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Of course we're still afraid. We're still human, after all. No matter what the Devil did.
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Jan 19, 2016 03:59
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No more fear now. Let others fear.
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Jan 19, 2016 04:18
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We do not know fear
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Jan 19, 2016 05:35
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Glazius posted:Yes. Yes we are afraid. Afraid of all these things. Agreed
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Jan 19, 2016 06:51
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Lots of interesting points of view on all sides, but there's only so much time I can let pass. The questions are settled and I'll be getting to work before long!Shitenshi posted:Speaking of weak, an evil human girl and Ikebukuro mentioned in the same update? That can only mean Chiaki. Guess she's not half the hot poo poo she thinks she is if she got hosed by that wimpy psycho. I'd say endurance and resilience are their own kinds of strength, but I'd bet good Macca Chiaki doesn't see things that way. GeneralYeti posted:We don't fear. Not about anything. She's saying freedom hurts. The Lady in Black called Aradia a "god of falsehood", but that last speech sure seemed brutally honest to me! Llab posted:Seriously how is Ms. Takao not paralyzed/dead from having her neck twitch like that? I can't base this on anything, but I get the impression that while she's channeling Aradia, her body is temporarily the body of a god, and the body of a god would be a fair deal more durable and malleable than one might expect. ManlyGrunting posted:Also I can\t help but feel that every single human Francoise meets is just a little weirded out by his stubborn refusal to wear a shirt.  : I can't find one my size anywhere. I bet the Collector Manikin's got a stash, but who knows what he's doing with it. Honestly I'm just glad whoever stripped me back at the hospital didn't take my pants.Kacie posted:Aradia says at the end that "you are what is right - that is my Reason". Does Takao not remember that, or is that not a sufficient Reason for her? This Reason sounds like a Chaos reason; you make up the rules and change them as you please. Aradia is probably well aware of how the Vortex World functions, so she knows that she's not permitted to come up with a Reason herself. All she can do is encourage a human to make a Reason, any Reason, then gather Magatsuhi and summon her and make her a real part of a real world formed by the true power of creation. Of course, the problem here is that Ms. Takao is refusing to even consider coming up with her own Reason, so you have a god who can't make one, and a human who could but doesn't. We can only hope she catches on before one of the Stooges beats her to the punch! Miacis posted:Maybe that's why Yoko claims she hasn't been given a Reason. Reasons thus far had some sort of plan or vision of the new world, and while Aradia has life concepts and an ideology, she also cares little about how the world will be rebuilt. Right, that's the core of her message in the end. "Find the Reason within yourself, and I'll be the god you need to make it." The symbolism here is very telling; it's important to remember the point of a Rorschach test. The images by themselves have no meaning, they're ink stains on a page. Any meaning that an observer finds in the image is a reflection of the observer's own mind, and nothing else.
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Jan 19, 2016 08:50
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FrankZP posted:Right, that's the core of her message in the end. "Find the Reason within yourself, and I'll be the god you need to make it." The symbolism here is very telling; it's important to remember the point of a Rorschach test. The images by themselves have no meaning, they're ink stains on a page. Any meaning that an observer finds in the image is a reflection of the observer's own mind, and nothing else. I will admit that after having missed this game for a while, I did kind of forget (or failed to realize in the first place) that Aradia is actually saying something a bit more pertinent here and that the "freedom" she represents strikes me as having a bit of a double meaning (to us) regarding Yuko specifically. In Yuko's case, she seems to be waiting around for instructions and guidance while Aradia refuses to give it not just because gods don't seem responsible for Reasons, but because the idea of providing that kind of instruction seems counter to Aradia's own ethos of letting her followers do what they will. Hence, the somewhat terrible pairing of fake god of freedom with mentor that seems lacking in direction. Alternatively, now that I am writing this down, it strikes me that both characters seem to fill a purpose of mentorship with regards to Francois, the human who once guided the human side and the god that guides the demon. Aradia is less of a guide to Yuko then she is to Francois.
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Jan 20, 2016 03:54
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ModeWondershot posted:I will admit that after having missed this game for a while, I did kind of forget (or failed to realize in the first place) that Aradia is actually saying something a bit more pertinent here and that the "freedom" she represents strikes me as having a bit of a double meaning (to us) regarding Yuko specifically. In Yuko's case, she seems to be waiting around for instructions and guidance while Aradia refuses to give it not just because gods don't seem responsible for Reasons, but because the idea of providing that kind of instruction seems counter to Aradia's own ethos of letting her followers do what they will. Hence, the somewhat terrible pairing of fake god of freedom with mentor that seems lacking in direction. Hmm, good point yeah. The Demi-fiend seems to be a recurring element in Vortex Worlds all over the Amala Universe, so it stands to reason that Aradia would know about it and go to great lengths to get him on her side, or at least in a place favorable to her. Yuko'll come up with a Reason or she won't, but if she does she'll definitely need strong demonic allies to defend her and fight for her, and getting us on her side would be a huge priority since everyone else has such a head start. Alright, update incoming, hold on to yer hats.
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Jan 21, 2016 20:19
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I'm alive. Suffering, humiliation, deceit, torment. Compared to dying in the Conception... Compared to following Yosuga, Musubi, or Shijima... Four blessings. I may not be able to create the new world myself, but if it's in my power to prevent it from being made abominable, then I'll pay any cost with my head held high. I owe that much to those who have died, and to those who will live.  : She's gone again. : Wouldn't it have been nicer to invite her to come with us? : No, I don't think so. She needs to see everything with her own eyes. Besides, if her god has any sense, she'll be protected anyway. : I hope you're right about that. This Aradia doesn't seem very reliable, and we're running low on humans.: I know what you mean, but I have to trust that Ms. Takao knows what's best for herself. Otherwise I'd just be some jackass telling her what to think. : I AM CURIOUS. WHAT WOULD YOU TELL HER TO THINK, IF IT WERE YOUR PLACE TO DO SO?: Oh, heck, I don't know. I haven't really... I have more productive things to think about, you know? : Speaking of which, have you decided on our next step?: Ah, I have. We're going back to the Labyrinth.: To see Kamala, right?: Yeah. The Fiends are an immediate concern for now, seeing as they seem to delight in ambushing us. : What, did you expect us to just sit around waiting for you to exterminate us at your leisure?: That's odd, I seem to remember your red and black colleagues waiting for us in completely out-of-the-way places. : Calling both of them the Yellow Riders would probably get pretty confusing.: Well, I, uh, you see...: Alright, alright, you guys can stop picking on the incarnation of death, we'd be here all day, : I hate reminding you of this, but while we're down there, we could visit the Efreet again.: Gah, yeah, I'll think about it. Maybe we can actually fight a battle or two while we're there this time, we're much stronger than we used to be. Speaking of which, we ought to visit the Cathedral before we head down. : Should any of us be worried about...: Welp, time's a-wastin'! Let's go!