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FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!


What is this?
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne is a Playstation 2 game, the third installment of the mainline Shin Megami Tensei series, though it's the first one that was officially released in English. It's sitting pretty between Shin Megami Tensei II on the Super Famicom and Shin Megami Tensei IV on the 3DS, and it's of course also part of the greater Megami Tensei/Persona franchise. Fundamentally it's a JRPG, but it's got an original post-apocalyptic setting and monster-recruiting mechanics reminiscent of Pokémon, if Pokémon was themed around various gods, spirits, monsters, and other creatures of myth and religion from around the world, and featured people getting eaten by demons and global near-extinction events.

But what are you doing with it?
Several years ago I did LPs for SMT1 and SMT2 on the Brontoforums, and they were well received at the time, so when I finally managed to obtain the hardware to do Nocturne justice, getting back in the saddle for a third time seemed like a no-brainer.

Anyway, I got started on the Brontoforums again, which have been my home for a long-rear end time. However, there's a lot fewer people around there these days than during my original efforts, and a couple of the guys following my thread started suggesting I try my luck here. Hence, here I am.

I've already started; we're ten updates in. However, we're barely out of the introductory areas, we've yet to reach any meaningful decision point and I haven't put anything to vote so far. There's still every opportunity for you lovely bunch of people to get involved in the direction the story will take. The plan is, I put the LP on hold for now, I catch you up with an update every day or so, and when you're up to speed it's simultaneous updates all the way to the end. You are definitely not second class citizens, and your votes will count just as much as anyone else's. In fact, keeping the respective populations in mind, you guys'll probably run the show. And that's perfectly fine.

Do I need to know about the previous games to enjoy this?
Absolutely not! Nocturne is a self-contained story. It's a little complicated to explain, but it's kind of a reboot that allows the previous games to remain canon. It'll make sense later, I promise.

That said, I do make plentiful reference to my previous LPs of the series. You can 100% enjoy what I'm doing if you don't check them out, but I'm gonna go out on a limb here and recommend them anyway. I won't claim I'm the second coming of LP Jesus, but people seemed to like 'em!

You can find them in the following threads:
Let's Play Shin Megami Tensei!
Welcome to the post-post-apocalypse: let's play Shin Megami Tensei II

Fair warning though, the SMT2 one is incomplete. Health problems forced me to make difficult choices in my life at the time, and I stopped enjoying the game on its own merits, so it had to go. On the other hand, SMT1 is quite complete, and I don't foresee anything that would stop me from finishing Nocturne.

(You may also want to check out other Bronto LPs if you like. There's an archived forum with a bunch of 'em, and an active forum with a bunch more. And I assure you that's all the plugging I'm gonna do!)

I've played the game before! I probably know more about it than you do! What am I allowed to talk about?
Basically, please don't spoil anything. I'm absolutely not going into this blind but I'd still like any discussion to follow the natural game progression. That said, if I happen to say something outright wrong, I ain't some hothouse lily, and I look forward to any corrections.

Are you going to minmax this sucker?
Nah. In fact I'll probably make some pretty sub-optimal decisions and mess up a bunch. If you're familiar with the Timmy/Johnny/Spike player archetypes, I'm a cross between a Timmy and a Johnny. I'm not gonna cripple myself on purpose but I'm putting the cool and the flavorful before the practical if the choice presents itself, and I avoid grinding if I can. Feel free to discuss what you'd do in my place if you think you know better, though!

So you're playing on Normal difficulty?
Yup. I know I can beat it on Hard, but this is gonna take up enough of my time without me having to put up with tripled store prices and instant death effects being even more of a pain than they have to be.

I hear there are multiple endings. How are you dealing with that?
I'll put major decisions to vote, we get the one ending we get, and that's it. Stuff matters.

Anything else I need to know?
Coupla things.

--I'm writing from the silent protagonist's point of view. Nothing I'll make him say is from the actual game. If what he says isn't preceded by his portrait, he's not speaking out loud.
--Lines in italics preceded by an asterisk are out-of-character narration or explanation or other such description. *: Like this. I'm used to putting this guy in blue text, but you folks don't do colored text for reasons I respect, so that's my way to deal.
--Lines preceded by closing brackets (">") are the game's own narration.
--This guy is the protagonist from SMT1.
--This guy is the protagonist from SMT2.
--I'll be putting up videos for some cutscenes and boss battles. I want to focus on showcasing the music and the visuals so I've been keeping quiet so far. However, that's entirely negotiable, should popular opinion demand it. I aim to please!
--Apart from this special SA-only OP, I'm doing this in cold open, skipping intro movies and start-up menus. They're kinda spoileriffic! You're not missing anything in the long-term, I'm gonna put in information-rich intermissions somewhere down the line. Don't worry, I got this.

Alright, that's it, let's get started. Thanks for joining me, and please enjoy the ride.

Table of Contents
Part 1: Visiting Ms. Takao
Part 2: Awakening
Part 3: Shinjuku Medical Center
Part 4: On a friend's trail
Part 5: Shibuya
Part 6: The Amala Network
Part 7: Another slight detour
Part 8: The Great Underpass of Ginza
Part 9: ˇOlé!
Part 10: Ikebukuro
Part 11: Intermission the First
Part 12: Texas Justice
Part 13: The Assault on Nihilo
Part 14: Of cubes and dirtbags
Part 15: The First Kalpa
Part 16: Kabukicho Prison
Part 17: Ikebukuro Tunnel
Part 18: Four Oni
Part 19: The Second Kalpa
Part 20: All the money
Part 21: The Sisters and the Obelisk
Part 22: The noble son of Sparda
Part 23: The Amala Network 2: Magatsuhic Boogaloo
Part 24: Not dark enough
Part 25: A trail of blood
Part 26: Walk in the park
Part 27: Various plans to become evil
Part 28: The Amala Temple
Part 29: The god who once died
Part 30: In the Hall of the Wicked King
Part 31: The fruit of destruction
Part 32: The National Diet Building
Part 33: The beginning of the end
Part 34: Free will
Part 35: Intermission the Second
Part 36: Stillness has come
Part 37: Goodbye forever
Part 38: Infinite light
Part 39: Intermission the Third
Part 40: What if
Part 41: A new demon of darkness

FrankZP fucked around with this message at 12:19 on Mar 30, 2016

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FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!
:siren:Cutscene: A dream:siren:

: You're late... You're way late, Francois Hawke! You haven't forgotten that we're going to visit Ms. Takao, have you? Hurry up and get over to Yoyogi Park. You're wasting my quality time!

>It's from your classmate. Enter his name.



*: Eh, good enough.



: Oh yeah, you better make sure you look nice for her. How about the jacket you bought the other day... Y'know, the one with a demon graphic on it? You're just the mood maker. Don't forget that.

That's typical Isamu right there, calling me to tell me I'm late, then telling me what to wear. But I let it slide one more time, even if only because it's gonna be spectacular to see his face when Ms. Takao strikes him down in one blow.

*: As for the jacket with a demon graphic...



That's right: Shin Megami Tensei games are canonically part of the Shin Megami Tensei universe.

