Himiko's Palace Early

Note: This page describes a glitch, trick, or exploit. To see others, click here.

Explanation

Normally, one is prevented from accessing Himiko's Palace (or the surrounding courtyard) by guards at the entrance. If one attempts to go past the guards, a cutscene will start where the guards notice Ammy, then she is warped in front of the guards again. In order to go past the guards, one is intended to use Veil of Mist, which disables the cutscene trigger and causes the guards to look around confusedly.

There are multiple methods for getting past the guards and into the palace without Veil of Mist:

• One can simply KT over the walls surrounding the palace. They are too tall to jump over normally, hwoever.
• By standing just outside the catch trigger in front of the guards, one can get close enough to bite one of the guards. Drag the guard back until there is some space between him and the trigger. Before he walks back into place, get in that space and tackle him so that Ammy bounces into the trigger. Clear his text or skip the cutscene, then quickly walk into the palace courtyard.
  • This works because, after the tackle dialogue, Ammy is briefly immune to being caught by the guards. This is enough time to move past the trigger.
  • Avoid clearing the text too early, before Ammy lands from the bounce, as you won't be able to move out of the trigger if she is still in the air.
  • This is the method used in NG Any% speedruns.
  • Demonstration: https://youtu.be/_e5v-Zv632U?t=3474
• If one enters the Aristocratic main area before doing the digging minigame to restore water in Commoner's, the canals in Aristocratic will appear empty. For the most part, the water is still there, but invisible. However, on the South end (close to Rao's building), there are some parts without invisible water. The bottoms of the canals are not solid, so you can simply jump through them and perform an Interior Clip into either of the treasure rooms in the palace. You can then exit the treasure room and be placed in the palace courtyard.
  • This is not performed in any category, as it is roughly 10s slower than the method of tackling the guards, described above.
  • Demonstration: https://youtu.be/mqKMHCJabPE
• It is also possible to interior clip into Gen's Clock Tower, then perform a Sliding Ground Tackle jump off the clock toward and over the invisible walls surrounding the palace.
  • While this is not technically used to enter the Palace early in any route, the jump from the tower is used in NG+ AB and NG AB to more quickly reach Deluge after getting Thunderbolt.
  • Demonstration: https://youtu.be/sIYy0fMsQKk?t=6950