*: We head for the nearby Terminal.  : Hmm? : ...Heard she looks nice from behind, if you catch my drift!: If you're talking about the Lady of the Fount, you're at the wrong end of the park.*: We warp to Shibuya. At the Cathedral, the first thing I do is fuse Nigi Mitama to Nue.  Nue keeps all its skills and experience, gains Force Boost and Rakunda, and receives a point of Magic and Luck. The stat bonuses will be lost when I perform a regular fusion with Nue again, but I wanted it to have a full skill list so the result will inherit as many as possible. : Aight sweetheart, you're up.: ...what? After all we've been through together? Really?: Well it's not like I'm showing you the door. Besides, maybe somewhere down the line we can get together without you turning me into a California Raisin.: Oh, fine then. I was halfway expecting to be sacrificed anyway. Who am I hooking up with for now then?: You'll love this. Yo, over here! : Awoo?: You have got to be-: Press the button! : You are such a glorious cad, young man.Nue + Succubus =    : You really gonna hit that?: Haha, hahaha, haha hahahaaaaa... No.quote:Lv 54 Beast Sparna *: That's all we're fusing for now, but I have plans for the very near future, and in fact I summon a Bicorn from the Compendium in preparation. This leaves us with one open slot, and I want to fill it right away. We warp back to Yoyogi Park.    : What are you smoking? You can't throw a Preta around here without hitting a god.: Good day, sir.: Well then! : Hmph.: Hell, I'm related to a bunch of gods, I probably count too.  : After you went inside, the sky lit right up. It was like magic! *: That's right, Titan is recruiting Titania. : Why don't you ditch these losers? You'll never travel with a more awesome crew than ours. : My goodness! Do you plan on taking me with you? If that's the case... Could you endow me with 1280 Macca?: ...boss?: Just pay the lady.: *frown* This is still not good enough.*: She asks for some more small change. : It is still not enough. I am NOT that cheap. Would you be so kind as to give me 1 Amethyst?: Alright, here-: Actually, no. We don't have 200000 of those.: You heard the man. That a deal-breaker?: Would you be so kind as to give me 670 Macca?: Now we're talking.: Just a little more...*: More cash. : Then before joining you, I shall ask for your opinion. : Hell, are you kidding me? If I hadn't swallowed my pride, I'd be homemade titan puree by now. This is loads better. : Yeah, well, I'm still breathing, and I'm kicking rear end besides.: You know, love... You have been quite a bore.: Are these the manners of fairy royalty?: ............ Well, it would go against my values to leave without permission. > Titania seems to be satisfied. : I am Titania of the Fairy lineage. I will serve you gracefully.: Ha! Excellent decision!> Titania joined your party. *: Titania is now our highest level party member. She only knows Glacial Blast and Pester right now, but she'll lean Mediarahan on her next level and generally turn into a spectacular healer before long. It's hard to say no to Expel/Death reflection and general magic resistance, too. Now that this is settled, we go heal at the Fountain, and take the small Terminal back to the eastern entrance, then leave on foot towards the east. We missed at least one area in the Asakusa Tunnel and I want to make sure there's nothing important down there.  : She was still in high school, you enormous creep.: I think he might be talking about someone else.: Ms. Takao? Okay, that's better.: No, someone else, even.: Do you know something I don't?: Oh, err, hmm. Of course not!: ...right.  *: Aaaand that's it. At least it makes up for one of the Chains I used in the Girimehkala fight. Time to head back out. Bicorn has leveled up three times and learned all its skills by now, so we return to the Cathedral. Raja Naga + Bicorn + Deathstone =  : There will be more blood before this is all over. Trust me.: Heyo. : Fancy meeting you here!: If you can't beat 'em, right?: Oh absolutely.: It's adorable how you schmucks pretend you had a say in this. I'll allow you to keep it up.: Yes sir.: Thank you sir. *: Welp, Titania wasn't our highest-level ally for very long, eh? Alright, that's enough for now. Next stop: the First Kalpa.  : Huh. We were just there, I can't believe we missed it. Welp, thanks.*: We go the Third Kalpa next. We have 17 base Luck now and I want to see if we can open more doors, preferably before we get mangled by the cursed corridor.  Ah-ha! We can in fact open this door at least.   : Well hey, that does sound pretty rad.   : How about you? Would you be interested in buying it? This stone, called a Deathstone, is supposed to bring death to you. But, who knows? Maybe you'll find a use for it. You can have it for the bargain price of 100000 Macca. Well, how 'bout it?: Yikes, no thanks.: That's fine. If you change your mind, feel free to come back anytime.*: There is only a finite quantity of Deathstones you can find in Cubes around the Labyrinth, but this guy sells as many of them as you can afford. Once you master all Magatama, your alignment is guaranteed to add up to Neutral, so you're never permanently locked out of this place.   quote:Lv58 Fallen Decarabia  *: Another Luck door takes us to an unexpected location.  That's 100000 Macca saved right there. Yet another Luck door denies us passage and sends us back to the main area. That's about all we can do here right now. Final stop in the Labyrinth today: the Second Kalpa. Zed levels up and learns Deathbound, Gaea's first skill. It targets random enemies like Berserk and scales off HP like Heat Wave, and it's purely a physical damage attack. I still prefer Xeros-Beat right now, even if only for the Bind chance.  Welp, no sense putting it off any longer. Zed ingests Anathema for the immunity to Death, and we summon Titania and both Riders. ...yeah no, the corridor damage makes it ridiculously impractical to heal up between fights. We unsummon all our allies and Zed makes a run for it on his own. Let's just say Endure comes in repeatedly handy.  And we make it on the second try!  : But I... That's... I don't... Oy. You don't have a table I could flip, do you? : Nope.... I need to punch something. *: Which is to say, it's Fiend-clobberin' time! We warp to Shibuya and walk to Yoyogi Park, since that's less hassle than going to the park's Terminal and fighting our way to the other side.  : A woman?: ...She's probably a monster here to eat us! That's another bad thing that's gonna happen to me...A woman... Is the next Fiend a woman? Hmm. There's no reason that shouldn't be possible.  : Can't blame them, I suppose.: But even then, they got dragged into the way over Magatsuhi...*: As we enter the small room to the north of the entrance...  > The flames of the Candelabrum of Sovereignty are flickering wildly...  Cutscene + Boss battle: Fiend Mother Harlotquote:Fiend Mother Harlot *: The Mother Harlot is a tough cookie. On top of the usual boss immunities, she reflects physical damage (which I learned at White Rider's expense) and absorbs electric damage. Her signature moves are Death Lust, which inflicts special Mind-element damage and has a chance to inflict Charm, and Beast Roar, which is a powerful Almighty attack that also restores 10% of its user's HP. She also knows Dragon Eye, Makajamon, Maziodyne, Bolt Storm (electric damage, random hits, basically a souped-up Shock), Focus, and Dekunda. Notably, her basic attack hits seven times, but if one is dodged, they all miss. One might be tempted to use Magic Mirrors or Makarakarn in this fight, but reflecting Maziodyne or Bolt Storm will trigger the Harlot's electricity absorption, so it's best to bring along resistant demons instead if you got 'em. That said, this time I preferred to try avoiding the Charm ailment as a priority; Sparna and the Riders nullify all ailments, and Iyomante protects Zed from Mind effects. Of course, the White Rider taking himself out, not to mention the discovery of the Harlot's physical reflection, required a change of plans. I figured I'd have Sati bring him back for Prominence while the remaining Rider and Sparna played support, but then I figured I might as well let Agidyne and the Force Boosted Zandyne see us through. Once the Black Rider was done with stacking Sukukaja, Long wasted a few turns on Makarakarn before I realized I ought to be using his Makakaja instead, and that was the end of that. Oh, and before I forget. The question the Beast asks us before the fight seems really important, but it has no mechanical or story effect. Only one more to go.  : ...I heard an incredible woman appeared at Ikebukuro! Now something bad IS gonna happen to me!*: That's our cue. We walk back to Shibuya, do the usual town stuff, then warp to Ikebukuro.  Door's open. Let's see what's going on. *: The place is no less deserted than when we were here last. But maybe something's going on on the top floor.  Cutscene: Strength and beauty: Chiaki! CHIAKI! What the HELL!? Open up! : DAMMIT!: What a horrid child.: IF SAKAHAGI IS THE ONE WHO TOOK HER ARM, SHE MUST BE TRULY STRONG TO HAVE MADE IT ALL THE WAY BACK HERE.: That drat psychopath... If only I could kill him a second time!: Why are you angry at him? Is she not your enemy?: If he had finished the job, it would have saved us a bunch of trouble.: That's not what I... Ugh!: I'm sure our master is finding it difficult to rejoice about bad things happening to his friends.: Bad things? She doesn't seem too broken up about it by now.: I suppose it got her what she wanted.: In any case, it would have been much simpler to eliminate her when we had the chance.: If you're going to start suggesting I go around murdering unarmed women in case they grow into threats...: Boss, I don't mean to interrupt, but if a bunch of Yosuga types are coming here, maybe we ought to make ourselves scarce.: Gah! You're... probably right. Let's get moving. *: The brasiers' flames here have turned blue. Things are definitely different now.  Angels in the Mantra HQ, that's new. In fact, all encounters around here are now against various Divines.   : ...What a splendid idea! *: The whole HQ's color scheme has changed, too.   : ...But, since I agree with the Reason of Yosuga, I shall protect her.The angels are flocking to her side. Man, if I thought she had a big head before...   quote:Lv50 Divine Dominion  : No. gently caress off. : ...Hmph, what a bore. : There's a demon at Kabukicho claiming to be an Emperor... That's what I hear. The world only needs demons of Yosuga... Quite annoying.It bugs me that someone's taken the place over, but at least it's not Chiaki's people. Maybe we should take a look once we're done here.   : Err, no.: I hear there are two men struggling for Magatsuhi, using the terminals. They must be fond of terminals, I reckon... Quite amusing, if I do say so myself. After all, the world will soon be Yosuga's.Huh. I guess Hijiri tracked down Isamu at last.   : Hmph... Yosuga needs no jails!: ...: Why, you ask? ...Because the weak will die.*: Sati levels up, and replaces Recarm with Samrecarm, which revives a demon with full HP. One more level to go before she evolves! The rest of Ikebukuro still has its old encounters, but there are new NPCs around.   : Not bad... : There is nothing to worry about... : When Yosuga takes over the world, cleaning the city should be top priority...  : ...It still feels like home, though.: Dude, just find a way to go to Asakusa, alright? Do me a favor. : ...I'd be the first to go. : Uh-oh... I'll be picked, right?: Better get started on your training! : She's inherited Gozu-Tennoh's power. ...It's time to rock!*: That's about it for Ikebukuro. We heal up, save, and warp to Kabukicho.   : ...This is all the Emperor's doing.Things seem different here too. But as long as the mirage isn't back, we shouldn't have any trouble finding this Emperor.  : I'd go whoop the boy, but I'm too cold to move! He got lucky... this time... : This all feels... strangely familiar. : He's in Mizuchi's room acting all big. Is he an ex-Mantra?: Doesn't matter. If he's an rear end in a top hat, he'll be an ex-Emperor before long.  : The Emperor is Kabukicho's number one, hee ho! : Yeah, I'm! You want a piece? : ...Wait up! I'm not dumb enough to go against you. : I'm listening.: ...Have you ever seen a Jack Frost named Heeho?: Oh, yeah, sure, I remember him. He used to run a store in Shibuya, before he left on... on a trip. To get stronger...: YOU DON'T THINK...?: Hmm.: I hear he has something to do with the Emperor...: Well, he seemed like a nice enough fellow. Maybe we came here for nothing.*: We drop at save at the fifth floor Terminal. Zed levels up soon afterwards. He passes on learning Kamurogi's Life Gain, but does earn an extra +1 Vitality!    : Hee! Ho! Hee! Ho! Cutscene + Boss battle: Night Black Frost : Poor, dumb little guy.: He got so far too! What a shame.: If he had come with us, maybe it would have ended differently.: I sure would have put the kibosh on any plans to become evil. Let that be a lesson to the rest of you, I guess.quote:Night Black Frost *: Black Frost can be a right pain in the butt. Offense-wise, he's nothing we haven't seen before; he only knows Mamudoon, Mabufudyne, Berserk and Diarama. You might think he's weak to fire damage, but he in fact reflects it. He also reflects Death and ailments instead of merely nullifying them, absorbs ice, is immune to Expel, and has a special type of physical resistance that reduces physical damage by 90% instead of 50%. You can essentially only hurt him with Force, Electric or Almighty damage. Fortunately, Sparna is still a Force-type killing machine. On top of that, Black Frost knows neither Dekunda nor Dekaja, so there's a license to neuter him hard. And with Miasma, Long and the Black Rider taking care of ice damage, the biggest threat was from Mamudoon, and we got a little lucky there.  Satan is a strong caster-inclined Magatama judging from its stats, but it comes with an odd grab bag of skills, the first one of which is Jive Talk, which allows the Demi-fiend to converse normally with Wilder, Haunt and Foul demons at any time. That's kind of neat, but I can't think of any real build that'd let it use up a slot.  The Jack Frosts are gone. I suppose they were mostly harmless, but there's no telling what Heeho was going to do from here.  : Problem solved!: ...I see.: Heeho's training paid off, in the end, even if only for a short while.: So, the Emperor WAS Heeho!? Wow! : But, how did a run-of-the-mill Jack Frost get so much power? Did he get a bunch of Magatsuhi from somewhere? ...Weird.Maybe it was the Magatama he had. I better hang on to these.  : A lot has happened here, but now it's finally quiet.*: We reach the Terminal and save. It would appear our next lead is Hijiri again. It might be hard to find him if he's in the Network somewhere, but I suppose Asakusa is as good a place to start as any. Cutscene: KnowledgeOh for... Dammit, Hijiri! You used to be the sensible one! : ARE WE GOING AFTER HIM?: Yeah, but not right away, we need to hit the Fountain first. And besides, maybe one of them will take out the other and it'll be that much less hassle for us.: So it's fine when someone else does the murdering?: They're both butts, who cares.
FrankZP fucked around with this message at 20:59 on Jan 21, 2016 |
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Jan 21, 2016 20:25
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Does anyone get to create a reason who isn't a total freak? Hijiri and Isamu spend way too much time on the internet, Chiaki gets an art-deco angel wing/arm that also remodels her wardrobe so her tits threaten to pop out of the top like a exploding roulade, Ms. Takao is an infuriating doormat and Hikawa... is Hikawa. The one desiring harmony turned the world to chaos. The teacher utterly fails to learn any lesson even when her god spoonfeeds her. The one desiring a merciless world of strength gets teabagged and bitches about it. The one wanting to accomplish it all alone gains power through uniting with others. And the one desiring to share and spread truth now only wants knowledge for knowledge's sake.