Anyway, just to make him wait even longer, I'm gonna have a drink.



>You see a vending machine! You have enough change to buy a drink. Will you buy something?

Does Atlus make the raddest games?

>The drink that came out isn't any of the ones listed. You obtained a Mysterious Drink.
>The vending machine is sold out.

Well, hmm, okay then. It must be one of those special prize cans that you get for getting to the bottom of a vending machine, and that's definitely not some BS I made up just now. I'll, uh, drink it later.





: No, but it's the same general direction from here.
: After the incident, we've had a lot of lookee-loos, but not so many customers. Man, I've had a lot of free time on my hands...
: That's weird, I thought this place would be packed. What's going on exactly?



: I had a long night and woke up like half an hour ago, if you don't count the nap I took in the train. Seriously, what's the haps?
: Hmmm... How should I put this? Yesterday, there was a riot at Yoyogi Park. If you want the details, you can check the giant screen. A buncha people were killed. You could hear the sirens wailing all night long.
: Holy crap, it sounds pretty bad. I guess I should pay more attention to the news... but I know I'm not gonna.
: I'm sorry about that... I shouldn't be talking on the job, even if I'm not busy.
: Eh, no sweat, I'm wasting time on purpose anyway. How's the wife?

He gives me a look. Alright then, better get a move on. This empty station is beginning to give me the heebie-jeebies anyway.





Whoa dang, shoulda checked the smog alert too.


Music: Large Map ~ Real Universe

*: Well, isn't this both familiar and new at the same time! We're the little blue token, as usual. The green ones are NPCs with a few lines, but no portrait.

Interestingly, the green tokens are turning back and forth, while our blue one is rotating counter-clockwise. In ages past this would mean we're Chaos-aligned while everyone else is Neutral... but the Law/Chaos alignement axis is no longer a Thing. So it's probably just a visual distinction or something.

If we take a good look at Yoyogi Park, there's a big square construction site in the middle, and it's kind of not supposed to be there. Hmm! Let's check out the western entrance before we talk to anyone else.




Oh, hmm, alright then. Let's get our chat on, then.



Young officer: We ask for your cooperation.



Shabby man: It's a dream where da world becomes round...
: You don't say.
Shabby man: By gum! I means ter say... Da world IS round, but it got round-er, ya see!?
: Still not seeing it, sorry.
Shabby man: I think it's a prophetic dream, but no one believes me... By gum!



Reporter: I feel that the demonstrators' actions were out of line... But, even I can't forgive Cybers Communication for destroying the park for their own profits!
>The reporter's impassionned speech continues.

So, ecoterrorism then? I don't know if I'd start a riot about that sort of thing myself, but I have to admit it's kind of an eyesore already.



Young man: Oh, you mean that thing they're showing on TV?
: Why, was there more than one big riot that ended up with a bunch of dead people yesterday?
Young man: It doesn't seem real to me! I feel like this riot happened in another world or something... Well, I don't really have anything to do with it anyway.
: Right, good call, let's keep our heads down.


: Why hel-lo.
High school girl: You said you were going to visit Ms. Takao today, right?
: I don't remember telling anyone. But clearly Isamu couldn't keep quiet.
High school girl: Just because she's beautiful, don't go doing weird things to her, okay!?
: Wait, do I have a reputation for doing weird things to beautiful women? ...hey, come back!

She's gone. Aw, man, what.



Ah, here's that good old jumbotron. Lessee...

>The news is showing on the giant video display...



Newscaster: The demonstration got out of hand, and there have been several deaths and injuries reported. Also, Hikawa, the top executive of Cybers Communication, is still missing.



*: During my first test run, I encountered this and immediately thought, "oh sweet, a SMT1 reference!"

Then my brain clicked, and I thought "holy crap! it's not a reference to SMT1, it's a reference to my Let's Play of SMT1, where I consciously refused to use the widely-accepted canon names and chose to name my party members after Akira characters!"

Then my brain clicked again, and I got creeped out, and I decided to think about something else very quickly.


>The news continues...



Ugly high school girl: ...Don'tcha think that Hikawa guy's cool?
Even uglier high school girl: As if! He's got all those bad rumors about him floating around!
Ugly high school girl: Oh, gawd! That's what makes him so cool!

*: I didn't make up those names, that's what the game calls them. Yikes.



Woman: Did you hear about the riot?! Three people died, right??? Eeek! I'm so scared!!
Man: You're such a scaredy-cat! C'mon, baby, every night we start our own 'riot of love'!
Woman: You're such a pervert! But, I love that about you!! *giggle*

Oh Lordy, get me outta here.


: Man, I hear you. So tragic to see all these abuses of punctuation.
Police officer: There were even fatalities, yet it's like a carnival here.
: Wait, what? Someone died of exclamation mark overdose?
Police officer: Just a while back, a long-haired man walked in.
: Oh, you were talking about... Oh! Oh.

Oh.


Young man: He had a giant sword on his back, and looked dangerous! But, I swear I've seen him somewhere before... Hmmm...
: From that description, it could be anyone.


: Why are you telling me? Do you think I'm holding?
Old man: The hospital up ahead hasn't been open for a while. What's goin' on?
: I... okay, that is strange.

I hope they still allow visitors, or this'll have been a huge waste of time.



Tourist girl: What's up with everyone here? Everyone's so dang crabby, even after the riot!
: I have to assume dead protestors will have that effect, yes.
Tourist girl: By the way... Do you wanna have a good time with me???
: Yes, but not as much as I'm looking forward to seeing the exact moment when my friend's heart shatters into a million pieces. Sorry!


: I'm loitering, basically.
High school boy: ...Did you hear the rumor about Yoyogi Park?
: News, yes, but rumors, no. Whatchagot?
High school boy: I heard, on the night of the riot, a demon was spotted at Yoyogi Park. It was a terrible demon that killed all those people!
: That's crazy. You're crazy.
High school boy: Well... it's just a rumor.

*: That's everyone talked to. But there's also an eastern entrance to Yoyogi Park. Let's try our luck.





Well, that's different.

Man: I won't be able to get a single picture of the scene... Just my luck.





*: Well hey, if it isn't Definitely Not Johnny Depp!



: I figured I'd come have a look like everyone else. Can we see anything from here?



: "The clash between a well-known company and a civic organization results in deaths"...



: ...that it was a struggle between two opposing cults.

*: Man, the subtle body language is amazing here. I don't remember it showing so clearly on the old CRT TV I had back then.

>Your cell phone started to ring.

: ...Huh? Isn't that your phone ringing?



: Oh, hello!
Classmate: *sigh* I finally got a hold of you. What have you been doing all this time?

>Please enter your classmate's name.



*: Also good enough.

: I could see if it was Isamu, but you're never late. Did something happen?
: Not really, sorry, I'm just making a grim tourist of myself.
: Where are you now?
: In Yoyogi Park, near where those riots occured.
: Yoyogi Park? Well, since you didn't show up on time, Isamu and I left without you. ...We're almost there. So yeah, I'm sorry, but can you come directly to the hospital?
: Yeah, sure, sounds like a plan.
: You know which hospital it is?
: The one in Shinjuku, right?
: ...Yeah, Shinjuku Medical Center. Just go east from Shinjuku Station, and you can't miss it.

