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ChaosArgate
Oct 10, 2012

Why does everyone think I'm going to get in trouble?



Strap in folks, it's time for the first battle. As a general rule of thumb, if a battle will take up part of the day's events, you're probably going to end up doing that battle at some part of the day.



The Electric Museum is north of Shibuya along the Yamanote line, east of Miyashita Park.





Something I just realized is that the version of Action I've been linking thus far has been from the Overclocked OST as opposed to the Remix album. "Remix" is a poor way to describe it because most of the songs sound more like what the songs are supposed to sound like before DS compression, as opposed to the Overclocked OST presenting only snippets of the songs. Moving forward, I'll post the Remix album instead.

: Yo, what took you guys so long? How far away did you go when you were killing time?



No need to lie, we should probably fill him in on what we saw. Especially since Naoya wanted us three to stick together.

: Huh?! You guys went to see Naoya?

: Oh, yeah. Well...

Yuzu tells Atsuro about what happened in Aoyama.

She also mentioned how what happened matched the email you received, and what Naoya said.


: Wait, what? Are you saying that the email actually came true?

: Hmm... Anyway, if you ran into Naoya, why didn’t you call me? I had some stuff to ask him.

: Sorry. So much was going on that we kind of forgot you.

: Oh, well. That’s okay. Bringing it up now isn’t gonna change anything.

: So, what’s going on? Is what was written in that email actually coming true...?

: C’mon... There’s no way an email can predict the future. Are you sure you didn’t just fall for one of Naoya’s pranks?



Did he miss the part about the guy who was eaten? Or the police investigation? That sounds like a lot of effort for a prank.

: When you put it that way... Well, Naoya’s human, too. He must have a sense of humor.

: But someone really did get killed! The police were there! I can’t believe they’d be part of his joke!

: Hmm... If Naoya was telling the truth, that email wasn’t a warning, right? Unless someone really did predict the future, it’s probably just a coincidence.



: What do you mean? Oh yeah, it mentioned an explosion and a blackout, too.

: If it really was predicting the future... It would be odd if those don’t happen. Still, they seem pretty unlikely.

: What...? But...

: Who cares, anyway? Once I crack these COMPs and look inside, it’ll all make sense.

Big words there, Atsuro. Will they really?

: Hrmm... I’m still not convinced, but tell us what you’ve figured out for now. You did figure something out, right, Atsuro?

: Yeah, well... I was completely fooled. I think Naoya knew I’d try to get inside one myself. It seems these three COMPs are always monitoring each other, so I can’t crack one alone. See, the COMPs are constantly transmitting certain signals to each other. Without that input, several parameters are set in such a way that makes it impossible--

: Argh, my head... Enough with the explanation, just hurry up and do it!

So Yuzu's tech illiterate. I didn't think Atsuro's explanation was too complicated, even before I started studying computer science, but oh well. In layman's terms, all three COMPs can detect each other and if they can't find each other, then Atsuro can't actually access any of them.

: Man, you never change... Anyway, I’m gonna unlock the systems, okay?

: Turn your COMPs on, you guys!

While waiting for Atsuro to finish, you look up and see someone who looks like Naoya.



His handsome face is expressionless, but gives off a cold feeling...

That's not weird at all. Too bad we can't tell our friends that Naoya's right there! Or, is he?

: Okay, done! I’m restarting the COMPs!







The COMPs restart, allowing us to poke around the menu for a few seconds before they restart again.







I'm kind of wondering if the scrolling code is actually a snippet of the game's actual code.













Hmm, I wonder what this passage is from. Let's find out!

Romans 3 from the Bible, it looks like. Just on first glance, I'd say that second to last paragraph probably has the most relevance to this game, and probably the rest of the series. Still, it's kind of funny seeing the word 'circumcision' in a Nintendo game




Fun fact, the line 'Peaceful days are over.' was revised into 'Peaceful days died.' for Overclocked. It's probably for stronger juxtaposition with the follow-up, but it's kind of an awkward translation.









: Aaaah! Wh-What is this?!

: Ahhh! I thought I was going to suffocate in there...! So this is the human world? Hmm. Then these humans must be the ones who summoned me. We will fight, then! If I win, I will have my freedom! Let’s go!

So when Atlus advertised Overclocked as having a complete dub for every line in the game, they meant every line from a human character is voiced, meaning the radio-drama version of events won't have any demon lines. The game opts to just play generic demon grunts instead.

Anyway, on to business. These demons want us dead because we're standing between them and freedom, but we're not gonna go down without a fight!




: Hehehe! Get ready! I’m not gonna let you guys go! You have to die so I can go free! Hehehe!







Welcome to battle! The top screen displays information about your opponent, which is a departure from SMT conventions as you have pretty much all of the info you could ever want on your foes from the word go compared to the usual games where you have to figure out what enemies can do to you and learn their strengths and weaknesses by trial and error. To be fair though, having to suss out enemy weaknesses and accidentally having your attack reflected back at you or accidentally healing them is kind of bullshit for an SRPG, so I appreciate that change.

Anyway, all Yuzu can really do is slap this Pixie, so we'll just have her do that since our only other option is to guard and guarding doesn't completely nullify damage.




The Pixie doesn't hurt us as much as we can hurt it, which is great for us since we can beat this little fairy in a damage race. What's happening now is the Extra Turn, where any units in the skirmish that have accrued an extra turn get to make another action. Generally, you can get extra turns by hitting weaknesses or getting critical hits, but you can also lose them by hitting resistances. If that happens, there's a non-zero chance you will give your target an extra turn instead. None of this really matters for the first battle, but it's something to keep in mind for the rest of the game.

The extra turn this time is a repeat of the first round, but now the Pixie is one hit away from death. Also, battles will end after the extra turn phase, if there is one, with no exceptions, so make your battles count.




: Yuzu! drat it... We’re coming!

: W-Wow! You’re pretty tough... For a human, anyway!





I take that back, that Pixie is now fighting fit again after casting Charm on itself. Charm is a weak healing spell that can affect one ally team in the red area. It's a little annoying that the Pixie recovered all of its HP, but in doing so, it's demoing a few things about the battle system. The obvious is that attacking does not signify the end of your unit's turn, unlike Fire Emblem. The Pixie is also demonstrating that some skills can be used on the field. On the top screen, take note of the teal bar on the lower right that's about halfway full. That bar builds up as you take more actions on your turn, whether it be movement, attacking or using a skill. When your turn ends, the bar will start depleting as more units take turns and when that bar is fully depleted, it'll be your turn again. The rate of depletion is shown as the unit's speed.

The speed thing is probably one of the more interesting parts of the system to me, as there's a bit of a risk/reward thing going on where you can risk delaying your turn further to take another action now. I think that's enough expositing for right now, so let's get back to the action.


: Gyarrrr! Humans are tasty demon food!



: Whoa! What are you?!



Atsuro's turn. This won't really go any differently than Yuzu's fight earlier. Kabuso has no way of healing itself though, so we don't have to worry about that, at least.



