From: beng wah <bengster@pacific.net.sg>

ACONCAGUA

INTRO: Welcome, Aconcagua is Sony's latest venture into the
action/adventure genre with a little twist; you control all 5 characters
and switch from one to another whenever necessary to overcome puzzles.
Another major difference is that the game is played by clicking on a
cursor, a great departure (and slight disappointment) from the 'Resident
Evil' type of gameplay. Still, this is not a bad game. Sadly, the sales
figures were very low. Aconcagua is the name of a real mountain in South
America, although the country 'Meruza' is fictional. 
STORY: Pachamama is the leader of a democratic movement and is returning to
her country Meruza for an election. Naturally the tyrannical dictator will
want to prevent her at all costs. A bomb is planted on the plane that she
is travelling. On board the plane are several other people such as
journalists who want to interview her. Halfway, the plane explodes and
crashes into Aconcagua. There are some survivors and you need to guide them
down the mountain and escape the Meruzian soldiers who are out to complete
their task of killing Pachamama and all other survivors.                    

URGENT PLEA to all past, present FAQ and aspiring future FAQ writers: I
would like to take this opportunity to talk about the state of game
walkthroughs on websites now. Ok, how many times have you surfed
'Gamefaq''s website or any other gaming websites, in the hope of finding a
walkthrough on a game that you are stuck, only to see tons of walkthrough
on the SAME particular games every time? I surf 'Gamefaq''s website
everyday, hoping to see walkthroughs of some less prominent games. Tell me
whether you know any of (or have been looking for) these games that I have
listed below, e.g. Riot Star, Farland Story, Dr. Slump, Blue: Legend of
Water, Maria, Noir Yeux Noire, The Mystic Dragoons, Meremanoid, Deep
Freeze, Cybernetic Empire, Backguiner, Exalegiuse, Moonlight Syndrome,
Elder Gate and Deep Sea Adventure, to name a few. No, don't get me wrong, I
am not telling you to import these games. What I am frustrated with, is
seeing tons of walkthroughs written on the same games, e.g. Final Fantasy
8, Resident Evil 1, 2, 3, Vagrant Story, Legend of Mana, Suikoden 2 etc.
(No particular offence to Square's game lovers. I love Square too). I
practically see new or updated walkthroughs of these games almost everyday.
Aren't you sick of it? 
There is absolutely nothing wrong with a few writers writing the same
games. Different people have different writing styles. Sometimes, we can
compare to understand the game better, some writers are more clearer. In
short, I am not condemning writers who write walkthrough or faq about games
that have already been written because there is always some room for the
same thing and some people like to write about what they like best or feel
comfortable with. BUT, when there are more than 10 (my own opinion)
walkthroughs on the same game, there is something wrong. Do you feel that
you have taken a step forward (or even feel proud for that matter) for that
particular game that you have written or achieve some kind of breakthrough?
No, in fact, I really don't know why people still deliberately choose to
write walkthroughs of games which already have many. Worse, their
walkthroughs are adorned with fanciful ASCII letters depicting the game's
title. It seems that they are very proud of what they have accomplished.
Are they AWARE that many walkthroughs of that particular game have already
been written? 
This is a plea for all writers to DIVERSIFY and write about games which do
not have walkthroughs. There are people who are and will be interested in
them. It is very simple, if you know that you have a game that do not has
an existing walkthrough or faq, and if it is within your means, write about
it! If everybody do so, I am sure that game walkthroughs websites will be
greatly enhanced and be comprehensive. This is what I feel after
suppressing my thoughts for a long time. I am not targeting any particular
writers and I really hope to see more walkthroughs of obscure games. For
those who agree with me, I really appreciate it. I hope you can spread the
word. The way I write walkthroughs is this, first I check whether the game
that I am playing already has any walkthroughs. If not, I will try to write
about it. I was actually writing 'Dracula Resurrection' when I saw one
being posted on the web. Guess I was too late and too slow. Hence, I
decided to abandon it to write about some other games. I would like to
thank all who have spared their time to read this long rambling of mine and
I hope that I have made some difference, no matter how small it is. I am
not getting anything by saying all these, I just want a more comprehensive
game walkthrough website.   
Sad to say, I got a feeling that despite all my efforts here, there will be
tons of walkthroughs on FF9, to quote an example. By the way, I have also
written incomplete walkthroughs for 'Blue: Legend of Water', 'Riot Stars',
'Dark Messiah (Jap)/ Hellnight (NA)' and 'Dracula Resurrection' to name a
few. If I have the time, I would gladly post them on the web. Enough said,
on with the game. Those who want to criticise, send their
comments/agreement with what I said, or ask questions about 'Aconcagua',
can reach me at 'bengster@pacific.net.sg'. I will try to answer you as soon
as possible, but am quite busy with my thesis, which is going to last a
year...          