*: It's easy to miss, but the man is slightly startled and turns his head towards us at the mention of Shinjuku Medical Center. Dude has great hearing.

: I know the place, I think I saw it a minute ago.
: Oh well.



: Huh, you have a much better reason to go than Isamu does. I'll be right there, don't worry.
: Thanks, I'm not planning on staying there long. Okay then, see you later.
: Later!
>Chiaki hung up.



: Aren't you the curious type?
: ......That's where I'm headed, too. What a coincidence.



: Eh wot?
: You don't know what happened here, right?
: Not really, no.
: Then, you probably don't know what kind of place that hospital is, either. The report on the Gaea cult and the Scripture of Miroku... It's an interesting read.
>You obtained an issue of Ayakashi Monthly.



: That place is different. ...Heheh. False info is pretty common in the occult industry. If it does turn out to be wrong, just laugh it off, okay?
: I definitely will.
: Well, I'd better get going. My name's Hijiri. If we ever meet again, let me know what you thought about my article.

And he leaves. I'm tempted to start reading, but if I'm going to see the place with my own eyes, why bother? Let's get a move on.



And there's the hospital. Two entrances, eh?



"The entrance to the annex is closed. Please use the entrance to the main building."

Huh, I have to assume that old man back there can't read. Let's use the other way in, then.







Nicer than I expected, for an evil occult demon hospital.



: I really wasn't that far, it's like two blocks.



*: Note the concerned eyebrows. Dang!

: From what I hear, it gets stranger.



: Look, even the reception desk is empty. Isn't it creepy here? I don't like it...
: Yeah, it's, uh, got an atmosphere.



: He hasn't come back yet, though. He'd better not be off fooling around.



: I met a reporter at the park, and he gave it to me.
: You got it from a stranger? Come on, you should know better than that.
: He had some candy too, but I already ate it.



: What!? It's an occult magazine! Why would you bring something like THAT here!?
: It was that or littering!
: ...... Well, I guess it might help me kill some time.



: Eh, might as well.
: If we can't find Ms. Takao, then I don't wanna stay here another minute. He should be on the second floor, where the patients' rooms are. I'll wait here. ...Oh yeah, let me borrow this magazine.
: Sure. Heck, keep it, my treat.
: Thanks!



*: Just like that, we're set loose. Let's explorin'!

Music: Shinjuku Hygienic Hospital



Ah, there's an elevator just at the end of the lobby. How conveniently hospital-like.



*: The hospital is largely empty, and most of the doors are locked and barred. We might as well go straight to the second floor.



The place really is barren. It's not outright frightening, but it's abnormal for sure.







*: This part of the building is roughly U-shaped; as we enter the eastern wing, we catch a glimpse of someone on the west side. Curiously enough, if we had gone west first, we'd be seeing someone on the east side. You literally cannot get it right the first time.



We have a good view of the parking lot from here. As a nice touch, cars of various colors randomly pass on the street back there. And notably, there is exactly one car parked here. (That is actually a neat detail but I'm not at liberty to mention why yet.)

In any case, let's check out the west side.










Well, there's Isamu alright. I'd know that belt buckle anywhere.



: Normally I'd say it was for fun, but considering how this place feels, that'd be a dick move.
: You come here late, you cause trouble... Geez.
: I'm pretty sure you're just jumpy. I know I am.
: Ah, forget it.





: I'm getting a freaky vibe from this place. I'm actually kind of worried.



: This place better not be contaminated by some deadly virus...



: Oh well.
: I know the value of a good "oh well", but in these circumstances it feels a mite flippant.
: I'll go back and see how Chiaki is doing. She's probably all mad at me 'cuz I've been gone so long... *sigh* It's hard to please a girl with her upbringing.
: Ha, like I've ever seen you try.
: See ya in a bit, Francois. I really hope that this is nothing we should be worried about...



It's about time he left, the tacky rays coming from that belt buckle are overwhelming.

*: We take the stairs back down, just because.



At least Chiaki is still where I've left her.



: Don't look too excited!
: Um, Francois... You know that special report at the beginning of the magazine? Well, it says some things that are a little disturbing.



: Nice bunch of fellas, once you get to know them.
*: Shush!
: They're right here in Japan. Anyway, they believe in this book of prophecy called the Scripture of Miroku.



: and these people are actually trying to make that happen. The reporter was unable to learn what is meant by "chaos"... It could be worldwide terrorism or some other tragedy. But...





: I even checked the men's room.
: If that's your idea of trying to please well-bred ladies, I can see why you think it's so hard.



: We're in the middle of a conversation, so please save the details for later. Now, where were we? ...Oh yeah, read this part. "A hospital on the east side of Shinjuku is closely linked to their plan..."



: You know, this could be the hospital that they're referring to.



: Things like they experiment on patients, and how a psychic got scared and ran outta here... There was also one about the hospital being under the influence of some cult...



: I haven't heard those things before. Maybe we shouldn't have come...



: There's definitely something wrong with this hospital.



: I'm worried about Ms. Takao.
: Yeah, this whole cult business is sounding less ridiculous every second.
: Hey, let's look around some more. If we don't find anything, then at least we'll know that there's nothing bad here.
: Aight, good idea.
: It looks like you can access the annex from the second floor. I'll go take a look.



>You obtained an ID Card.



: ...You're not scared, are you?
: O-Of course not! I'm sure she's not down there, that's why I'm having Francois go!
: What time is it?
*: Dude, it's been over four years, on another forum, no one knows what you're talking about. Can we just get through the intro without any more interruptions from the peanut gallery? Please?
: ...Right.
: All Francois needs to do is confirm that Ms. Takao isn't in the basement. It's my duty to see her in person. If something does happen, Francois, just run like hell! Alright?
: Yyyyeah, I'll do that.
: *sigh* I can't believe him sometimes. But now, I'm worried about Ms. Takao. We should make sure she's okay.

*: And we have control again.

The basement, eh? Can't be much spookier than the rest of the place. It's just, like, there's no windows, right? No biggie.



Err. Okay. A prison gate. And someone spilled cranberry juice on the floor. I'm sure that's normal.



>You used the ID Card.



It worked. Glee.



On one hand, it would have been nice to run into Ms. Takao down here already. On the other hand, considering the general environment, it's kind of a relief that there's nobody at all.



Let's wander in an operation room. What's the worst that could happen? Someone might even come in to yell at me and I'd have the chance to ask one half of one question in the three seconds it'd take for them to kick me out.



Okay, I'm beginning to think there might be something to those cult rumors.



Yeah, that's not cranberry juice. Holy crap, could this be Ms. Takao's...? I gotta keep looking.



Here's Room A02 this time.



>Will you enter the room?

I'm going to regret this.

:siren:Cutscene: Stillness:siren:

WHAT the poo poo just HAPPENED.