One more hit should do it.

: Gyaaaarh! Why do the human’s attacks hurt!? Nobody said anything about this...

: Wh-What the?! That should’ve hurt me way more than it did!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention it because tutorializing came up, but it's pretty impressive that our party can go toe to toe with actual demons.

: This is weird. Humans are supposed to be soft and chewy! Not hard!

: FIGHT ME, HUMANS! ME... WIN!



This Kobold casts Aggravate, which only affects the user's team and grants them a guaranteed critical hit if they use a physical attack. That's not good for us.



: Be careful, Phones! You’ve got to get them before they get you! You have to fight!



Our turn. This won't be so bad, but the guaranteed critical hit is probably something to worry about.



Not because of the damage, but because it just robbed Phones of his extra turn. If this weren't the tutorial fight, I'd be a little more worried.



That said, Phones still nearly killed this thing in one go, so this should be wrapped up soon enough.

: GRARR! YOU STRONG! THIS... FUN! FIGHT SOME MORE!

: Th-The attack worked! Our attacks work on these guys!

: ......! Is it because of the COMPs?!



Use the Attack command to strike foes. You can attack any square adjacent to you.
To attack a distant foe, get closer by using Move. End will complete your turn.




Finally, one of our turns! As you can see, our options are to move, attack, or try one of Phones' abilities. He doesn't have any now, so really, we should just kill the Kobold.

Before that though, at the top of the bottom screen, you can see a strip of mini-character icons. That's the turn order. Use this to plan out your moves in advance to try and minimize how much your opponents can do. Another thing I want to point out is Phones' movement stats. He has a movement range of 4 and 50 speed. That's the standard for pretty much all human characters, with some exceptions, I believe, which is a bonus for us since humans will generally get their turns faster than demons, I believe.




So, couple things to note about the attack command. Barring a few exceptions, your attack range is 1 tile in any of the cardinal directions. It does not matter if there's an obstacle in the way, so long as your target is physically within your effective range, then you can initiate a battle, so if Phones were to move up next to Pixie on the other side of that fence, he could attack it right then and there. The other thing I want to point out is that the party that initiates a battle gets +5 Initiative, which I believe is just a flat +5 bonus to the party's Ag stat. I'll go over stats shortly.









With Kobold dead, we now earn some experience for our troubles; enough to level up! We also got something called Macca, but that's not important now. So, really quickly, let's go over stats.

quote:

Strength: The physical attack stat. Governs how much damage you'll do with the Attack command and physical skills.
Magic: The magic stat. Governs how much damage you'll do with spells and how much you'll heal when using healing spells. This also should cover magic defense. It's basically the Special stat from Gen 1 Pokemon.
Vitality: This is your HP. I believe it's also your physical defense stat.
Agility: This determines when you'll attack in a skirmish. The higher the stat, the quicker you'll act.

With every level, characters get one point to allot to a stat. Most characters automatically allocate their points, but the main character is a blank slate, free for the player to define a build. I'll primarily be pumping Phones' magic stat because magic builds are generally the way to go in this game and it's really hard to support more than one physical character. I guess I could make Phones into the physical character, but he has better things to do with his stat points. Each stat caps at 40, so once you hit that magic number, you can't level up that stat anymore.

: GRRA... GRAAAGH... ME LOST... IF ME DEFEATED BY ONE WHO SUMMONS ME, BECOME MASTER. THIS CALLED CONTRACT. ...ONLY HEARD OF THEM... ME KOBOLD, DEMON OF WAR. TO MEET YOU, NICE!



Kobold has left the field and we've forged a contract! Hooray! That would allow us to summon it, but we actually can't for this battle.

: ...Yes! We can win, you guys! We can’t die here!



I'm going to move Phones right in the middle of Yuzu and Atsuro so he can easily lend a hand to either party member if they need it, which is incredibly doubtful. We can't attack again though unless we meet a certain condition later on, so that'll be it for Phones.



Well, barring a lucky crit, we know we can't take out that Pixie this round, so let's at least weaken it further.



Huh. I forgot Yuzu had 52 speed. Interesting. I guess that's supposed to balance out the fact that she can only move 3 tiles per turn, but it's not even remotely a fair trade. Anyway, if you look at the turn order bar, you'll notice a red arrow right after Atsuro's portrait. That red arrow tells us where the character's next turn would fall if we did the selected action. Since all Yuzu did this turn was attack, she didn't fill up her bar very much so she can act much sooner; sooner than her enemy, in fact!



Right then, this Kabuso's as good as gone.

: Gyahh! I’m surprised I could actually be defeated! Gahh... I’ve heard that if I lose, I become your servant. Oh well... I’m the monster, Kabuso. Pleased to meet you...

The monster disappears, mumbling incoherently.



With nothing better to do, I'm just going to stick Atsuro next to the Pixie to box it in.





And now that Pixie is defeated, Yuzu gets a level up and spends her point on agility. I won't be going over what everyone else gets on level up, but I will go over what general build each party member specs themselves for.

: ...Ugh! I can’t believe I lost... to a human! But I’ll abide by the contract. I HAVE to lend you my powers. I’m the fairy, Pixie. Don’t you DARE waste me!

The monster disappears, mumbling incoherently.





And now that the mission's over, everyone who was deployed earns some bonus experience and we get a little more of that Macca stuff. With the extra experience, everyone gets enough to level up again. Phones gets another point of magic from that.



Now that the battle's over, weird numbers show up over our party's heads.



: I... I’m still alive... We’re all still alive! Aaaaah, that was so scary!

: What’s going on? What was that?! Atsuro, what did you do?!

: I don’t know, either! I just undid the encryption! The program activated itself!

: Then... The COMP is what made this happen just now?

: That doesn’t make any sense! That’s just impossible!

: Let’s go to the police! We can’t hold onto something this dangerous!



And this kind of gets at why Yuzu isn't well liked. She's very quick to run away from her problems, even if running away is a terrible idea. She's scared and not thinking straight, so it's understandable, but still, what'd happen if they come across more demons after tossing their COMPs?

: Check them out?! What more is there to see?!

: Calm down, Yoohoo. I think Phones’s right.

: Huh?! What are you saying?! What’ll we do if demons come out of these things again?!

: Will you settle down a little?! I know why you’re freaking out! I was there too, you know? But even after what just happened, is it right to throw everything out immediately? We don’t even know if that’s the safest thing to do at this point.



: Ugh... He did say that we would need them...

: I’m going to take a deeper look into these COMPs, okay?

: Y-Yeah, okay. But if something comes out, we’re making a run for it! I’ve had it with this!

Atsuro connects the COMP to his laptop and begins examining the files...



: Ah... I get it. So that’s why...

: What, did you figure something out?

: Yeah. First, this process is named the Demon Summoning Program.

: Demon?! You mean, like... from books and myths and all that stuff?!