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Jan 21, 2016 21:06
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I'm still surprised how easy it is to notice that Chiaki is missing her right arm, courtesy of her encounter with Sakahagi. Getting that replacement must have done wonders for her ego. It's funny how Francoise was a human who was forced into becoming a demon and can't create a Reason because of that, he can only follow in the footsteps of others. Yet Chiaki and Isamu created Reasons precisely because they were weak humans and became demons to escape their weaknesses, and now they're completely dead set on whatever harebrained ideas they came up with while scared and alone, instead of moving past their issues which are moot right about now if only because they should be focusing on gathering together to make the new world a better place and come up with a Reason they all can all agree on as humans both from living in the better old world and surviving in this demonic one, instead of defining it by their worst experiences. And I always knew that Yosuga was the Reason of paranoia, where even the best of the best would be afraid for their lives either in fear of someone stronger or simply mob mentality deciding otherwise, but it's covered with angels. Even low level bondage angels and wimpy archangels. The one Principality goes so far as to bitch and moans about Black Frost, when instead they should be trying to get a badass like him on their side. In a true Yosuga world, they'd respect him simply for his strength, not see him as a nuisance but no, they still think in terms of groups and alliances instead of embracing the whole of their ideal. It's like that with the whole Vortex World. Isamu is already alone in the network, but no, he has to force his dream upon others because he doesn't want solitude, he wants pleasure, and Hikawa has forced the world into submission both in its creation from destruction and since he holds the dominant power structure to make others submit yet the many possibilities of life which include destruction just as well as paradise are an affront to him because they are impermanent. Every Reason was already there whether it was the natural brutality of the demons running rampant while the Manikins were shat upon (Yosuga), the lack of any power structure and ambition in anyone both weak and strong to challenge the status quo and only living by whatever horrors the wasteland threw at you (Shijima) or simply the sheer need for escapism and selfishness such a place would drive you to (Musubi). It was only when humans each went solo and harnessed the demonic Magatsuhi to kill each other that the power structure was thrown into whack, and ironically enough, you know the wrenches will get hosed up sometime soon in the new worlds these people dream of. In terms of the real world application to these Reasons, I'm beginning to think Yosuga is more nepotistic than anything else. And to follow up on that, Shijima is pure despair and apathy to actually making a positive change in the world in the face of adversity, while Musubi is bitter resentment where others have it better off than you, instead of really making something you can be proud of to fix that situation. If nothing else, I sure as hell wasn't expecting this post to get so bloody long. Shitenshi fucked around with this message at 21:59 on Jan 21, 2016 |
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Jan 21, 2016 21:56
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loving hell Hijiri! You were sensible! YOU WERE SENSIBLE! NOW WE HAVE TO GO INTO THE
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Jan 21, 2016 22:51
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 A fair reminder since this is the point where the game starts throwing physical-reflecting/nullifying enemies at you: the Freeze ailment negates those for the duration of your turn, and you have a physical Demi-Fiend. Black Rider and Titania might be your best countermeasures with their Glacial Blast. And François can also learn it from Miasma. It also turns all attacks into criticals. With Divine Shot, that's some pretty good purée potential.  also what the hell Hijiri what is wrong with you Miacis fucked around with this message at 23:05 on Jan 21, 2016 |
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Jan 21, 2016 23:01
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Is there a reason you always have your demons dismiss themselves when you're summoning a new one? That's a waste of a turn; IIRC you can summon demons right on top of other ones and it'll auto-dismiss whomever was in the spot.
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Jan 21, 2016 23:40
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Man, things are going south fast on the whole ally front. On the plus side, I think Satan teaches Deadly Fury 
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Jan 22, 2016 02:33
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I see the game has remembered that it is a post-apocalyptic hellscape setting. Sadly, that means the poor stupid Jack Frost friend had to go. Also, those things that Chiaki went through. I'm sure Isamu is even more of a mess now. If everyone is forsaking their humanity, I say we should fight even harder to keep what's left of ours. By which I mean, when we have kicked in everyone's asses, we should take a moment to rub their noses in it. Then flip them the bird, and burn everything down/beat a good Reason into someone's head, and retire to live like a king/Sole resident of Vortex town.
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Jan 22, 2016 08:41
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I like how our transformation was technically the most gross - getting a demon essence parasite dropped in your eye/mouth and regularly swapping it out for others - and yet other than the neck horn and some sweet tats, we look the most human.
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Jan 22, 2016 08:58
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Lunar Suite posted:I like how our transformation was technically the most gross - getting a demon essence parasite dropped in your eye/mouth and regularly swapping it out for others - and yet other than the neck horn and some sweet tats, we look the most human.
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Jan 22, 2016 09:09
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Sylphosaurus posted:The neck horn looks like one major discomfort though, is it supposed to symbolize something special or is it simply a weird design choice? I always thought it was just stupid anime hair. But I don't remember if Francois had that as a human. e: Apparently not. Maybe it's the Magatama's tail sticking out. 
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Jan 22, 2016 10:07
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To be fair to Hijiri, going by what we know it does seem like somebody has to pull off the whole creation thing in order for the world to move on from this whole post-apocalyptic hellscape thingy. At the moment Hijiri seems like the least objectionable candidate of the bunch, albeit only by process of elimination.
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Jan 22, 2016 10:25
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Miacis posted:
Only in a game like this is the term "You ingested Satan." perfectly reasonable. I also did not remember freeze did this, pretty handy.
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Jan 22, 2016 10:46
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Sylphosaurus posted:The neck horn looks like one major discomfort though, is it supposed to symbolize something special or is it simply a weird design choice? According to the wikia: http://megamitensei.wikia.com/wiki/Magatama posted:Kazuma Kaneko has stated that the horn is actually a primitive brain or sensory organ. Through the development of this horn, the Demi-Fiend acquires the actual powers of a demon and is capable of using magic and directly interacting with demons.
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Jan 22, 2016 12:16
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Welp, it's pretty clear what needs to be done. Smash the system Francoise, bring the whole rotten mess down and go party with the demons. Humanity is gone, Earth is gone, the only humans have gone insane or are willfully ignorant of how things work, and the best conversationalists and companions you have are an eclectic mix of gods, demons and miscellaneous spirits. So in the words of a great man, "Blow it all up!"
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Jan 22, 2016 12:18
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GatewayOfLastResort posted:I also did not remember freeze did this, pretty handy. Yep. Freeze and Shock turn all physical attacks into Critical Hits. Which make Ice and Elec superior elements, really. Unless there's some power differential between the elements...
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Jan 22, 2016 18:40
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What's the difference between what happened to Francis and what's happening to, say, Isamu and Chiaki?
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Jan 23, 2016 01:39
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On the plus side, it won't be long (relatively speaking anyway) before you can fuse the Mother Harlot. She always was one of my favorites because of her phys repel and absorbing lightning.Glazius posted:What's the difference between what happened to Francis and what's happening to, say, Isamu and Chiaki?
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Jan 23, 2016 01:48
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Glazius posted:What's the difference between what happened to Francis and what's happening to, say, Isamu and Chiaki?