Was that a demon? Was that the demon who killed the protestors yesterday?

Rooftop. Rooftop. Elevator, then rooftop.

*: One car in the parking lot. I presume either Hikawa and Yuko came here together, or Hikawa came in alone some time ago and Yuko just arrived.



Where did these two come from? Are they with Hikawa?







: I see. My, my... But, we're busy at the moment. Let's come back later.



Is there going to be one thing that'll have happened since I set foot in this hospital that'll have made any sense?

Anyway, elevator. But... I want to check on Chiaki. First floor.



Aw hell. No, no, no, wait, nothing is hosed, Ms. Takao must have got here first, she must have sent her to the rooftop too. Let's go and find out what the hell is going on.

:siren:Cutscene: A rounder world:siren:

FrankZP fucked around with this message at 00:25 on Nov 13, 2015

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!

AmewTheFox posted:

I like your style though. Not too intrusive. Can't wait for when this game pulls off it's mask and says "hi, we're ATLUS. and we hate you."

I try to make sure anything I insert in a conversation fits the flow of dialogue, so most of the time you could possibly imagine the two characters having the exact exchange without it feeling too much like they're talking past each other. As for "we hate you", the game kinda has the kid gloves on in the beginning, on Normal difficulty at least. But when the gloves come off, they come flying off at supersonic speeds and detonate in a burst of antimatter as they hit the wall. (As for Hard mode, it's not unheard of to have trouble getting past the first two battles against the weakest enemies in the game.)

Golden Goat posted:

:laugh: There's only one outcome for this.

Heh, I was sure there was only one outcome possible for my SMT1 LP, and people managed to surprise me. We'll see!

Aight, today's update incoming, gimme a few. Glad to have you guys on board!

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!
Ooooh, right, no prob, I'll get right on that. Good thing I saw this post a second before I put up the new update!

Seeing as you mention "important" videos, I'll make a distinction between plot-critical stuff, that'll mark with :siren:, and battle videos that I'll just bold. Let's see how it goes.

FrankZP fucked around with this message at 00:29 on Nov 13, 2015

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!
Okay. Okay. Okay. So.

Okay.

Everyone's dead.

No, wait, no, that's not productive. I can worry about everyone else once I'm done worrying about myself. This isn't the rooftop anymore. Where am I?



So it's got those tables with the raised edges, and drawers set in the walls. This can't be a...



Okay so it is a morgue. Great.

I don't feel dead.

That bug thing hurt like a son of a bitch when it... when it got in. But now, I feel like I'm the opposite of dead.

Is this what it feels like to be a demon?



*: Yeah, basically. A very, very weak demon, but a demon nonetheless.

quote:

Lv1 Fiend Francois Hawke
An enigma wrapped inside a mystery. That, or a high school student completely out his depth. It's hard to tell. Extraordinarily low HP, even lower MP, and he knows no skills. If it wasn't for his equipment stat bonuses, displayed as green bars, all his stats would be a glorious 2. Needless to say, you probably should trade him away for a better ally as soon as you can. About his only good aspect is that he's not particularly vulnerable to any type of damage, though a good 90% of the creatures in the game can one-shot him at will. Hopefully none of those are in this hospital.

Fiends are a new neutral-aligned race for the series. Given the circumstances of Francois', um, rebirth, you might be tempted to think of them as Choujin, human/demon fusions, but it's more complicated than that. In the original Japanese, fiends are called "Majin", which roughly means "devil" or "demon person" and tells us nothing new so I don't know why I brought it up. But we'll find out. We'll find out.

*: Speaking of equipment bonuses, there are no weapons or armor in this game, or none that matter to us in any way. But we are somehow able to swap out the strange demonic insect parasite thing we've been infested with. Or we could if we had more than one.



Meet Marogareh the Magatama, the charming little be-mandibled bastard we've been so graciously given by those generous strangers. It's not exactly the strongest of its kind, but it has no specific elemental weaknesses (or resistances), has tiny if well-rounded stat bonuses, and will start teaching us physical attack skills as soon as we start leveling up. If we live long enough to level up, that is.



We know that next up is the fairly basic "Lunge", and there will be five more skills afterwards. They all have level requirements before they unlock, though.



Interestingly enough, the status screen calls us by our full name, but the main menu is well content to call us by our nickname instead.


As much as I'd like to stay here forever and admire my sweet new tats, I'd really rather not spend more time in this room, or this building, than I strictly have to. And getting a move on might keep me from thinking about who the hell stripped me and carried me to the morgue.





Hello, what's this?



: I tend to stare at ghosts. I'm sorry, it's a bad habit.
: Am I that peculiar? Have you been living all your demon life in a cave?
: For all intents and purposes, yes.



This door is at the end of the corridor where we met Hikawa before. So the exit should be the other way.



And that was Hikawa's room. Probably still is. Hmm.

*: We enter it automatically.









: Fancy meeting you here!



: Yeah, that sounds like me. I'm glad you can tell.



: Man, I have no idea.
: ...I see. Well, at least you still think like a human...





: I took a quick look around, and it looks like I'm in a hospital... Since you're here too, does that mean this is Shinjuku Medical Center?
: Yeah, it is. I've come here before.
: ...Anyways. As much as I want to know what's going on out there, I don't think it's safe for me to walk around.



: I'm not sure what you're talking about.



: My guess is that they're... demons.
: Oh, uh. Can't say that I have, no.
: My strange experience... your new look... and these weird creatures... I don't think the police will be able to help us here.
: Not the regular police, anyway.
: drat... I might have to seriously consider the possibility. It's hard to believe, but... If this is Shinjuku Medical Center, then I can't just rule it out.
: The Conception.
: The Conception... could have occured for real.



: If my memory serves me right, it belongs to a man named Hikawa.
: Yeah, it does. He was... looking into it. Before.
: He must have something to do with all this.



: Couldn't agree more.
: If you're strong enough to fight those demons, then will you gather information for me?
: Well, I was going to gather information for myself anyway. Given the circumstances, we might as well share.
: I tried talking to what looked like a ghost, but I didn't have much luck. What's happened to the world...? Are there other humans out there...? We can only learn the answers to these questions by finding somebody else. ...I wish I could do it myself, but I don't think I'd last very long against these demons. Besides, I'd like to spend some time studying this object. I'm counting on you.
: Sure thing, no pressure.



*: And here's our save point. This is essentially a Terminal equivalent, if slightly more limited. And we can still chat Hijiri up.

: Don't worry about me. I know I'll only slow you down if I go with you. ...Hey, I don't plan on dying here, you know. That's why I'm checking this thing out. ...So, go.

*: Yeah, Hijiri's not quite the badass normal we've come to expect from our human allies in the rest of the series. No non-demon party members for you!

When we leave...


: Maybe you should try and get out of this hospital. ...Good luck.



*: The A01 operation room we went in before is now labeled "Healing Room".



: Right now, freedom sounds good. But I'll take information if I can get it.
: I'll heal your wounds, so please don't eat me!
: Oh, err, I, um. Well. You got yourself a deal!
>The soul healed you.
: I'll heal your wounds anytime, so don't eat me, please.