: How should I know? I can’t wrap my head around how a computer can summon them...



: Rituals... You mean like in fantasy manga? I suppose it’s possible to convert the spells and procedures to programs, but...

This sounds awfully familiar... In fact, it's the basis of the original Megami Tensei novel, Digital Devil Story (no relation to the later SMT sub-series, Digital Devil Saga), where the protagonist decided to summon a demon using computer programs to get back at bullies.

: ...Anyway, the other function I found in this COMP is named the ”Harmonizer.”



Well I doubt we're going to have a jam session with our COMP, so let's get some clarification.

: To ”harmonize” means to match, or adjust.

: It’s similar to the summoning program, and I have no idea what principles are behind it.

: But it seems to match some wavelength so that our attacks work on demons... And, likewise, it attunes their attacks to lessen the damage we take from them.

: *sigh* I’m totally lost... I don’t get any of this! What is Naoya trying to do?! Summoning demons, protecting us from them... What does he want us to do?!



I can't think of any other reason as to why we're getting premonitions about the future other than to try and do something about them.

: Huh...? Wait a sec... That’s it!

: What? Don’t tell me it’s really for world peace...

: No, it’s not that. Do you guys remember that email?

: The one with those predictions? Y-Yeah...

: I thought about how the COMP’s functions would work in conjunction with it... Take this, for example... The death in Aoyama was blamed on an animal attack, right?

: Huh...? Yeah...

: What if it wasn’t an animal... but a demon, like the ones that appeared earlier?

: ...! Wh-What are you saying?!

: If you’re trying to scare us, knock it off!

: I’m not trying to scare you. I want to sort this thing out. Okay, to start out... If the email delivered to our COMPs really did predict that... Then we would have known when and where the attack was due to occur before it happened. So, if we wanted to, we could’ve been there at that moment. In addition, the COMPs are modified to summon demons and fight against them. So, what conclusions can we draw from this?



: Yeah... That’s what I think, too.

: Huh...!?

: There’s been a lot of weird stuff in the city recently. The Internet’s full of rumors. There have always been strange things happening, but there have been a lot of them lately. What if they were all ignored by the public... but they were actually caused by demons? And what if we can use these COMPs to fight those demons? ...!

: Then... are you saying these COMPs were made to fight the demons who are doing all this?!

: Yeah... That is, if demons are really the cause of these things.

: I’m so not doing that! Why don’t we just give these back to Naoya or somebody else?



Again, getting rid of these things is a monumentally stupid idea. That'd be like being in a firefight and just abandoning your gun because it's dangerous.

: No, that’s not what I mean, but...

: Naoya’s really good at planning things in advance. I don’t know why he chose us to have these, but there must be a good reason behind it.

: I mean, I don’t want to have to fight monsters like that again, either...

: But... If we get attacked by demons like the other victims, I can’t give this COMP up... Without them, we’re just normal people. We don’t stand a chance against demons!

: If... If you’re right, Atsuro, and this weird stuff is being caused by demons...

: And even if these COMPs were made to fight those demons...

: Then, why us?! The police should be the ones dealing with this stuff!

: We can give them to the police, but if we do, we’ll never get them back. That said, do you think we can really protect ourselves without them, Yoohoo?

: I’m sick of all this... Why is this happening...?

: ...? What’s wrong, Phones? Why are you staring above my head? Is something there?



Probably a good time as any to bring this up. Say, didn't the opening narration tell us to fear the numbers?

You explained that ever since the battle, you have seen numbers above people’s heads.
Most people walking by have a 7, but the three of you have a 1.


: A number over our heads? What are you talking about?

: I don’t see anything, but you look serious... What’s going on?

: Man... Is that because of the COMP, too? We know so little about all this... I feel like my head’s about to blow up!

: Hey, why don’t we go back to Naoya’s place, after all? All this about the COMP, the email, and everything else... We really need him to tell us.



I'd be incredibly amazed if he were even there, considering he was in a hurry to leave when we saw him in Aoyama.

: It’s better than sitting around here. C’mon, Phones. Let’s try to see him.

: Yeah... I need to talk to Naoya, too.

: Let’s go to Aoyama, Phones!

ChaosArgate fucked around with this message at 15:01 on Jul 23, 2016

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Kemix
Dec 1, 2013

Because change
To everyone who plays or is thinking of playing this game. RAISE YOUR STRENGTH, EVEN IF YOU ONLY RAISE IT TO ABOUT 10 OR SO, RAISE YOUR STRENGTH. I won't spoil it, but doing so will be VERY worth your time, even if you're running a Magic build like Argate here (Or are playing the 3DS version which makes making your MC a STR character worthwhile), don't go default strength, it will save some of the headaches for an upcoming thing later in the game.

Junpei
Oct 4, 2015
Probation
Can't post for 11 years!
As far as I can remember, you can only max 2 stars total, with a few points left over, unless you go for a jack-of-all-trades approach. Yuzu's a Magic/Agility and Atsuro's a Strength/Vitality, if my memory serves me right. So Argate, is Kazuya going to be a Strength/Magic, Magic/Vitality or Magic/Agility build?

ChaosArgate
Oct 10, 2012

Why does everyone think I'm going to get in trouble?

Junpei posted:

As far as I can remember, you can only max 2 stars total, with a few points left over, unless you go for a jack-of-all-trades approach. Yuzu's a Magic/Agility and Atsuro's a Strength/Vitality, if my memory serves me right. So Argate, is Kazuya going to be a Strength/Magic, Magic/Vitality or Magic/Agility build?

I'll cover this again probably next update, but I'm probably going to go Ma/Sp with some Vi thrown in for good measure. I don't actually like hybrid builds, but I will probably throw a few points into St for reasons unrelated to Kemix's post above.

AweStriker
Oct 6, 2014

Kemix posted:

To everyone who plays or is thinking of playing this game. RAISE YOUR STRENGTH, EVEN IF YOU ONLY RAISE IT TO ABOUT 10 OR SO, RAISE YOUR STRENGTH. I won't spoil it, but doing so will be VERY worth your time, even if you're running a Magic build like Argate here (Or are playing the 3DS version which makes making your MC a STR character worthwhile), don't go default strength, it will save some of the headaches for an upcoming thing later in the game.

I remember hearing that that specific thing was based on level, not strength, but I can't confirm.

Junpei
Oct 4, 2015
Probation
Can't post for 11 years!

ChaosArgate posted:

I'll cover this again probably next update, but I'm probably going to go Ma/Sp with some Vi thrown in for good measure. I don't actually like hybrid builds, but I will probably throw a few points into St for reasons unrelated to Kemix's post above.

You do have a few points that are left over if you max 2 stats, so you don't have to worry about wasting them.

Kemix
Dec 1, 2013

Because change

AweStriker posted:

I remember hearing that that specific thing was based on level, not strength, but I can't confirm.