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Jan 23, 2016 01:48
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Lunar Suite posted:The one desiring harmony turned the world to chaos. The teacher utterly fails to learn any lesson even when her god spoonfeeds her. The one desiring a merciless world of strength gets teabagged and bitches about it. The one wanting to accomplish it all alone gains power through uniting with others. And the one desiring to share and spread truth now only wants knowledge for knowledge's sake. A lot of people would rather try to change the world than admit they should get started by trying to change themselves first. "I'm a good person, everything I like is good, I rarely make mistakes, if I do make a mistake I always mean well so there's no point in punishing me, and if something hurts me or makes me sad or angry then it's a bad thing and it needs to go away." Remember, kids: introspection's not just good for 17 points in Scrabble! Shitenshi posted:In terms of the real world application to these Reasons, I'm beginning to think Yosuga is more nepotistic than anything else. And to follow up on that, Shijima is pure despair and apathy to actually making a positive change in the world in the face of adversity, while Musubi is bitter resentment where others have it better off than you, instead of really making something you can be proud of to fix that situation. If nothing else, I sure as hell wasn't expecting this post to get so bloody long. The Vortex World itself functions on rules that essentially aim to shake it up into a strict autocracy, where in the end and for the new beginning, one human calls all the shots and silences all opposition. And of course, as with all autocracy, or all human autocracy maybe, no one person has the necessary perspective to be an effective benevolent dictator, if they even care to be benevolent in the first place. The only beings with the permission to come up with a Reason that will encompass an entire new world are inherently unsuited to the job. The only non-deluded options are for one to realize and accept with eyes clear and open that one will create a flawed world, or for one to try and flip tables and birds alike. Other than that, I wish I had more to respond with than "hmm-mmm, yup" then stroking my beard and nodding in satisfied assent, but, well, hmm-mmm. Yup. :3 Miacis posted:A fair reminder since this is the point where the game starts throwing physical-reflecting/nullifying enemies at you: the Freeze ailment negates those for the duration of your turn, and you have a physical Demi-Fiend. Black Rider and Titania might be your best countermeasures with their Glacial Blast. And François can also learn it from Miasma. Yeah, that's probably in the cards, it'll have to happen sooner or later. The MP expenditure is going to take some adjustment on my part, but Shock's not worth its slot anymore, even with one of the high Magic Magatama on. TheOneAndOnlyT posted:Is there a reason you always have your demons dismiss themselves when you're summoning a new one? That's a waste of a turn; IIRC you can summon demons right on top of other ones and it'll auto-dismiss whomever was in the spot. That would be because SMT1 gives you a "Your party is full." message when you try to summon with no space left, and it didn't even occur to me that this would have changed. So, uh, mind blown, thank ye.  There are still some occasions when it's worth it to let demons dismiss themselves; if the Demi-fiend has something more urgent to do (like using a Bead on himself or a Tetraja Rock or an ailment cure) but you still need an ally to get out of harm's way, for example. ManlyGrunting posted:Man, things are going south fast on the whole ally front. On the plus side, I think Satan teaches Deadly Fury I haven't entirely decided which group-target or multi-target skill I'm going to go with in the end, but I'm definitely looking forward to Deadly Fury, at least as a stepping stone. That said, in general, I'm genuinely surprised at how well Xeros-Beat has been serving us; I haven't seen it outright miss even once, and it usually gets at least a crit or a Bind proc. That 40% HP cost is a real downer though. Cerebral Bore posted:To be fair to Hijiri, going by what we know it does seem like somebody has to pull off the whole creation thing in order for the world to move on from this whole post-apocalyptic hellscape thingy. At the moment Hijiri seems like the least objectionable candidate of the bunch, albeit only by process of elimination. If he comes up with an acceptable Reason, we might have to put up with him being a megalomaniacal tosspot. But he pretty clearly looks like he thinks he can pull it off without us, so who knows? Glazius posted:What's the difference between what happened to Francis and what's happening to, say, Isamu and Chiaki? I think there's only ever the one official Demi-fiend, and that's us. But the others have definitely received their own infusion of demonic power, and I don't remember the game elaborating on whether they still count as human. But their Reasons are born by now, so the question is essentially academic at this point. That said, it's been kind of implied throughout the series that Lucifer is at least somewhat fond of mankind, and the Magatama may have been intended to only cause relatively minor deformities, while Gozu-Tennoh and the Amala Network loner collective would have no such sentimental attachment or respect for the human form. Also, Lucifer's been pretty up-front about letting us do whatever we want as long as it's not boring, while the other transformations have conditionally come with a very definite purpose. Francois could change his mind about anything at any point and still Divinely Shoot any sucker he drat well pleases, but I'd be surprised if Chiaki could somehow decide to use Gozu-Tennoh's power in Hikawa's service. In fact, it could be argued that neither Isamu nor Chiaki could ease off on the fanaticism by now, but whether they crossed the point of no return before or after they turned into whatever it is they turned into, who can really say? Hikawa certainly didn't need demonic influence to cross the moral event horizon.
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Jan 23, 2016 05:00
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By the way, someone was asking about the benefits of force and fire magic, and aside from costing (very slightly) less, it also has better high level single-target stuff, though for fire one is exclusive to the Demi-Fiend (as well as another one for Surt).
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Jan 23, 2016 05:43
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FrankZP posted:If he comes up with an acceptable Reason, we might have to put up with him being a megalomaniacal tosspot. But he pretty clearly looks like he thinks he can pull it off without us, so who knows? For someone who values knowledge so much, he's kinda awful at drawing conclusions from it. Then again, par for the course for an SMT named character. 
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Jan 23, 2016 10:36
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Sylphosaurus posted:Francis had demonhood foisted upon him and chose to remain (mostly) human in spirit while Isamu and Chiaki ditched their humanity, both bodily and mentally, by their own choice? They're both still human. Only humans can make reasons, which is why demons flock to them when they establish one. The main character is a Demon, but with the heart of a human. He can't make a reason, because he is a demon, but he is the arbiter. I can't go further into details until the reasons start coming into conflict because Frnsoise's role is tied heavily into the plot.
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Jan 24, 2016 08:20
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cdyoung posted:They're both still human. Only humans can make reasons, which is why demons flock to them when they establish one. The main character is a Demon, but with the heart of a human. He can't make a reason, because he is a demon, but he is the arbiter. I think the question that's being raised is, why is the main character considered a demon and the others humans when at least three of them appear to be some sort of hybrid, some freakier than others? Hopefully we'll get an answer by the end. (I have a theory, and if we don't get a definitive answer before it's time to choose an ending, I'll share it then.)
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Jan 24, 2016 08:26
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FredMSloniker posted:I think the question that's being raised is, why is the main character considered a demon and the others humans when at least three of them appear to be some sort of hybrid, some freakier than others? Hopefully we'll get an answer by the end. (I have a theory, and if we don't get a definitive answer before it's time to choose an ending, I'll share it then.) I think it speaks volumes about the sheer levels of 'holy poo poo what the gently caress is that' Lucifer shoved down the Demifiend's throat at the start of the game. The Demifiend is stupidly powerful - easily strong enough to rip any of the rival Reasons apart. He can do it all alone if you're on New Game Plus with the extra turn, even. And while that could easily be thought to just be a gameplay thing, the Demifiend's strength has been acknowledged by just about everyone in the Vortex World at this point. poo poo, even Lucifer is curious about how strong his creation will become, and he's seen a lot of crazy poo poo. Its pretty safe to say that the Demifiend being stupidly strong is a plot point now. While the other humans have been mutated, seemingly moreso than the Demifiend has, none of them have the sheer level of power that the Magatamas have granted him. They have merely been changed at a physical level. Their skin may be writhing with inhuman faces, their arms may be grotesque alien appendages, and their faces may be ink blot tests, but none of them have been changed as much as the Demifiend was 'below the hood' so to speak. The humans are no less human than, say, Adam Jensen is, while the Demifiend only looks human. What Lucifer did goes much farther than just strapping extra bits onto yourself. GilliamYaeger fucked around with this message at 13:39 on Jan 24, 2016 |
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Jan 24, 2016 13:34
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GilliamYaeger posted:The humans are no less human than, say, Adam Jensen is, while the Demifiend only looks human. What Lucifer did goes much farther than just strapping extra bits onto yourself.  Speaking of which, did we ever have an SMT where people try and sew demon body parts onto themselves? Lunar Suite fucked around with this message at 19:11 on Jan 24, 2016 |
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Jan 24, 2016 14:23
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As far as I know, the closest thing to that would be in SMT1, when
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Jan 24, 2016 23:17
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SMTIV has people eating pills to turn into demons, if that counts.