*: So, free healing. Convenient!


: Ehhh, call me Zed, I suppose.
: Yet another demon after Magatsuhi.
: I'm fairly confident I have no idea what that is.

*: We reach the elevator without further incident.



The elevator itself is another story. We're asked if we're going to open it, but that's the only way out.












> You find yourself in a strange place.

Music: Amala Labyrinth





Voice: ...Show me... the strength... of a demon...





Okay, so. That's not the hospital anymore.







*: First treasure chest! Medicine restores a fixed amount of HP, 50 I think. Not great, but still useful, considering we have 30 max HP. Oh, and come to think of it...



Remember the Mysterious Drink from the vending machine? That's where this Sacred Water comes from.


Battle: First blood

Music: Fierce Battle


Huh. So that's the power of a demon.

*: First blood!

This is a fixed encounter; kind of a tutorial, really. It didn't reveal any of the wrinkles of the combat system, but we'll get to those soon enough. And we did gain a level for our trouble. I put our one stat point into Vitality because it doesn't matter how many allies capable of reviving us we have: if Francois hits 0 HP, it's game over.

In addition, Marogareh had a bit of a fit. Whenever you level up, you may or may not get the option of allowing your "equipped" Magatama to surge with a mysterious energy. This can have beneficial or detrimental effects, chosen randomly from a set unique to each Magatama. You can get fully healed, or receive permanent stat bonuses, or you can have various status ailments inflicted on you, that sort of thing. Fortunately the weaker Magatama tend not to screw you over too badly, and I think Marogareh in fact can't do you any harm at all.


quote:

Foul Will o' Wisp
Will o' Wisps are small flames that appear to float over the ground of forests, swamps and the occasional graveyard. They're a very real, well-documented phenomenon that results from the interaction of gases produced by the decay of organic material, but before Science figured them out, people were inclined to believe they were wicked ghosts. After all, if you try to get close to a mysterious blue flame, then proceed to sink into marshy ground and nearly drown, you're probably going to return to your village and tell everyone about the lil' flamy douchebag that almost killed you. Here they are mostly unremarkable creatures with low stats. They nullify instant death and resist physical damage, but they are weak to expel and to every other other kind of elemental damage and status ailment, so they can be a genuine liability in almost every situation.

We knew "Foul" as the Gedou race, though they're not a race so much as a catch-all term for assorted semi-intelligent abominations that know little but hunger, fear and hatred. Under most circumstances, you can't negotiate with them on account of their disposition.

*: A bit further down the corridor...



Music: Mystery

: Well, thanks.
> Dr. Dark healed your party.

*: And just before the door...



*: This little dude hurts a fair bit more than the Will o' Wisps but it's still an easy fight.

quote:

Haunt Preta
Preta is the Hindu name of the Gaki, which have been a mainstay of the early opposition in this series. They're hungry demons, beings in Hindu and Buddhist cosmology that are a very low stage of reincarnation inflicted upon the greedy and covetous. They are absolutely wretched creatures, their stomachs distended with hunger but their necks too slender to swallow anything. They are more to be pitied than feared, but some are hungry for flesh and blood and can be dangerous. You can't see it in this picture but they've got little polygonal penises and accompanying testicles. I'm not making this up. It's kind of scary that you think I would.

The Haunt race is the translation of the Yuuki, being demons or undead creatures generally associated with death and negative reincarnation.


The center of this door is pulsating. This whole place feels strangely... alive.

*: We come to a T intersection.



Voice: ...This way...
> The old man and the woman disappeared...
: Bah, like I have any reason to listen to you.

I go right instead.





*: And we get into another fixed encounter for our trouble. It's not much harder than the others, fortunately. It's worth noting that we can use our Talk command, but it always results in a "The demon is ready for action!" message, and we lose our turn.

quote:

Jirae Kodama
Kodama are small tree sprites from Japanese folklore, somewhat analoguous to the Greek dryads. They come into existence when a tree grows to be a hundred years old, and are typically playful and harmless.

The Jirae used to be called Chirei, and are various earth and nature spirits.

*: Behind the demons is another Cache Cube, containing a Maragi Rock, a one-shot item dealing weak fire damage to all enemies. We took a bit of a beating, so I go back to Dr. Dark, then take the left path. There's an encouter with two Kodama, and another door.

The fight earns us level 3, which is the requirement to learn Lunge from Marogareh. Lunge is similar to our basic attack, with a bit more damage and a bit less accuracy. It also costs 5 HP. Non-spell attacks cost HP to use, like in SMT2. It's calculated as a certain percentage of the user's maximum HP, so physical attackers tend to need healers as backup.






Voice: ...So, you made it...
: This was... less difficult than I had expected.







*: And we're teleported back to the front of the elevator, in the hospital.

At least it still works. Hmmm... Let's try the roof first. I want to look outside.



Aw hell. This really happened, didn't it.

No, no, no. Focus. Keep moving. Elevator. Ground floor.



Gah. Guess I'm not getting out this way.



Had to check. I... I have to assume this happened when Tokyo crumpled up. I don't know if that'll ever stop feeling weird to say.


: Were you trying to leave the hospital?
: That was the plan, yeah. Still is, in fact.
: Then, how about next door? This is the main building, but there's an annex. Maybe you can use that entrance.
: Yeah, I remember! Good point, thanks.


: Chiaki? Isamu, you say?
: That's right. Did you see them or not?
: I don't know anyone by that name...
: I... don't know why I expected you would. Sorry.

If Hijiri made it, and I made it... There's the happiest thought I've had in a while, for sure. But I'll be even happier if I can find them.

*: Apart from the elevator in the north, the lobby has exits to both wings of the main building. I take the east one first.



I wouldn't have expected this place could get any more eerie.

*: The ground floor turns out to be mostly locked doors, though there is a Cube with a Medicine in the west wing. I head through a staircase to the second floor, which should connect to the annex in some way. And some of the doors up there are unlocked.


: Magatsuhi is the source of demonic powers, I think. I don't know much about it...
: It's still more than I knew before we met. Thanks!


Voice: Maga......tushi............Magatushi...
>The door is locked from the other side.
: And I like it that way.


: Hot drat!
: He's probably dead by now... Eaten by a demon or something weird like that.
: Cripes, don't harsh my buzz! You gotta believe!


: You need an Annex Gate Pass to get through.

New goal acquired!

*: We find some more Medicine, and a couple Lifestones, which are basically the same Magic Stones as in previous installments. They restore a percentage of your HP and are often requested during negotiation.



I didn't expect anything I've seen so far, but I especially didn't expect this.





: I could say the same!
: Are you looking for something, too?
: I am, actually. A security pass of some description.
: Hey, about that thing you're looking for... I'll help you, if you want!
: I'd be delighted!



: A demon who can help take me to Yoyogi Park.
: Bodyguard duty, eh? I can swing that.
: You look kinda flabby and weak, but I'll let that slide.
: And you're rude, and you have impossibly high standards, but I can let that slide too.
: Whaddya say? Should we join up?
: Absolutely.
: Alright then, let's get outta here! If we have the Pass-thingie, we can get through that door to the annex. I saw some Pretas carrying it.
: Welp, I can see where this is going. At least I already know where they are.