I think I read somewhere it was based off Strength. And people have hosed themselves on certain ending routes at the end because they had base Strength since you can ONLY use the Attack command and only the MC can do it. But then again, I haven't played the game in a long time, and I don't intend to make a file to try and test this. That would require a low-level run to avoid bricking a save file (because god help you if you grind in this game after you only get a couple hundred XP for a full battle.

Kemix fucked around with this message at 06:48 on Jul 23, 2016

Kanfy
Jan 9, 2012

Just gotta keep walking down that road.
Yuzu probably has the most natural reaction for demons suddenly popping up out of handheld computers.

ChaosArgate posted:



Yuzu: Aaahh! Don’t come any closer!

Probably didn't mean to have that line twice.

Kemix posted:

(Or are playing the 3DS version which makes making your MC a STR character worthwhile)

What's the version difference there?

Artix
Apr 26, 2010

He's finally back,
to kick some tail!
And this time,
he's goin' to jail!
Overclocked backports some of DeSu2's physical skills (among other things), so there's actually enough to go around if you want to do a physical build and not have Atsuro sit on his rear end and twiddle his thumbs.

Junpei
Oct 4, 2015
Probation
Can't post for 11 years!

Artix posted:

Overclocked backports some of DeSu2's physical skills (among other things), so there's actually enough to go around if you want to do a physical build and not have Atsuro sit on his rear end and twiddle his thumbs.

Yeah, in DS1 you can basically only use one physical attacke out of Atsuro, Keisuke or Kaido.

ChaosArgate
Oct 10, 2012

Why does everyone think I'm going to get in trouble?

Hey guys, let's maybe curb the discussion about future events and characters that we have yet to get to or meet yet.

Kanfy posted:

Probably didn't mean to have that line twice.

Got it, thanks.

Tuxedo Ted
Apr 24, 2007

So basically Yuzu is that one guy in movies who always goes "I don't think this is such a good idea". I fell bad for Yuzu getting stuck with the Shaggy role, there's no easy way to be a well liked character with that albatross around your neck.

Does she at least have a useful stat spread to make her mechanically engaging?

ChaosArgate
Oct 10, 2012

Why does everyone think I'm going to get in trouble?

Yuzu is actually a really solid character who eventually caps Magic and can probably blast things before they can act. She can't take a punch, but who cares if she can destroy the opposition before they can do anything? Her 3 movement is her biggest fault, personality not withstanding, but that can be worked around.

Keldulas
Mar 18, 2009
Yuzu is basically your best NPC mage in terms of stat spread and availability since she comes in at the start. The movement sucks, yes, but I never found it particularly limiting because of some demons later that can compensate.

Junpei
Oct 4, 2015
Probation
Can't post for 11 years!

Tuxedo Ted posted:

So basically Yuzu is that one guy in movies who always goes "I don't think this is such a good idea". I fell bad for Yuzu getting stuck with the Shaggy role, there's no easy way to be a well liked character with that albatross around your neck.

The thing is, later on she acts sort of how most normal people would act in a similar situation to what she goes through, which paradoxically makes her annoying when she acts how most people would act, and I'm not entirely sure why this is. I'm no writer, but how can having a realistic acting character be unrelatable?

ChaosArgate
Oct 10, 2012

Why does everyone think I'm going to get in trouble?

Junpei posted:

The thing is, later on she acts sort of how most normal people would act in a similar situation to what she goes through, which paradoxically makes her annoying when she acts how most people would act, and I'm not entirely sure why this is. I'm no writer, but how can having a realistic acting character be unrelatable?

We will go over this in due time. Let's not go any further with discussion on how characters act later in the game. Remember:

quote:

:siren:NO SPOILERS:siren:

Do not talk about anything that hasn't come up yet.

Junpei
Oct 4, 2015
Probation
Can't post for 11 years!

ChaosArgate posted:

We will go over this in due time. Let's not go any further with discussion on how characters act later in the game. Remember:

I apologize.

Junpei fucked around with this message at 17:47 on Jul 25, 2016

Siegkrow
Oct 11, 2013

Arguing about Lore for 5 years and counting



Junpei just apologize, don't try to jutify yourself or you'll sound like you are trying to make it look like you did nothing wrong.

ChaosArgate
Oct 10, 2012

Why does everyone think I'm going to get in trouble?



Well, we know Naoya's not there, but I guess it can't hurt to humor Atsuro and Yuzu, right?. Anyway, short update this time since the next one's probably gonna be long.






: Man... We’ll never get near Naoya’s room like this...

: Hey! Over there!



: Hmm... Isn’t that Naoya’s mailbox?



: I suppose so. It looks like he hasn’t been to his apartment for quite a while...

Suddenly, all three of your COMPs’ email alerts go off...





I gave you three the COMPs because you will need the powers of the demons. If you want to survive, you'll have to learn how to use them.

I don't have much time right now. Head to Aoyama Cemetery. You'll meet a person there who will affect your future activities there.




Not much in the way of answers, but at least it's something? And we have a lead on where we should go to kind of get us pointed in the right direction? Anyway, here's the second mail. I'm not sure what the "DS" in "DS Admin" stands for, to be perfectly honest.

Doc V from the future to the rescue, again! In the original, the email is from the Demon Summoning Program itself!




an ally and command it.

Please note that "contracting" with the demons only occurs during the initial booting of this program. Defeating demons summoned via other COMPs does not apply either.

Also, a tutorial function has been added to assist you in battle. Please make use of it.

Have a safe and pleasant experience in your new life as a demon tamer.


It's not an SMT game if we don't get demons on our side (except Digital Devil Saga and Tokyo Mirage Sessions I guess. They're both still awesome though)! Next time we get into a scrap, we'll have the demons from our first fight by our side. Also, facing demons from other COMPs works like trainer battles in Pokemon; you can't capture other trainer's Pokemon tamer's demons.

: What... Who’s writing these? Can he hear what we’re saying or something? This is crazy!

: Haha... Naoya’s insight is his greatest strength. He’s a genius when it comes to knowing what people are going to do next.

: Anyway... Did you guys read the other email?



Fun fact, neither option actually changes the followup lines.

:Yeah, I wanted to point that out. Remember what those demons said during the battle? About submitting to us, contracts, lending their power... Sound familiar?

: Wait a sec! Gah... I can’t keep up with all this! It’s all so unreal...!

: Um, so, basically... The demons we fought can now be summoned from the COMPs? And they’ll be ]: our allies?

: Yeah, but I can’t say for sure until we actually try it out... After we got that email, something called ”Teams” got added to the COMP menu.

: Maybe this is why Naoya entrusted us with these COMPs.

: Geez! If that’s what he wanted all along, he could have just told us!

: Haha, yeah, I think so too. Sometimes he’s so smart I can’t understand him...

: In any case, the email from Naoya... It said to go to Aoyama Cemetery, right? It mentioned someone ”who will influence our actions,” but... who could that be?

: Sounds like someone we’re destined to meet... Do you think it’ll be human?

: Who knows...? Considering all that’s happened, anyone would be suspicious...