Note: Once again this is my own work, so please do not rip it off and claim
it as your own or sell it for profit. It is meant to be free to all those
who surf games' websites. 



CONTROLS: L1 and R1= Switch characters
	    Triangle= Items select screen
          Circle= Use item/ talk		

CAST: 1) Pachamama
	2) Katon (Japanese journalist)
	3) Steve
	4) Julia (American journalist)
	5) Lopez	

NOTE: Sometimes, it is not necessary to follow me and use that particular
character that I have used. I simple chose which character I deem best fit
to investigate around. So, play around with your character and you might
even get a different response from mine. You can talk to different
characters by moving the cursor onto them and pressing 'O' when the smiley
icon appears. Naturally, using different people to talk to the same person
will get you different responses. You can also press 'Start' to skip
cutscenes. 

DISC 1
- After the plane crash, investigate the dead body. Investigate the bag to
get a pair of 'Gloves'. Climb up the mountain. You can see some white
tracks in the middle of the screen. To climb, press 'Triangle' while the
exclamation mark appears on the tracks and press 'O' to use the gloves.
Hence, items will be used in this manner (sometimes, if you are facing the
correct position, you can simple use the desired item without making the
exclamation mark appear).
- Talk to your friend who was sitting next to you onboard the plane. Talk
to Pachamama's friend, but Katon will not understand him.
- Go left to talk to Pachamama. She will revive and you can control her
now. Switch to her to talk to her companion to get 'Chest Key'. Run all the
way to the right side to see a chest ling on the floor. Use the 'Key' to
get 'Fire extinguisher'. 
- Use 'Fire extinguisher' on the raging fire inbetween the mountain pass
and you will be able to proceed. Save point.
- Talk to Steve the engineer (he is sitting on the snow).
- Talk to the girl (Julia) who is trapped in her seat.
- Use Katon to make a path through the deep snow.
- Change to Steve and cross the deep snow. Use Steve to examine the
suitcase to retrieve the 'tool set'. Use the 'tool set' on Julia. Cutscene.
- Julia will have a 'knife' and 'lighter'.
- As Julia, cross the deep snow and cut the rope to get it. Give the rope
to Katon by talking to him. Note: An item that is transferred from one
character to another means that the person is the correct one to use it. Go
to a rock and use the 'rope' by tying it around it. Use Katon to climb
down. Save point.
- After climbing down, explore the snow to pick up a 'sack'. Go to
investigate the front of the plane. It is leaking oil. Use the 'sack' to
get 'oil'. 
- As Julia, go to the torn out seat and use the knife to cut out some
'cloth'. 
- Go back to the bleeding man and use the 'cloth' to stop his bleeding.
- Julia will help him to a seat. Now you need to enter the door of the
plane, but it is frozen.
- Splash 'oil' on the frozen door. Use Julia's 'lighter'. Enter the plane. 
- Talk to the pilot. Check the dashboard. Save point.
- Go to the side of the plane to check for battery, but it is not there.
Cutscene. You need to find the battery.
- The helicopter will shoot you. Note: at any point in time when any of
your members are shot, their life bar will decrease by a portion. Try to
time your dashes carefully either before or after the helicopter passes. If
there is not enough time to reach the other side, quickly find the nearest
cover or run back. You can only afford to get shot for a few times (I think
4 if I remember correctly), but hey, why get shot unnecessarily? Also, if
any one member dies, it will be 'game over'. If your life is bad or you
want to maintain a perfect life bar, you might want to consider resetting
it and trying again. It is possible to complete this part without getting
shot. There is also a life recover shortly after you have cleared this part
which you can use to replenish your health.  
- Use Katon and run all the way to the right to the second hill that is