: The pleasure's all mine.
>Pixie joined your party.



quote:

Lv2 Fairy Pixie
That's, well, a pixie, a cute little magic flying woman, originally from southwestern English folklore. This time around, they resist electric damage! It's so nice to have this info within reach.

And the Fairy race was known as the Yousei, which are various fey folk, sociable magical beings who tend to follow their own whims and fancies over anything else.

: Wait one goddamned minute. Hold the presses!
*: Aight, what's up?
: What is this fuckery?
*: Don't make me guess.
: This clown also gets a pixie for free? Am I the only one living on Pays-For-Pixies Island?
: Basically, yeah.
*: Mmm-hmm.
: Also! I don't see a computer. That is a huge problem. How do they even understand each other?
*: Pay attention, man. Dude's a demon now. He speaks fluent demon. The Magatama's the babelfish from hell. It's not rocket science.
: Alright, okay, I'll grant him that one. He got a flesh-devouring bug dropped down his gullet, he deserves a bit of a break.
*: How kind of you. May we go on now?
: Bah, fine. I'll just be over there, paying for pixies. Like a sap.
: How many pixies do you even need?
: IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO HAVE TOO MANY PIXIES.

*: Aaaanyway. We turn right back and return to the Preta room.



I gotta say, automap science has come a long way.


Battle: The Ding-Dong Squad

*: Now if you're used to your typical JRPG combat system, a number of things in that fight probably made you raise an eyebrow or two. In fact, this battle is a pretty effective demonstration of the glorious Press Turn System. Let's go turn-by-turn, if you will.

First off, the first team to act, in this case the Pretas' since it was a surprise round, receives a number of turn icons equal to the number of creatures on their side. These turn icons are the dragon-looking symbols in the upper right. Your enemies get red ones, you get blue ones. Every member's action consumes one icon, and everyone gets a move in an order determined by their Agility stat.

However, you've certainly noticed that the Pretas got four moves in before their turn was over: three basic attacks and a Suku-kaja cast. This is because the second Preta's attack was a critical hit. Criticals only consume half an icon. More precisely, they turn a normal icon into a flashing icon. Flashing icons can be used to perform any action, and are used up first. In any case, the turn order loops around to the fastest creature and keeps going until no icons remain.

Yes, this does mean that three icons can be turned into six actions. We can also take advantage of this, of course.

We take our first turn. Zed punches a Preta, and Pixie heals Zed because I forgot to make sure he was already full up. Two actions, two icons consumed.

Second enemy turn. The first Preta consumes an icon with its Feral Claw. The second Preta tries to do the same, but Zed dodges. This ends their turn: a missed attack consumes two icons, which is to say the icon used for the attack itself, and an additional penalty icon. There is no icon left for the third Preta to act.

Our second turn, Zed throws a punch and misses, consuming our only two icons. Turn over.

Third enemy turn. The third Preta crits, halving their last icon. The fastest Preta crits at the end as well, but you can't half a flashing icon. Turn over.

Our third turn. Zed finishes off the left Preta. This has the added benefit of making sure the enemy team only gets two icons instead of three next turn. Then Pixie casts Zio on the second Preta, hitting its weakness to electric damage. Exploiting an elemental weakness consumes half an icon, just like a critical would. In addition, the electric damage has caused the Shock ailment. Physical attacks on Shocked creatures always crit. Zed uses up our last icon to kill the Shocked Preta.

Fourth enemy turn. Only one Preta remains, so he has only one icon.

Our fourth turn, swing and a miss.

Fifth enemy turn. He crits and therefore gets a second action.

Our fifth turn. Punch, Zio, it's like Rapture in here.

So! That might have been a bit much to digest, so I'll summarize.

-Most actions take up one turn.
-Getting a critical hit only uses up half a turn.
-Exploiting a specific weakness only uses up half a turn.
-Missing uses up two turns.

In addition, there are a few more turn effects we haven't seen in this battle.

-All creatures can pass a turn, skipping their place in their team's turn order. This uses up only half a turn. (This can be useful in many situations, like passing a turn to your healer so you don't risk a miss before you can get your health back.)
-Dealing damage that is reflected uses up all your remaining turns, and your enemies start acting immediately.
-Dealing damage that is absorbed also uses up all your turns.
-Dealing damage that is nullified counts as a miss, using up two turns.

That is the meat and potatoes of it. Don't sweat it if it's not entirely clear; we're gonna see a lot more of it, and you're smart, you'll figure it out. Do feel free to ask for clarifications as well, that's why I'm here.

Aaaaanyway! We got ourselves an Annex Pass, didn't we?






: You'll probably die. Nice knowin' ya!
: You should be nicer to people you think are gonna die nearby, because we're gonna spend a long-rear end time together if I come back as one of you.

*: We don't even have time to reach the other side of this passage before I'm forcefully notified that random encounters have been turned on. By stumbling on a random encounter, natch. Two Kodama, no sweat.

Hmm. Well, here goes nothing.

: Heyo.



: Alright then, you'll just have to die first!

*: Oh hey, failing at conversation also eats up icons, depending on how bad you screwed up. The Kodama both attack Zed, leaving him with 7 HP. This is one of those cases where I have him pass his turn so Pixie can heal him before he has a chance to fumble the ball.

In any event, we take out one of the Kodamas and attempt to chat up the remaining one.




: Yeah, so, uh. I kinda killed your bro there. Sorry about that.
: You wanna play?
>Kodama is thinking to himself.
: Let me dwain your stwength. Then I'll listen ta you.
: Well, fair's fair I suppose. Go ahead.
*: Dude sucks up 3 HP.
: It was kinda gwoss.
: I don't know what you expected.
: That's still not enough.
: Aw, come on.
: Let me dwain your stwength again!
: Geez, fine, but only because I feel bad about your buddy.
*: Three more HP.
: Th-This flavor...!!
: Gah, don't enjoy it too much!



>Kodama seems to be satisfied.
: I'm Kodama the Jirae! Let's be fwends!
>Kodama joined your party.
: Well hey, I could get used to this. Let's go, kids.

*: And by "let's go", he means "let's go back to the healing room in the basement because I'm getting the poo poo kicked out of me". We run into more Kodama along the way, but seeing as we're with one of their own, they let us pass without problems.



*: Hey, that's new. A Will o' Wisp approaches us of its own initiative at the start of a first round.

: Urryyy... YoU... Life Stone...HaVe SSSpArE?
: Yeah, I got a couple. Here, first one's free.
: HEH HEH HEH HEH!!
>Will o' Wisp is happy.
: I never thought I'd see the day.
: BlarYeeegAiiiiee!
>Will o' Wisp edged up to you. It seems that it wants to join your party.
: I suppose I can use all the help I can get. Welcome aboard, my good fellow. Try not to drip pure malice on my shoes, it's the only pair I got.
: Fri-eNd! Fri-eNd! Fri-eNd! Me, Foul Will o' Wisp!! We, nICE toGeTher worK...!
>Will o' Wisp joined your party.