: Yeah, you’re right. It does say ”person,” after all. This is Naoya. He would have said ”monster” or ”someone” if he meant otherwise.

: ...Fine. I’d rather ask Naoya about this than sit around feeling scared and stupid! Well... I guess I’ve got no choice! If you two are going, I’m coming too! Let’s go!

Now that we're done in Aoyama, Atsuro has some stuff to say to us on the map.



: But, I found something in the COMPs’ functions. Let me explain it to you. The function called Skill Set looks like it’ll let us use powers like magic spells, too. If we have to fight demons again, it’ll help if we set our COMPs to let us use them. It looks like there’s a skill set for each of us right now. That’s a total of four skills. It looks like you choose the Team Setup option to distribute points to us.

Thanks for the infodump! So, most modern SMT games allow you to use the same skills the demons can use, but the way skills are acquired and set vary from game to game. For Devil Survivor, once you get a skill, you can just equip it from the main menu. Bear in mind that you only get one copy of each skill, so you can't set, say, Agi, the basic fire spell, on both Yuzu and Atsuro at the same time. Anyway, since this is a short update, let's end it with a quick peek at the menu.



There are a few empty menu options right now that we'll have filled in before long, but for now, we're going to look at the Profile and Team options. We've seen the Mail screen and Data just asks you to save your game. The COMP logo in the middle is replaced with a third Empty icon in Overclocked because the port adds another function to the COMP; one that I will sorely miss as I go through this LP.



This is the profile screen. You can see the main cast and get a little blurb about them if you select their portrait.



Like so. The profiles aren't especially important, but I guess you can use them to remind yourself of who uses what handle if you ever forget?









More importantly, let's look at the Team option. We can see our team make up here, look at their stats, their skills, etc. By default, Phones is loaded up with Agi; Atsuro has Zio, which is the basic electric skill and has a chance of paralyzing an enemy for the battle; and Yuzu has Dia, which is a light healing spell.



This is what the menu looks like for setting a skill. Characters get 3 Command Skills, 3 Passive Skills and 1 Auto Skill. Command Skills have to be activated, be it on the field or in battle, Passive Skills are always in effect and the Auto Skill activates at the start of a battle.



And this is our fourth skill, Leader Soul. Basically, we can have a party leader take a mortal blow for the demons flanking the leader if they would die to said attack. It's... not a very good skill, to say the least. I won't be equipping it; not that I can, seeing as how Phones doesn't meet the requirement to equip it. Phones currently has 4 Vi, which isn't quite enough. Skills in this game require certain stat thresholds to be met before they can be equipped and those thresholds can require up to two stats, unlike the sequel, where skills only required one stat each, so this game isn't as kind to min-maxing as the sequel.

And now, to close us off for this update, let's talk about our party members.




code:
Max Stats:
St: 35
Ma: 21
Vi: 30
Ag: 29
Despite being our intelligent hacker, Atsuro goes for a balanced Str build, so solid Strength, good survivability and speed, but he has a lot of magic that he's probably not going to take much advantage of because trying to do a mixed attacker build spreads your stats too thinly, although, he can probably make good use of some skills that require a good chunk of magic to use. He'd be a lot less useful in DeSu2 though, since that game is pretty much all about min-maxing. Still, Atsuro has a solid enough foundation and has the best availability of any party member, along with a fantastic attitude, that almost always guarantees him a spot on my team.



code:
Max Stats:
St: 23
Ma: 40
Vi: 23
Ag: 30
Yuzu kind of has a Ma/Ag build going on, but she dumps too many points into Str. I'd have stopped around the 15 point mark for strength, but I digress. Yuzu is still an excellent magical cannon that'll have a decent chance of going before enemies, which is good because she can't really take too many hits. I'll probably keep her around for the majority of the game, but I'm probably going to end up swapping her out for someone who isn't restricted to 3 move by default later on.

ChaosArgate fucked around with this message at 15:03 on Jul 27, 2016

NGDBSS
Dec 30, 2009






ChaosArgate posted:

It's not an SMT game if we don't get demons on our side (except Digital Devil Saga and Tokyo Mirage Sessions I guess. They're both still awesome though)! Next time we get into a scrap, we'll have the demons from our first fight by our side. Also, facing demons from other COMPs works like trainer battles in Pokemon; you can't capture other trainer's Pokemon tamer's demons.
You do get demons on your side in Digital Devil Saga. It's just that they happen to be your other party members rather than separate entities as would be the case in most games in the series. (The viewpoint characters/party members are also demons, of course.)

ChaosArgate
Oct 10, 2012

Why does everyone think I'm going to get in trouble?

Literally as soon as I posted the update, I realized I forgot to put together the dub track, so here it is.

http://tindeck.com/listen/tdcqc

NGDBSS posted:

You do get demons on your side in Digital Devil Saga. It's just that they happen to be your other party members rather than separate entities as would be the case in most games in the series. (The viewpoint characters/party members are also demons, of course.)

That's technically true. I meant more in the sense that you don't have Pixies and Kabusos fighting by your side.

NGDBSS
Dec 30, 2009






ChaosArgate posted:

That's technically true. I meant more in the sense that you don't have Pixies and Kabusos fighting by your side.
Oh, technicalities. :v:

More seriously, Atsuro's VA (Spike Spencer) sounds like Peter MacDonald from Metal Wolf Chaos. And presumably this is just coincidence, since the latter had no A-list voice actors (since it was never released in the US despite having full English voice acting). But still, the resemblance is uncanny.

Lord Koth
Jan 8, 2012

Aside from the Physical issues already alluded to, there's another reason people tend to run MAG builds, and that's due to how damage is mitigated. Physical damage is mitigated by VIT, but MAG governs both dealing and taking Magic damage.

Amusingly, for those counting stats, Yuzu does indeed have one extra point over Atsuro. In fact she has an extra stat point over EVERY character, bar one, with her final total being 116. There is a single character with 118, and another with 114, but every single other PC in the game is sitting at 115. Admittedly stats aren't everything, as between both HP and MP gain being independent of them with different characters having different rates, along with different ones having potentially more efficient spreads or maxing their relevant stats faster (for example, another magic based character actually does hew rather close to Argate's thoughts regarding ideal distribution, ending with only 17 STR and dumping the remainder into VIT, along with ramming the MAG cap incredibly fast) but it is interesting.

mateo360
Mar 20, 2012

TOO MANY PEOPLE MERLOCK!
ONLY ONE DIJON!

ChaosArgate posted:

I'm not sure what the "DS" in "DS Admin" stands for, to be perfectly honest.[/i]


I'm going to guess something along the lines of Demon/Devil Summoner/Server or something similar.

Doc V
Mar 20, 2010

mateo360 posted:

I'm going to guess something along the lines of Demon/Devil Summoner/Server or something similar.

Yep, I checked the Japanese script again and the original name for "DS Admin" is "Demon Summoning Program".