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Jan 24, 2016 23:19
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FrankZP posted:As far as I know, the closest thing to that would be in SMT1, when If you look at the official, updated art of fused Tetsuo, his armor and gear is attached by weird organic tentacles. Don't shove demons into your soul, kids.
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Jan 24, 2016 23:19
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*: Before we go anywhere, we hit the Fountain and the Cathedral to consider our options. Sarasvati is our lowest level ally. She's not trash by any stretch of the imagination, nullifying ailments is a huge deal and several of her skills never really get outclassed. But given her relatively low HP and largely obsolete damage spells, I'm finding it difficult to justify ever putting her in the active party. I'd have fused her long ago, but I don't want her to turn into something too unbecoming of our oldest friend. And that's been limiting our options. That said, now that I've given the issue some thought, I think I got a good solution. After spending 21700 Macca on a Compendium summon... Sarasvati + Valkyrie =  : You're literally glorious. : It does feel good to have wings again! quote:Lv38 Deity Horus *: Good Lord is Mana Refill a pain in the butt to pass down. Seduce and Soul Recruit will be largely ineffective, but Horus will learn a bevy of useful skills that will quickly replace them. Most importantly, he naturally learns Dekunda, plugging a long-lamented hole in our tactics. And Watchful will make sure he levels up to learn it even if we go to places where both Charm and Petrification are maybe not so great. So. Our leads. We have no idea how to reach the Diet building, the hidden temple full of Magatsuhi is, well, hidden, and if the Manikins want to come up with a Reason, more power to them. Which leaves us with Hijiri and Isamu. Which means we go to the Amala Network again.  > Will you use the terminal to go after Hijiri? Out of options. Let's go. > You used the terminal.    Music: Isamu  : Isamu. : What are you doing here?  *: Oh boy. No "I came to take out the trash" option. Hmm. Well, if nothing else, Hijiri's the one who offended us most recently, and Isamu had the decency not to make him track him down this time, so let's go with... : I wanted to see how you're doing. Hijiri seemed to think he had killed you, so, you know. Old times' sake and all.: Thanks... I really appreciate it.: Come on, dude, don't even. Please.: I'm just about ready to perform the ceremony to summon the god of Musubi. If you wanna help, come to Amala Temple with me. It's just down this passageway.: Sure, I'll, uh, help out. Lead the way, buddy. : ...Don't keep me waiting, alright Francois?: I don't have anything better to do anyway, don't worry.   *: We're left in a round Anomaly, with no path behind us. Welp, let's see where this goes.  Wow, the exit already. This can't possibly be this simple. Unless Isamu decided to make this easy for us.  Waaaaaait a minute...  : Oh, you pissant. : Got nothing better to do either, huh? : I FIgUreD iT oUT. KiLL aLL wHO geT IN mY wAy... YoU aRe LikE mE.: In your dreams. : Yeah, I don't think that's how it works.: DIeEEeeee...!!Boss battle: Foul Specter : What an unfortunate creature.: It's quite pitiful, really.: I don't know why you'd waste pity on a wretch like that.: I... don't think it's even able to know better. Is it?: NO, IT IS NOT.: It dies in hatred, it is reborn in hatred. Demons do not change.: drat, it's like it's stuck in this horrible feedback loop. Can't you guys do something about it?: Hmm?: You... you're death, right? End him.: The power to break this cycle has not been granted to us.: Cripes, this is messed up. I'm not even mad anymore, this is just depressing.: Your desire to free it is meritorious, but it is not your place to do so.: Maybe it's just looking forward to fighting you. Think about it this way: it's spending all this time floating around in here, not doing much. Trading blows with you must be the highlight of its day.: So I'm doing it a favor by punching its face in?: I never said it wasn't crazy!*: This time around, the Specters know Last Resort, Dekaja and a version of Gathering that they can use mid-battle but will only summon one copy. They still reflect magic and nullify most ailments, which means that group-targeting physical skills are the order of the day. However, they're in no way immune to Curse ailments, and it appears that the Curse damage of Black Rider's Soul Divide works despite the magic reflection. If I didn't restrict myself to reading up on bosses only after I beat them, that would have come in real handy.   Hmm. This is... Roppongi. I've been here before of course, but, not since... *: We've just arrived in the bottom section of the Vortex World for the first time. We popped in the middle of a nondescript wilderness so there's no obvious way back, but that should be remedied to when we find our next terminal. There's an enterable structure in the northeast, but I'd like to investigate the currently accessible areas first.  Oooh, Sati finds a Soma here; I almost forgot she has Lucky Find on.   And that's all we can access for now. The area with the Cube in the middle right is inaccessible from here, but the nearby Cube earns us 5000 Macca. Along the way, Hanuman learns Endure, replacing Stone Hunt.  It's hard to tell from just a screenshot, but the structure in this crater here has three pyramids in the north, west and east, and a fourth, inverted pyramid standing on its tip in the center, slowly rotating clockwise. That's definitely not original Tokyo architecture. Atmosphere: Amala Temple Entrance  Once more, I don't know what I expected, but I certainly didn't expect this. I should just stop expecting things altogether.    *: There are no encounters here. Once we reach the crossroads near the other end...    : Hey, you're doing interesting stuff.: Well, it doesn't matter to me anymore what you're thinking. But, if you're for Musubi, I've got the perfect job for you.  *: Ah, there's a large Terminal just to the side here, excellent. We don't need to heal or anything yet, but it's good to know where our lifeline is. Cutscene: The Forgotten Temple*: This short "cutscene" normally wouldn't merit a video, but... look at this place. Dang. The actual geometry is beyond simple, but the feel of it is... It's almost reverent, like it's a place of primal significance. I don't know how you could possibly improve on this landscape with modern rendering technology. When I started this LP and saw how good the game looked, I immediately thought to myself "the Amala Temple is going to look amazing", and my expectations are blown out of the water.     Hmm, the floor tiles here look exactly like the walls of the Amala Network.  I'm not sure if it's just a reflection on the still waters, but the pyramids at the edges seem to have inverted versions of themselves underneath.  : Don't let Isamu know, but, uh, no.: Well, guess what? I can care less!: DOES HE NOT MEAN...?: Yeah, I know, I know, but don't waste your time.: All the Magatsuhi from the Amala Network comes from here. This is probably the only place with this much Magatsuhi.: I'd be surprised it's untouched so far, but since you can only come here through the Network itself...*: We run into more Sparna here. Interestingly, the battle music here is the same as in the Amala Network.  : Haha, hahaha, you have no idea. Here. Have a dozen. : Thank you very much!> Sparna is happy. : I can offer you this.> You obtained 640 Macca.  : Apparently, yeah.: This place has got lots of Magatsuhi. Plus, no one else knows about it. That makes it the perfect place for Isamu to summon his god. But first, we have to defeat the three demons in our way, so we can get our hands on the Magatsuhi. This is for the sake of Musubi. Good luck!: Isamu's gonna make you do all the work, isn't he?: Yeah, pretty much.: You give any thought to, uh, not doing it?: Isamu's not alone, there's definitely some serious power backing him up already. His crew would find a way sooner or later.: At least, if we're here as it happens, maybe we can find a way to sabotage him.: That's the plan!: IT SEEMS... FOOLHARDY.: The only reason we even found our way to this place is because he thinks I'm sort of on his side. I have a feeling we won't be able to get to the bottom of this if he figures out I just want to kick his rear end.: Could it be that, somewhere, you think you can talk some sense into him still?: ...we've lingered here long enough. Let's go, before someone hears.