*: Just like that, its other allies leave peacefully. I wasn't expecting to see this so soon. The Foul race is among those who will never join you under normal circumstances, but clearly being approached out of the blue by what is usually a quasi-mindless blob of hate is not a normal circumstance.

On the way back to the healer, we gain enough experience to level up and learn Analyze from Marogareh, which basically scans an enemy for resistances and weaknesses, as you might guess.

We heal up, save, and then come back to the annex passage. On the way, a few of our allies level up.


: Wait what.

*: That's right, demons level up now. Will o' Wisp increased its Magic and learned Zan (single target force damage), and Pixie increased her Strength and learned Seduce. Seduce is especially interesting as it functions just like Zed's regular Talk command, so she can negotiate with enemies as well. It works a lot better on dudes and a lot worse on not-dudes, though. Also on level up...





: What's on your mind?
: I shouldn't need this, so I'll give it to you.
> ...You received Bead.

*: Beads restore someone's HP to maximum, so that's pretty cool!

As we reach the Annex at last, we are greeted by a curious sight.








: It's hard to miss.
: That's Forneus! As long as he's here, it's not gonna be easy to get out of this hospital.



The exit's down there. It's the only way out. I... feel like I should be scared. But I'm not. There's something inside me, literally inside me, telling me I should just be glad I know whose rear end I gotta kick.

But I didn't need it to tell me that. I was already glad.

Is that who I am now?

...

Alright then.

I don't hate it.

FrankZP fucked around with this message at 07:29 on Feb 1, 2016

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!

GeneralYeti posted:

Well, alright then. I must say, we're taking this whole 'just got turned into a demon' thing rather well.

Heh, it's easy to cope with stuff if you're determined not to think about it too hard! Plus, it feels a little untoward to complain about being alive in a strange, disturbing new way when as far as you know everyone else was just instantly disintegrated.

Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:

Also, FrankZP, even though Marogareh says "normal resistance" it actually resists Death and Expel. Every magatama that doesn't specify something else like null or weak has a hidden resistance to Death and Expel.

Wow, I had no idea. I knew I was gonna learn something from doing this LP! Thanks for the info.

Apepresident posted:

Will O'Wisp is pretty handy early on since you get super early access to Riberama. So if you ever feel like you need to grind than that skill alone is going to save you some time.
Other than that he's normally sitting on the bench due to his weakness to pretty much every sort of magic in the game which easily ruins random encounters.
He can be fused into nice demons though.

Yeah, pretty much agreed there on all counts. This one gets to earn a couple levels because I'm fond of passing down Deathtouch in the early game and I have some limited use for death immunity before long, but that weakness to magic just makes it super risky to have around. If this was Hard mode I wouldn't even consider it.

Today's update incoming, just gotta double-check the formatting for a few minutes!

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!
*: The Annex's aboveground layout is essentially a mirror image of the main building's. As we reach the base of the U-shaped section, we run into...




: But, this future is only one of many possibilities. The future is not written in stone. I shall help you. What future do you desire?
: A bright future would be nice.
: If you wish for a bright future... Know your enemies and use attacks that they are weak against. If you do, a bright future full of attacking shall await you. It is not easy to learn your enemies' weaknesses... Only through battles shall you gain knowledge.
: And what if I wanted a dark future?
: Hmmm! Well, if you wish for a dark future... Continue to use useless attacks, and your attacks shall be nullified, reflected, or absorbed. If you do all of this, a dark future full of defending shall await you.
: That's about what I figured. Thanks anyway.
: I shall wait here until you learn your future... Bwahahahahaha!

*: There's no elevator on this side, so we'll need to take the stairs located at the end of either wing. It's just as well, we should clean out the place anyway.



: I can tell I'm going to hear that a lot.
: TAKE THIS AS A SIGN OF OUR MEETING.
>You obtained Medicine x1.
: Huh. Thanks, little guy.
: RARR!! US DEMONS HAVE IT ROUGH.



: What is it?
: The demon next door isn't trying to eat me, is he???
: Nah, he seems like a good enough sort.
: Hey... wait a sec... You're a demon, too! Noooooo! Don't eat me!!
: Good to see the people here have a healthy fear of being eaten by demons.

*: A Cube in the same room contains a Revival Bead, which does pretty much exactly what you think it does.



Whoops, I expected a staircase here. It must only be at the end of the east wing, then.



There's a little garden of sorts down there instead of parking lot, with three visible Cubes. It's surrounded by water and there's no clear way to get there from the ground floor, but if you angle the camera just right you can see a down staircase in the middle, so you must be able to reach it from underground.

As I expected, I can confirm that Will o' Wisps don't give a crap whether you have one of theirs on your side or not. Our own Will learns the Riberama spell, which increases the frequency of random encounters until the next new moon equivalent. This'll make more sense later.



: I sure am!
: Even if you're strong, you won't be able to beat him alone. Don't just beat all the demons. Try talking to them, and get them to join you.
: Way ahead of you, kid.


: Aw hell.
: I heard adults say demons are outside, too. I want my momma... One day she'll come for me...
: I'm... sure she will.

*: After taking the stairs down to the ground floor, we realize the way to the lobby is barricaded.





: I really don't.
: I saw a human sneak past Forneus just a while ago.
: Huh, alright then. That was worth it, thanks.

*: Fortunately there are more stairs on the other side of the corridor, leading to the basement. This must be the section behind the locked door we saw earlier.



This side is certainly tidier.



: ...Demons stick together, so defeat the demons in the way first... They disrupt conversations... *mumble*


: There's a trick to negotiating with demons... *mumble*


: ...There are some races of demons that rarely join through negotiation... *mumble*

My my my, multiple morgue mumblers!



*: This door to the east is a shortcut to the first part of the basement, so we can heal up and save. As we do so, Kodama levels up, learns Dia (single target heal) and gives us a Chakra Drop (MP restoration). Hijiri is still where we left him, but he has nothing new to say.


: I hear that Shibuya's a fun place, with stores and a club and all.
: Even now? That makes me kinda curious.
: Darn! If only Forneus wasn't here! Hope he didn't hear that...



: Hiya!
: You want me to come with you?
: Yeah. Will o' right here is a nice enough guy but I'm not sure he's up to facing the big kahuna.
: ............
> Hua Po is still wary of you.
: I'll do what you say for 50 Macca.
: Small change!
: Your manners with money are simply incorrigible... This simply is not enough!
: Welcome to Pays-for-Hua-Po Island, buddy.
: I want 1 Life Stone.
: Aight. You do realize I'm saving your life right now, don't you?



> Hua Po seems to be satisfied.
: I'm Hua Po the Jirae. Don't get me in trouble.
: Ha, good one.



quote:

Jirae Hua Po
According to ancient Chinese mythology, these adorable little tree spirits come into existence when... uh. Hmm, wait, that can't be right.