Kanfy
Jan 9, 2012

Just gotta keep walking down that road.

Doc V posted:

Yep, I checked the Japanese script again and the original name for "DS Admin" is "Demon Summoning Program".

Do you have a link to the script by any chance?

Doc V
Mar 20, 2010

Kanfy posted:

Do you have a link to the script by any chance?

I don't have an actual script dump or anything, I just looked up a Japanese LP on Youtube. There's a partial transcript at http://seesaawiki.jp/dsoctxt/(spoilers, obviously) but it seems to be very incomplete.

Kanfy
Jan 9, 2012

Just gotta keep walking down that road.

Doc V posted:

I don't have an actual script dump or anything, I just looked up a Japanese LP on Youtube. There's a partial transcript at http://seesaawiki.jp/dsoctxt/(spoilers, obviously) but it seems to be very incomplete.

Ah, gotcha.

ChaosArgate
Oct 10, 2012

Why does everyone think I'm going to get in trouble?

Do you guys want a dump of the Japanese script, by any chance? I only have the English ones right now but I should be able to apply the same process I used on the English ROMs to the Japanese one. I can't seem to figure out where the Laplace Mail is being stored though so you'd still need to get that from other sources.

theshim
May 1, 2012

You think you can defeat ME, Ephraimcopter?!?

You couldn't even beat Assassincopter!!!
The annoying thing about Atsuro (well, twofold) is that he's required for a lot of the endgame battles, so he's probably going to be your physical attacker, simply because there aren't really enough physical skills in the game to make more than one character work. Overclocked and DS2 fix this, but it's a mark against the original release that a lot of your ostensible freedom in building teams is constrained.

Doc V
Mar 20, 2010

ChaosArgate posted:

Do you guys want a dump of the Japanese script, by any chance? I only have the English ones right now but I should be able to apply the same process I used on the English ROMs to the Japanese one. I can't seem to figure out where the Laplace Mail is being stored though so you'd still need to get that from other sources.

Sure, why not? Probably beats skipping through Youtube videos, at least.

ChaosArgate
Oct 10, 2012

Why does everyone think I'm going to get in trouble?

Doc V posted:

Sure, why not? Probably beats skipping through Youtube videos, at least.

Alright, here you go.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yq12kilo8o3t1ve/DeSu1%20Japanese%20Script%20Files.zip?dl=0

You'll need Notepad++ for this. Also, some of these files are ordered by hexadecimal value, so they may not display in the correct order according to Windows.

Nissin Cup Nudist
Sep 3, 2011

Sleep with one eye open

We're off to Gritty Gritty land




Naoya looks like someone who is very clearly a good guy, yep

Cirosan
Jan 3, 2012

ChaosArgate posted:

I'm kind of wondering if the scrolling code is actually a snippet of the game's actual code.

I'd bet money this is the case. At a glance, the scrolling text appears to be a snippet of the game's AI coding to determine movement during battles (note the telltale "static void" preceding the function's name and how the function name starts with an underscore, presumably to make it turn up earlier in alphabetical listing as it would be convenient for a high-level function like AI to be), and has parameters for the subject's move value and their target's move value. The scrolling text even has comments in Japanese before each major block of code, if you look closely.

ChaosArgate
Oct 10, 2012

Why does everyone think I'm going to get in trouble?





Alright, we're off to Aoyama now to go meet with this mysterious person! We're also getting into a fight, so fun times all around!





: Here we are... So, who would be at a place like this?

: Don’t tell me it’s a ghost... I feel like there’s something out there... All those graves!

: Hang on a second... Aoyama Cemetery... That rings a bell...



Let's not forget that we were actually fated to come here.



I realize I haven't been doing a good job of showing off Phones's sprites. He really only changes expressions whenever you pick a dialogue option.

: Huh...!?





: Eeeeeeeek!



: An explosion in Aoyama Cemetery around 19:00... It’s just like what the email said!

: Look! Something’s coming...!

: Tch... That woman! I never knew humans could have such power!



: Gwahaha! Fools! You’re nothing like that woman! Do you really think you puny things can stop me!?



: Ugh... Lady Amane... I’m so sorry...



Interesting; his number faded away upon death. We can figure out the ramifications about that later, this demon's still out for blood.

: Aaaaaaah!

: Hmm? You humans are pests! Kill one, and another takes its place! I’ll kill you all!





We'll be learning her name later, but for now, this priestess is voiced by Laura Bailey, who is known for being Kid Trunks in Dragon Ball, Rise Kujikawa in Persona 4 and Female Boss 1 from Saints Row 3 and 4. She's also in almost everything!

: Grah...! So the wench thinks she can catch up to me!

Weirdly, there's a few unused lines of dialogue here where Atsuro notices the priestess's clothes and realizes that she's probably with the Shomonkai. They're used in Overclocked though.

: Hey! You guys need to run away! It’s dangerous here!

: Forget them, Atsuro! We need to run before we die too!





Well, so much for running.

: Wh-What the!? How many demons are there!?









Alright, let's get ready to rumble! This is the first time we get to see the battle prep screen. We're also shown victory and defeat conditions for the first time! They're simple enough, wipe everyone out, bring everyone who's available and make sure you don't get a total party wipe. During battle prep, you have the option to make adjustments to your team before beginning and you can also choose where your units begin the battle from a few tiles. There's one more option, but that's not available to us until tomorrow.



I'm gonna have everyone start like this. The blue tiles are where our units are allowed to begin battle. Yuzu, with her lack of range, will start closest to the Kobolds so she can actually reach them. Atsuro and Phones can reach them from where they begin. I've also opted to keep everyone's starting loadouts as-is from how the COMPs assigned them, but you don't have to. In fact, I'd probably recommend taking Atsuro's Zio spell and giving it to Yuzu.



You can also press Start on the prep screen to make a suspend save or look at the victory conditions again.





: Argh! I am SO gonna get you!

: Hey, you guys! It’s too dangerous here! Run!

: Yeah right! That’s not really an option right now!



: H-Hey! Say something!

: ...I guess I have no choice. I’ll cooperate with you. But Wendigo is far too powerful a foe for you right now. ...Leave him to me! I will follow your orders. Direct me as you please.

The priestess joined your party!

She'll be joining on a temporary basis for now, but her presence is much appreciated.



: Hey! The COMP’s saying something! ...This must be the tutorial that email mentioned!

: They showed up when we were fighting too! I guess some functions won’t be usable...

: Hey, Phones! Are there any functions you can’t use on your COMP anymore!?



: It must be those numbers they talked about at the Electric Museum! I’m confused! ...Oh wait! It looks like there’s more to the tutorial!

Each demon race has special skills called Race Skills.

There are two kinds:
·Automatic Activation Skills
·Command Activation Skills

Use the Race Skills to gain the upper hand in battle.

You can view the Race Skill’s effect with the HELP menu.