*: The spirits around here have an orange aura instead of the usual blue, so they're clearly Network dwellers.  There's a small pyramidal indentation in the floor here, right underneath the floating inverted pyramid. It must be intended to come down at some point.  Alright then, let's start in the middle. *: We get in a fight with three Dominions; maybe they're Yosuga scouts. Hmm...  Cripes, even the Fairies are here now. Maybe some Musubi follower had loose lips.  Atmosphere: Temple Interior *: Nocturne's soundtrack has largely been on my music playlists continuously for a decade, but going through the actual game again, it's a genuine pleasure to come across pieces that never made it on the CD release and that I basically haven't heard since the last time I played all those years ago.    The door in the middle leads to an empty square room with see-through wall. There's a strange pillar of light back there.   quote:Lv55 Jirae Gogmagog *: We also run into Titans in here, which are generally amenable to discussion.  This eastern area has a small terminal and a room with two Life Stones inside. The terminal is labeled Amala Temple D, so you know this place ain't kidding.  Entering the first door on the western side, ostensibly to a room with two Cubes, teleports us back to the room with two Life Stones. Of course it would have been foolish to expect this to be straightforward.  This groups gets a surprise round and exploits Titan's weakness to electricity to devastating effect. I don't even want to risk fighting back from this; we use a Smoke Ball and reorganize our crew. Sati stays because the Gogmagogs are weak to fire, I get Sparna in because the Phantoms are weak to Force, aaaaaand I get Black Rider on board, mostly for Prominence but also because he'll learn Mana Aid on his next level. I'm not too worried about MP for now, there's an almost literal hub in this dungeon and we should never be far from a recharge. Famous last words? We'll see.  The westernmost door takes us to a small room near the entrance, and going east from here returns us to the central room with the see-through wall. Going back and heading north instead takes us to three more doors... Welp, I want to hit every dead-end anyway, I guess there's no sense complaining.   Hmm. Now I wish I had taken the other one, I still haven't reached those two Cubes.  : Man, I wish.: There's plenty of Magatsuhi here. It's just a matter of time. Shijima and Yosuga are too busy looking for Magatsuhi. ...Well, I've been busy here, though.*: A sneaky chest hidden in the northwest corner of this room contains a Soma. We get into a few fights waiting for full K, and dang, is God's Bow basically amazing or what?  The eastern door takes us to the southeast. Yay, woo, etc. The western door sends us to the northeast; I sure am glad I can't help but take notes. Reaching the central northern room at last, we check the Cubes... and the first one is a fixed battle against three Legions. Did I mention God's Bow is rad? They do manage to Mamudoon Sati, at which point I realize she's our only Recarm caster. We have 10 Revival Beads, fortunately. ...the other Cube in the room contains a Revival Bead. Ha ha.  We're getting real close to this pillar, but the nearby door just makes us backtrack some more.  Okay, from this room here, the northeastern one is the only one who takes us anywhere towards progress. Now to find out what's up with the southeast corner.  Ah, that was from the southeastern room. We'll get to the other two later, we're still missing a couple Cubes.  So that's a sort of elevator then. Music: Inner Temple Daaaaaaamn son. Ooooh dang. I guess this is technically an atmosphere vid but I have to label it music because it's so rad.  The White Temple doesn't even have the courtesy to only warp us around when we use doors anymore. This is really a complex teleport maze at this point, I'm gonna spare you the details before you fall asleep. Or, rather, lessee...  The green numbers are teleporters, the red numbers are destinations. There's a Chest with a Chakra Pot in the room with the red 6.  There's clearly a Cube on the eastern side of the cross here but I have no idea how to get to it. Unless... Gah! If you go north from destination 4, then south again instead of east, you get taken to the eastern corridor.  Hmm, I remember this being pretty special...  Ah-ha! It's a free, reusable Mahama. Nice!  We're ready to proceed, at last.  We could turn back, but... after all this hassle? Nope. Boss battle + Cutscene: Entity Albionquote:Entity Albion, Zoa Tharmas, Zoa Luvah, Zoa Urizen, and Zoa Urthona *: Albion is mostly a strong physical attacker, with no special immunities beyond the typical boss ones; it's geared up with Stasis Blade, Guillotine, Hades Blast and Heat Wave. However, he also has the unique Conjuration that summons the four Zoas, which he uses automatically if he is alone, even if it's during his opponent's turn. The four Zoas are each aligned with one of the basic elements, reflecting their own and being weak to their opposite, on top of the standard boss immunities. They know both appropriate -dyne spells, as well as a special 0 MP cost Samarecarm which they are guaranteed to use if it's their turn to act while Albion is dead. Essentially, you want to finish off all Zoas and Albion in one turn, making sure that you don't save Albion for last. That said, Albion won't summon up his buddies if there's at least one left, so you don't have to make your life as difficult as I made mine by keeping all four Zoas alive. "Difficult" is a relative term here, of course; the sole hitch was Zed getting Bound for a bit. Besides, none of them know Dekaja or Dekunda, so we know where that leads. It's important to note that Albion and the Zoas have a very distinctive slouching animation when they're low on HP, so it's not too hard to tell when you're close to killing one. It's just a question of not hitting them so hard that you kill them before they have a chance to change their animation.  Adama's the upgraded electrical Magatama; notably, it's the only one we have that outright reflects an element. Its first skill is Bolt Storm, which is a straight upgrade to Shock. Oh, and I almost forgot... quote:Lv57 Lady Parvati   The room is otherwise empty, but for a Zelda-style pillar of light that teleports us outside. Welp, two more to go, but we better go heal up first. The trip to and from Asakusa is uneventful, and we soon find ourselves heading for the western pyramid.    This one is the Black Temple. The layout's a little different this time, and a Cube at the entrance surrenders a Light Ball. Can you guess the gimmick?  Hmm-mmm.  If that's as bad as it gets, this'll be a cinch.  : Now, I can finally look face-to-face with my darkness without being bothered. I wanna stay like this until Isamu's Reason is conceived. Don't bother me... *: We can reach the pillar in the back right away, but I don't want to leave all these doors unexplored.  Hmm, there's already a different assortment of foes than in the White Temple. That's a shame, I wanted to recruit a Gogmagog. For... reasons. Loki can be a hassle to kill because he resists both physical and magic damage, but, well, God's Bow.   quote:Lv55 Snake Quetzalcoatl *: We find the Small Terminal A in the southeast corner here. So far this seems like a fairly unremarkable set of rooms that barely qualifies as a maze. Maybe this is only a real problem if you don't have light. A Cube in the southwestern corner gives us our first Megido Rock, which causes a fair amount of Almighty damage to all foes. There's a Mystical chest in the northwest; we reach it just as full K ends. While we run around, White Rider learns Mana Aid, his last skill. At this point he can use God's Bow once per fight and still come out with one more MP than he had. It's too bad I want the others to gain experience too. And the Chest has a Luck Incense, excellent.  Oh, hmm, this second pillar leads down. So there is an inverted pyramid here after all. Let's head below for now.  This is a small empty room. We can see a Cube through a transparent wall, but there's nothing else to do, so we head to the second floor instead.  It... looks pretty much like the first.  