climbable. Use 'gloves' and climb up to get 'S. battery'. Run back to Steve
and give him the battery.
- As Steve, run back to the torn plane and put the 'S. battery' on the side
of the plane. Run into the cockpit and transmit (by investigating the
dashboard). However, Steve does not understand the language. Change to
Pachamama. Save point and cutscene.
- The Meruzian soldiers are out to kill everybody. Wait for the helicopter
to pass you before running across the exposed snow. As Katon, run across
the first hill and pick up the 'stock' (which dropped from the helicopter
as shown in the cutscene) which is at the foot of the hill.
- Climb up the hill and investigate the yellow box, but he cannot reach it
with his hand. Use the stock to hook it to get 'L. Raft'. 
- Still on the top of the cliff, run to the edge on the left. Do not do
anything first. 
- This part is crucial, so follow my steps carefully. Change to Julia and
run all the way right and down to the bottom of this part of the mountain
where there is a wrecked part of the aeroplane. You will run pass a dead
Meruzian soldier on the snow. Go forward to examine the plane until you get
a close-up view. There is a rope and a handle dangling down from the
helicopter. The helicopter will pass you every now and then. Hook the
handle to the parts jutting out from the wrecked plane. Wait for the
correct moment. This is when the handle passes Julia and is close to
touching the jutted part. Press 'O' button (repeatedly if necessary) and if
successful, a cutscene will show Julia hooking it. If not, simply wait for
the helicopter to come again and try it again. The helicopter will be
caught by the dead weight and hover there. 
- Change to Katon (who should still be standing at the top of the cliff at
the left edge) now and use the raft. He will throw it down and the
helicopter will explode eventually. Cutscene and save point. Note: if you
had skipped Julia's part and thrown the raft down the cliff, it will miss
the helicopter and Katon will be shot and his life will be depleted.
- At the beginning, there is a forked path. Use Katon to go to the right
path. There is another split. Go to the left path where there is a broken
wreckage. Examine it and he will look up to see another part of a plane on
top of a cliff. 
- Go to the end of the precipice (next to this wreckage) where he will see
another survivor, Lopez (the strong man). Note: you need to go right to the
edge of the precipice to trigger off meeting Lopez. Explore around if you
cannot find this precipice.
- Change to Lopez and run up the hill where the wing of the plane is stuck
upright in the snow. Examine it. Save point.
- Lopez will push it and they can cross the mountain trail now. 
- Use Steve and run to the left side and examine the emergency kit. Use his
'tool' to get 'oxygen can'. There is an enemy soldier standing guard on the
right side.
- Use Julia to approach the soldier. Place the cursor on the soldier and
use her 'knife' on him. Cutscene of Julia stabbing him. 
- There is another soldier further at the end. This time, Julia is too far
to sneak up on him. Change to Katon and talk to Steve to get his 'oxygen
can'. 
- Use Katon to climb up the mountain and run to the end. He will be
directly above the soldier. Use the 'oxygen can' and drop it on the burning
plane to cause an explosion. Cutscene. Climb down and run to where the
guard was. Examine the tent to get a 'rope'.
- There is a third soldier. Climb up...     


Author's Note: Sorry, but that's so much that I can type because I am busy.
I am currently at Disc 2 and was finishing the game when my semester
started. I hope that all you readers out there will be patient and bear
with me until I have the time to type. 
The rest of the game is relatively straightforward until you reach the
carriage part in which you need to get Steve to talk to Lopez in order for
the latter to break a dangling stick to act as a lever switch. You will
know what I mean if/when you are there. Till my next update, take care!