Remember the Pixie's Charm skill from last time? Or Kobold's Aggravate? Those are both racial skills. Each race of demons has their own unique skill; some better than others. We'll go over these as necessary later.

: So I’ve gotta use these demons’ skills, eh? Well, whatever it takes to survive!

: I... guess we have no choice. I’m glad we have demons on our side and all, but still...



First order of business is to have Yuzu take on this Kobold over here. I chose this one because it seemed safer than the other one to the lower right because there was another Kobold right next to it, but first, more tutorial.

A team consists of three units: You, the summoner, and two contracted demons.

Be cautious of the following:
·The leader is in the middle.
·If the leader is defeated, the whole team is destroyed.
·So long as the minions live, the leader takes less damage.
·If you defeat a leader first, the EXP and Macca of the remaining monsters is halved.

It is to your advantage to kill the minions flanking their leader.




So now that we can actually build a team, battles get a little more complex. The tutorial goes over the basic overview of the system, so I won't repeat it here. I will say though that the whole bit about leaders dying is why Leader's Soul isn't so great; you're basically protecting a demon at the cost of killing one whole team. Said demon won't even be usable! Anyway, Yuzu's team right now is team-No Damage; we've sent a pack of medics to go punch some dogs. This'll take a bit...



These are the standings after the battle. Yuzu and Pixie both went after the left Kobold to deal more damage to it and it's not even halfway dead.



Pixie took quite a beating last time, so I'm going to cast Charm to recover that. Charm is a basic healing spell that allows you to heal one team within a 3 tile radius of the user. It's a really light heal, but it's cheaper than Dia right now (6 MP vs 8) and gets the job done. It's also a full party heal compared to Dia's single target.



That's it for Yuzu's turn, so now Phones is up at bat. I'm having him go for the other nearby Kobold and I'm gonna have him start Aggravated so his Kobold can get a free crit.

Have you noticed when the words EXTRA TURN appear?

Those with EXTRA TURN displayed are at an advantage, and will receive more turns.

This is how EXTRA TURN works.
·Higher speed grants higher chances of getting EXTRA TURN.
·The attacking side gets them more often than the defenders.

Your actions during battle may also give you an EXTRA TURN or cancel your opponent’s:
·Exploit a foe’s weakness.
·Land a critical attack.

Use these tactics to increase your chances of getting or cancelling a foe’s EXTRA TURN.

A miss, or an attack that is resisted, absorbed, or reflected may aid your foe.

Pay close attention to your foe’s status on the COMP’s top screen to avoid this.


This next bit is actually different depending on who gets this tutorial message. Because Phones is getting it, it's just narrated to us. I'll include the lines from Yuzu and Atsuro in the dub track.

To make foes’ EXTRA TURN disappear and take it for yourself...

Strike their elemental weaknesses or land a critical attack!




Oh. It's a lone Kobold. Maybe I should've sent Yuzu this way after all. Oh well, let's roast it.



Phones got a level out of it too! Naturally I gave him a point of Ma. The next bit also varies depending on who gets the first kill.

It seems that defeating demons summoned by others does not enter them into a contract...

: Alright! I defeated it! So demons summoned by other people don’t join you when you defeat them? Man, that’s no fair...!

: Yes! We defeated them! Wait a second! Defeating demons summoned by others doesn’t make them join us· Kind of unfair to have to fight them if they’re not going to join the team...!



Atsuro's turn. I'm just going to move him up to here to set up.



Now for the priestess. She's way beyond our current level now and could probably roast that Wendigo without much trouble. Her only skill, Maragi, hits every enemy in a battle with a basic fire spell. She also has 3 move, just like Yuzu, but doesn't have as much speed.



And this is Wendigo. That level is kind of menacing, but its stats are pathetic. Normally, it'd have a build of 10/5/9/11, so this thing's missing about 8 levels. Still, it's a formidable foe for our main party since levels do play a part in calculating damage.



: Wendigo... Go back from whence you came!



So naturally, our three COMPs aren't the only ones around. We'll have to see how many other tamers we come across. I think Yuzu can also say something here, based on the script dump I'm reading, but I've never seen it. She'll probably say it if Atsuro dies before the Priestess goes.



Wendigo's a snowman, so introducing him to fire probably isn't too good for his health.



It survived with 1 HP though despite the fact that it should've been overkilled. Enemies that survive with 1 HP like this generally survive to show up in later events.

: Ghhh... Humans...! I’ve learned your smells! This is far from over!



Exit Wendigo, Mega Man style.

: I can’t just let him go! I can catch him if I go now. Please excuse me.



Bye, we'll miss you. Now to clean up the rest of the demons.



There's an enemy Pixie in the upper left corner of the screen that moved down closer to Yuzu on its turn. The Kobold Yuzu's been fighting goes for an aggravate before initiating a fight.



Right around here I was really wishing I put Zio on Yuzu. At least the left Kobold's almost dead! I mean so is Pixie, but we can patch her up easily enough.



I moved Atsuro up to block Yuzu from the Pixie that was coming her way and now this Kobold's going to Bind Phones. Bind is the racial skill of Jaki order demons and it cuts your movement range to 1 for a turn.



Movement is reduced to 1. It will last for one turn. "Devil Speed" will cancel it.



Oh you fucker! :argh: That Pixie didn't completely undo Yuzu's work, but it did pretty much undid her last battle.



And now Atsuro's being bound so we can't go flatten that team immediately.



Kobolds go again and are gung-ho about offing Yuzu. If not for the fact that the last Kobold used its Extra Turn to attack Pixie instead, Yuzu would've been wiped from the board.



The Kobold closest to Phones goes and attacks him. For his trouble, Phones roasts the Ogre without much difficulty.



On Yuzu's turn, she heals herself before starting the battle that finally offs the left Kobold. Hooray!



At least she can slap them better? Her turn ends with Pixie charming her team to full HP.



Atsuro's team has a lot more diversity than the other two, so by taking advantage of Ogre's many weaknesses (he's weak to Fire, Electric and Force), Atsuro easily overwhelms the Pixie with Extra Turns.



Atsuro's definitely going to make good use of that St point and Kabuso learning more elements is always a plus.



Kabuso's racial skill is the first passive one we get; Animal leg allows its user to move again after attacking.



Here, you can check the turn order, or use other convenient functions.

Thanks game? Weird place to put this tutorial, but whatever. Viewing turn order allows you to highlight characters on the top bar of the bottom screen and see who's coming up next. The camera will pan over to the unit highlighted so you can easily differentiate between identical demons. I think you can already do that by highlighting them on the map though, so it's not that useful.



Anyway Phones roasts that last Kobold and gets another level out of it.





It takes Yuzu two skirmishes to finally drop this Kobold and she almost hosed up the second one because she missed an attack. Thankfully, she had an Extra Turn. Pixie finally gets a means of attack as well.









New song! Sad Seeing is a melancholy guitar piece that I quite like. It's a good song to reflect with.

: *gasp* We made it through, somehow... I’m still shaking...