There are four doors on each side, but they're all closed. On a hunch, I let our light run out and try them again, but no dice. There's a pillar leading to the third floor from here though, so we're not screwed just yet.  I don't like this. I'm not a fan of floating orbs of darkness to begin with, but it's been otherwise too easy.  *: A... black torch?  > Will you put it out? Eh, yeah, sure. The thing's kinda creepy lookin'.  *: That's the eight doors for sure. Let's go back down and through the southmost door on the west side.  Hmm. My first thought is that a pit in one of those rooms would take us to the basement, but there are no matching pits in the ground floor. Welp, let's jump off and see.  Yeah, that's not a new area at all. Maybe there's something different in another room. There's another pit in the northmost door on the east side, and it's right above a similarly-shaped room on the ground floor. Could we possibly break through?   Bingo! And right next to a Chest with a Soma, too! The only way out takes us to the original basement pillar, but at least now we know what we're doing and it's not too much hassle to climb back up. Judging from the location of the Cube we saw below, I pick the second northernmost door on the west side this time... but it's an empty room with a spirit in it.  : It's like we're in a crypt. *: The last remaining western door drops us to where we wanted to be; the Cube only contains a Bead, but those are handy so I can't complain. Zed levels up and refuses to learn Mana Aid from Satan. We find the small terminal B at the southern end of the first basement...  ...as well as this suspicious door. Better check out the rest of this floor if we can, though.  None of the other pits above would take us anywhere new, but maybe there are other spirits or chests back there. Aaaand there are not. To the altar, then!  Boss battle + Cutscene: Tyrant Acielquote:Tyrant Aciel *: Man there's got to be a better way to do this. I'm sure I could do better in a rematch knowing exactly what I'm up against, but hey, we won, it's good enough. Aciel has the typical boss immunities, except that he reflects Death effects, and at this point if it occurs to you to use a Death effect on this guy, you deserve whatever you get. The immediately obvious show-stopper here is Sol Niger, which reduces your entire party's HP to 1. I'm pretty sure it's an Almighty effect; I've never seen it miss or otherwise not work. If you factor in Dragon Eye and Tempest, that's a recipe for disaster. Fortunately, he does spend the entire previous turn using Mana Drain as a warning sign, so you can see it coming at least, and prepare for the follow-up physical attacks. It took me a shamefully long amount of time to realize that, and it sure would have saved me a bunch of Tetrakarn casts. The Mana Drain itself is only for show, as he has like 2000 MP to work with and Sol Niger costs nothing. He knows both Dekaja and Dekunda, so if you want to buff up or debuff down, you better be willing to start from scratch a few times. Alright, one more down. We go on a healing trip again. Or, no, wait, I forgot those two Cubes in the White Temple. I'll try and get them now before I forget, then we'll go heal.  A Gogmagog joins up for a pittance. Huzzah! It's good to have a physical-immune ally again.  Alright, from the southeastern set of rooms, take the northeast door... for a Medicine and a Bead. Welp, at least it won't bug me anymore. Let's hit the fountain. Aaaaand back in the saddle. Eastern pyramid, here we come.   This is the Red Temple. We run into a pair of Yaksini right away, so that's another set of foes.   : She sucks the blood of intruders in her World of Shadows. Beware the shadows... : Let me outta the World of Shadows! It's full of traps! It hurts... Ow! L-Light gets me out! But, where is it...? *: There is in fact a big ol' shadow right across the path to the elevator pillar. Maybe we should find an alternate route.  We find a giant pillar of light in the southwest corner. I see what's going on here: this must be the way back if you mess up. I kind of wonder if there's any loot in the World of Shadows, but I'm sure we'll get there by accident at some point.   quote:Lv52 Femme Dakini  *: A one-way door in the northwest leaves us with no choice but to step in shadow. Dick move!     Oh dang this is creepy stuff. Still, it looks like a copy of the regular floor, so we can pop a Float Ball and beeline for the closest light.  The northern part of this floor has a hallway with five doors. Of course they're all one-way and four of them take you to inescapable shadow, yay. The correct one turns out to be the fourth one.    : I passed by here already. I dodged all the shadows. How come I can't make it upstairs?*: We find ourselves in a rectangular room with four doors, not counting the one we came from. It's a pretty safe bet that we'll have to step in shadow at some point, but I want to do some recon beforehand if I can.  Oooh, terminal C. That should be the last one, unless there's another in that inverted pyramid afterwards.  Yeah, just north of the terminal is a room with one door in light and another in shadow; the correct path is probably the most dangerous one. In fact, taking the lit door leads to a pillar of light and returns us to the central room. Taking the eastern door from there drops us directly in shadow.  The spot where the pillar up should be is just an empty hole in the Shadows, so we'll have to find a light that doesn't shut us out of this area.   Alright, so. Once you make it to the pillar near the northeast corner (one "tile" southwest from the corner), you can proceed back north, east and south all the way to the pillar area, though you're faced with multiple choices of doors that risk dropping you in shadow again. But the area is pretty small and you don't have to go a long way if you mess up.  Boss battle + Cutscene: Lady Skadiquote:Lady Skadi *: Man that was a king-size bucket of fail right there. We haven't seen a pyrrhic victory like that since the first Dante fight. On top of the standard boss immunities, Skadi absorbs physical damage. She knows Rakukaja, Dekaja, Dekunda, Thunderclap, Mazandyne and Makajamon, but that's all practically harmless filler in comparison to her actual threats: Dragon Eye, Tarukaja, and Earthquake. Earthquake is an extraordinarily powerful physical damage skill, with the unusual quirk of being unable to crit. Still, basically, if you let her buff up and you're not somehow immune or at least resistant to physical damage, she kills you. In any case, my two main mistakes were not realizing that Earthquake was physical at first, and then underestimating Skadi's potential damage output and therefore neglecting my defense. I do like how I managed to recover towards the end there, because at the point where Zed was alone, I was pretty sure this was gonna turn into a failure vid. Once Earthquake is properly managed, it's just a question of executing on your usual strategy against physical immunes.  Alright then. If we're going to sabotage Musubi, it's now or never. Though I suppose Hijiri will have plans of his own. *: At any rate, we're in far too bad a shape to do anything about Isamu right now, so it's another trip to Asakusa for us.  : Isamu will soon be able to summon his god! *: And we're back.  Now, how do... we get inside?  > Will you enter the central temple? Does the pope take a deuce in the woods?  : Yes, but very rarely. : What are you even doing here?: So bored. You have no idea. What's going on? Is this Egypt?: I won't bother explaining, just strap in. The Serious Business is about to go down.Cutscene: Everyone will be happy... Well. poo poo.
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Jan 25, 2016 00:38
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RIP Hijiri, you were too competent and comparatively sane for this world.
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Jan 25, 2016 01:20
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Goddammit Isamu.
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Jan 25, 2016 02:53
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Seems like we're entering the end game, I'm guessing that the stuff Hijiri was telling us before (the diet building, the mannequin's leader having had a revelation etc) the other reasons are probably going to be following Isamu's lead pretty soon. Can't wait to see what atrocities Hiwaka and Chiaki make to get magasuhi. 
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Jan 25, 2016 03:02
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