Once you get up there, at the very end of that segment lies the Line (or Fire in this case) Syega.

Blad's Stage
Oooooh boy, this one’s a doozy. Okay, so on the aurora borealis part when the stage starts, go past the mushroom enemies and '''jump up to where the spiky enemies are. Go past them and then, I wish I was making this up, make a LEAP OF FAITH OFF THE EDGE. Yes, that is where the first Speed Syega is!''' By the way, if you don’t end up getting the Speed Syega, you gotta start the level all over again. What (eventually) worked for me was going as far right as I could, but see what I mean when I say the Syega placements are so much worse than in Zizou’s quest? Then, you’ll reach the skeleton enemy and the pit where you first got the Comet Syega. Past that, you take the first wind box down and the first Sword Syega will be waiting for you. This placement is kinda weird, as aren’t you normally rewarded for being higher up in the stage? It’s not a bad placement, it’s just weird. Yeah, Blad’s Syega placements are still bad, there’s a trial and error jump and a weird one and I’m just gonna go ahead and cleanse my palette with the next two stages before I throw up in my mouth.

Stoj's Stage
Once again, Stoj’s stage used to be the first one I’d always choose. This is how I initially discovered how much worse the Syega placements are in Riva’s playthrough than in ZIzou’s. With Zizou, you’d see a platform standing by itself and naturally think, “oh, there must be a pure Syega there”. Makes sense, right. Well, to get the 2nd Fire Syega in this stage, you’ve got to get on the first log platform as usual, but jump to your right to find it. I can’t even make a reference as to where exactly I’d be, although shooting at that general area helps. The 2nd Sword Syega, though, has a pretty funny story attached to it. The Syega is located after the 2nd totem pole, underneath the spinning enemy between the two torches. But it was here when I actually discovered a glitch. I collected the Syega just before the rain from the torches was about to go away. In doing so, the torches and totems stayed as they would’ve been if the rain was still there, while it was put out. Walking them offscreen and coming back fixed this, though. I even have it recorded on my Switch, so if you want to see the video, let me know. It gave me quite a surprise when I first discovered it.

Sola's Stage
Once you head into Sola’s stage, '''you’ll be introduced to the invisible blocks once you enter the school. Hop in the fake parts of the block and boom''', Wing Syega straight out the gate. Later in the stage, there’s a part in the stage where there’s a BUNCH of the aforementioned fake blocks that make a path leading downwards, '''though you’ll notice there’s a path you can take by jumping over the path that leads you down into the rest of the level. Normally, this path is a dead end with only two parrot enemies, but not when you’re playing as Riva, boom''', Power Syega (or “Extra” in this case, but either way it does nothing for you). I’d say that the Syega placements in Sola’s stage are excellent here too. Blad’s stage should’ve taken a page or two from this one’s book. Maybe it’ll redeem itself in the sequel? (wink wink)

Papelne's Stage
So, as I was playing through Riva’s story in order to get a better grasp on describing the Syega placements, I realized I completely forgot where the Syega was in this stage. I somehow remembered all of the other placements in Riva’s story, but not the ones in Papelne’s stage. I was considering referring to that guide again '''until I reached the area where you use the switch blocks to block an oncoming spear enemy’s attacks. Then I remembered that between the blue and red switch blocks''' is where the 3rd Sword Syega lies. So that’s pretty cool, very glad I didn’t have to refer to the guide again. After the [|familiar axe enemies], you’ll arrive at the 2nd switch segment again. '''This time, remain at the lower level of the blocks and keep the switch blue. At the farthest right, the 3rd Fire Syega will be there.''' I don’t have much to say about the placements in this stage, so let’s move on to Al’s stage.

Al's Stage
Once heading into Al’s stage, you’ll traverse through until you reach the segment where you’re introduced to the penguin enemies. '''The 2nd Wing Syega is located behind an icy waterfall in the foreground, around the middle of this section. Jump from the right platform''' (or use Bound Ring like I did) and you’ll have it. After that, get prepared for everyone’s favorite time of day, trial and error jump time! '''After the mushroom and oni enemies, you’ll want to stay at the top of the stage until you eventually have to fall down to progress through the stage. You’re better off using Bound Ring to make the 2nd Power Syega appear''', but if you don’t have that, it’s time for a trial and error jump! If you fail this one, you have to trudge through the beginning of Al’s stage again just to get back. So wow, great Syega placements this time around, huh? No. You see why I used a guide the first time playing as Riva?

Verri's Stage
Once again, the Guard Syega is located in the Borealis part in the middle of Verri’s stage. It’s around the same area as Zizou, the part where you have to climb up, but you have to defeat the arrow shooting enemy, then fall down where it was and you’ll have the Guard Syega in your grubby little mitts. After that, we’re finally done with the Syega in Riva’s quest (thank God) and Dark Witch 1 in general. If I had to sum up collecting the Syega in Riva’s playthrough in one word, I wouldn’t, because words could not describe the pure, undistilled pain of having to play as Riva AND collect all of her Syega. Hopefully this guide helped in making Riva’s playthrough with 100% Syega a bit less painful for you.

Conclusion
I feel like I might have been a bit too negative towards the Syega placements in this game. But all in all, the idea of collecting Syega hidden throughout the stage, rewarding people that take their time to be observant is really nice. It’s just that the execution of this made collecting the Syega tedious and frustrating. On the bright side, there’s always room to improve your ideas. Like I mentioned, since The Legend of Dark Witch 2, they’ve added a little sparkle to give a clue as to where the Syega is, making them a lot more fun to collect. But as long as there are Dark Witch games, there’s always gonna be cryptic Syega placements. So next time on Syega Searcher, we’re gonna be going over the Syega placements in The Legend of Dark Witch 2. I really hope you enjoyed this blog somehow, and I’m really looking forward to making a blog on the second game. So I’ll see you in the next blog, and until then, have a good rest of your day!