: Th-There’s nothing we can do about it... What we just went through... A... A person was killed...

: ...... Hey, the animal that attacked that person in the apartment... It was a demon, wasn’t it?



: Yeah, that’s what I thought...

: Demons, huh...? Looks like we’re prepared for the worst... In any case, I never thought the Shomonkai would be fighting against demons...

: They were using COMPs, too, and the demons didn’t really scare them. That explosion must’ve been caused when they were fighting earlier. They knew about the demons way before we got our COMPs!

: That means... The demons have been around for a long time, right...? What are the Shomonkai...?



: I kind of doubt that. But still, we don’t know anything here...

: Anyway... There’s no doubt that that Shomonkai girl had amazing powers. That big demon, Wendigo, seemed to be afraid of her, too... Could she be the person mentioned in that email from Naoya?



: I wonder, too. She seemed really strong, and I got this feeling from her...

: The emails, the demons, and now the Shomonkai... drat it! Too much to think about! All we can do now is pray that nothing more happens today...





: What’s going on?!



I hope they catch on that pretty much the entire day has been foretold by the email soon. A nice little touch is that the background slowly becomes visible again, like their eyes are adjusting to total darkness.

: The email...? O-Oh, yeah! That’s it!

: What’s wrong, Atsuro?

: ...Phones’s right. It’s a blackout! Remember what was in that first email? It said there’d be a blackout!

: Is this for real...? We don’t know if it’s city-wide, but so far it’s all coming true...



: Huh...? Why not? How can you not have reception in a place like this?

: Is this because of the blackout?

: But the phone centers have their own backup power, right? This doesn’t make sense!

: I don’t know! I just can’t use my phone!

: *sigh* I hope it’s only temporary... I’m really tired.

: It’s pitch-black... I never thought Tokyo would be so dark at night... Hey, what are we going to do now...?

: Wait...! Someone’s coming!



: So you are all safe. It’s as I thought... You’re demon tamers, as well. ...!

: Aren’t you that girl from a little while ago...?!

: I am Amane Kuzuryu, maiden of the Shomonkai. It’s nice to meet you...

Well that's certainly a namedrop. Kuzuryu is the name of a super-weapon meant to destroy the world back in SMT2.

: R-Right. I’m Atsuro Kihara, and she’s Yuzu Tanikawa.

: It’s a pleasure. Oh, and you are...?

This line was retranslated in Overclocked because Yuzu's the one saying it and it looks really dumb that she's asking who the main character is. Given the way script translation works, I wouldn't be surprised if the localizers thought this line was meant for Amane instead.



: Hey, Phones! This is no time for jokes! Get with the program here!



Sadly, Yuzu just repeats her line so we can't remain anonymous to Amane.

: Kihara, Tanikawa, and... Minegi. I shall remember your names. The Wendigo seems to have released his minions into this cemetery. I have set a simple barrier around this place tonight. It’s best if you stayed here.

: M-Minions? You mean, demons?! You said we should stay, but... this is a cemetery!

: It’s better than dying. Wait here until dawn, then head for the station. Now, I must go.

The fact that she's ok with just setting up camp in a cemetery and is very non-chalant about it probably raises a few alarm bells about how she is as a person. Still, she has a point.

: Hey! W-Wait!

: ...drat, what’s going on?!



: She said to stay here until the sun came up... Wh-What should we do...?



: We don’t have a choice. If she’s right, then it’s too dangerous to go anywhere now...

: B-But... This is a graveyard... Are we going to be okay?



This option doesn't affect anything, but it really should considering the followup.

: Y-Yeah... I don’t think I can go far anyway... My legs are like jelly...

: We don’t have a choice. Let’s take turns keeping a lookout... Ugh... I’ve never wanted it to be morning so hard in my life!





We did it, we survived! Every day, at the very end of the day, we get a few emails from the cast about the day's events.

Sunset also plays at the end of every day. It's a nice piece to just wind down to.


quote:

From: NAOYA
Subject: Laplace Mail

I'm sure you've noticed the Laplace Mail by now.

Kazuya, everything in this world has causes and effects.

If some intelligence could record and analyze every event simultaneously, the future would no longer be a mystery to us.

Ultimately, nothing created by man can ever truly be perfect, but you can use these messages to guide your actions from now on.

So what Naoya is getting at is the Laplace's Demon theory, which posits that if the position of every atom in the universe were known at once, the future and past could be derived from that data. I think that theory has been spit on in the face of things like quantum mechanics and Shroedinger's Cat, but regardless, the Laplace Mail we'll be getting is likely derived from this theory.

quote:

From: AT-LOW
Subject: Testing

Hey, it's Atsuro.

I was messing with my COMP and saw that the email app's still working, even in the blackout. If you know someone's COMP address you can send mail directly to them. Plus, it looks like two COMPs will automatically learn each other's addresses when they get close to each other. It takes a while, though. I'm going to teach Yuzu how to use this function.

Too much stuff happened today. I'm so tired. I just want it to be morning...



Some emails you can reply to, but I think it's mostly fluff, for the most part. Anyway, I have to wonder about how these mails are getting to us. The mail from the DS Admin might've come through the Demon Summoning Program's network, but maybe the other mails do too? Also, a cute little thing is the dash in Atsuro's handle. I believe in Japanese, it's a character that's called 'tsu,' so his handle basically is just a fancy way of saying his name; well, maybe if the "LOW" were a "ROW," but you get the idea.

Something I didn't know until just yesterday, if you didn't get the tutorial about Extra Turns in battle because you beat the demons faster than it could pop up (highly unlikely on a fresh New Game), it'll show up here as an email.

Alright, I think this update's gone on long enough. It's the end of the day, so let's call it here. Tomorrow's a new day and that means we've got to start planning our day! Next update'll probably be 3 events out of 4 and two of those are mandatory, so this thread vote is:

:siren:Do you guys want to hang out with Yuzu or Atsuro?:siren:

I'm currently out of state for a few days, so I'll call the vote when I get back home on Monday night. Have a nice day.

ChaosArgate fucked around with this message at 20:04 on Aug 6, 2016

Blaze Dragon
Aug 28, 2013
LOWTAX'S SPINE FUND

We should hang out with Atsuro, he's a bro.

Also I haven't played this game but from what I can see a full White Mage build isn't very useful, huh.

BlackPersona
Oct 21, 2012


Atsubro

Even if most of the options are more or less cosmetic, I like how the game lets you portray the main protagonist as competent and remembering details when everyone else doesn't.

Kemix
Dec 1, 2013

Because change
Hang out with Atsuro He's our best friend and Yuzu's annoying. Come on woman, I know we're in a hellhole on earth, but...seriously. We have demons, we can fight back. We can get stronger.

Logicblade
Aug 13, 2014

Festival with your real* little sister!
Let's hang out with Yuzu because she needs someone to hang out with.

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Junpei
Oct 4, 2015
Probation
Can't post for 11 years!
Atsubro

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