: Come on, out with it. I'm sure everyone wants to know how to meet to meet one of them.
They come into existence when three people hang themselves from the same tree.
: Okay, I'm man enough to admit when I'm wrong. And that just happened.
Anyway, early game spellcasters, fire-aligned. Pester is a conversation skill that allows its user to request money or items from enemy demons.

*: A bit further, we find more stairs leading up, certainly to the other side of the annex lobby. I didn't find the way to the little garden; makes me doubt my memory somewhat. Anyway, we're almost done here.



: Or die trying, yeah.
: Err...
: Hahaha... Yeah, right! I'll give you all my money if you can do that.
: I'll hold you to it. And you better have enough, or I'll have to eat you.


: Eh, barely.
: Allow me to heal you. I'll heal you anytime, so come again...

*: Behind a door labeled S-Terminal...



It's a miniature copy of the cylinder in the basement, set in what looks like a supply closet. It saves just as well as the other one, though.




*: I know Forneus is behind this door. Now I haven't played this game in nearly a decade, but I do remember he uses some pretty scary ice attacks. Hua Po is weak to ice, and Will o' Wisp is weak to magic, which leaves us with only three members of a possible party of four. I'll run around with Riberama on and see if I can't pick up someone else. We do have free healing nearby, so it should be fairly painless.

In an event reminiscent of earlier games, a pair of Hua Po appear immediately after we defeat a group of Wisps and Preta. We could take them for sure, but Kodama is weak to fire, and with good use of the Pass command, Zed manages to talk the both of them into leaving peacefully.




*: Nothing else happens for now. Mysterious! A bit later, at the end of a fight with two groups in a row...





: The only ones who haven't joined me yet are the Preta. You wanna be like a Preta?
: HMM...
> Shikigami is thinking intently.
: I WILL LISTEN TO YOU FOR 1 Life Stone.
: No prob.
: CURSE YOU! STILL NOT ENOUGH! HAND OVER 1 Life Stone.
: This would be simpler if you said so in the first place, you overgrown bookmark. Here.



: I AM Shikigami THE Brute. I WILL TRAVEL WITH YOU.
: Just stay away from Hua Po, alright? She, uh, likes to burn stuff.



quote:

Brute Shikigami
Shikigami are animated paper familiars, crafted by onmyoji astrologists/occultists/wizards to perform the sort of simple and menial tasks one could expect an animated paper creature to do. They are of course weak to fire, but they also reflect electric damage. Beseech is a conversation skill that attempts to recruit its target, and the upcoming Tarunda is a physical attack power debuff.

Brutes used to be known as Youki. In Nocturne they mostly consist of various typically Japanese Oni-type ogres, but also include a number of warlike supernatural creatures inclined towards physical combat. And... this paper thing, for some reason.

*: As if on cue, we level up, and learn Life Bonus from Marogareh. It's a passive skill that increases our max HP by 10% for as long as we can stand to have it taking up one of our eight skill slots, which is certainly the case at this time.

We return Will to stock and summon Shikigami. It's now or never.




*: The game is kind enough to warn us when we're about to enter a boss room. This time, we're ready.

Boss battle: Forneus

: OH YEAH! WHO'S THE KING OF poo poo TOWN NOW, rear end in a top hat?
: You are!
: I, uh... Good. Good! Great. Excellent. Thank you.

*: This could hardly have gone any better. I should have used Lunge when we Shocked Forneus early on because it couldn't have missed, but it hardly mattered in the end. You did see Mabufu and Icy Death though, and I'm sure you can imagine we would have taken a lot more damage if we had Hua Po and Will o' Wisp still around.

quote:

Fallen Forneus
Forneus is a Great Marquis of Hell, commanding 29 legions of demons, and presiding over languages, with the ability to enhance people's reputation and good name. How he got stuck in this hospital is anyone's guess.

We used to know the Fallen race as the Datenshi; they used to be angels in service to God, but rebelled and were turned into monsters as punishment. Most of these guys are taken from the 72 demons listed in the Lesser Key of Solomon, a fairly well-known 17th-century book on demonology.

We can see the way out, but first, we need to heal up, save, and collect on a debt.


: All that butt-kicking gave me a mmmmmighty hunger.
: You really beat him...
: Oh he's hella dead.
: Dang! A promise is a promise!! Take it!!
>You obtained 850 Macca.
: Dammit. I need to escape from poverty first, before I can escape from here...
: Dumbass gamblers. Bah.

*: The Cubes in the Lobby contain Medicine and a Revival Bead, which is quite appropriate for the end of what is essentially the tutorial dungeon.

We fight in the lobby a bit further to run out the rest of the Riberama effect, and I try Hua Po's Pester to pick up some loot. We manage to bum a couple Life Stones and Mazan Stones (force damage, all enemies) off Shikigami, but also...


: How are you? Wonderful! I'll kiss it and make it better!
>You recovered HP.
*: And by "you", the game means "whoever used the conversation skill".
:
:
:
:
*: You do realize you're drooling at six suicides, right?
: Fairies kissing fairies, I don't care!
: Call me when things get tough! Goodness, I probably won't come, though. Goodbye!

*: Pester doesn't work so well on Kodama, though. Zed's Talk is fairly effective against everything that can be talked to, but demon conversation skills hinge heavily on the two demons' personalities. When Hua Po's "playful young woman" personality begs Kodama's "little kid" personality for free stuff, Kodama tends to answer with something along the lines of "you're the adult, you should be the one giving me presents!".

At one point, letting Marogareh do its thing gives us a permanent +1 Agility. Spectacular!

Before we can leave, Pixie levels up and attempts to change a skill. We can allow or forbid it, because it can succeed or fail. If it succeeds, one of the demon's abilities that has an upgrade turns into the next better version of itself. In our case, Pixie's Dia became Media, which heals our entire group. If it had failed though, Dia would have become a completely random spell of equivalent or slightly greater power, which could technically be an improvement but is still likely to be somewhat inconvenient at least. However, signs of change can still be seen on her body, so she's still got something bigger in store.

And a few phases of the "moon" later...


:siren:Cutscene: Kagutsuchi:siren:

*: Who could this mysterious man in red-
: It's Dante.
: Did someone say Dante?
: Danteeeeee!
*: No one knows-
: Dude, everyone knows.
: His name's on the box.



*: Can't you guys play along for one effing minute?
: Nope.

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!
It's technically possible to savescum and force stat boosts every level, if you pay constant attention to what you're equipping, but as far as I'm concerned it's both unnecessary and absolutely not worth the time unless you're doing the sort of completionist playthrough where you want to max out the protagonist's stats.

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!
*: Before I forget, I gotta mention beating Forneus earned us Wadatsumi, a new Magatama.



Unsurprisingly given its source, Wadatsumi is ice-aligned and a bit more spellcaster-oriented than Marogareh. There are several demons around this area able to cast Zio so it's a little risky to use, but we're putting it on anyway. Each Magatama icon on the selection screen pulsates, wriggles and shines at a different speed; the more lively the bug, the closer we are to the level requirement for it to teach us its next skill. Right now Wadatsumi is practically begging to give us Ice Breath, and I'll be more than happy to oblige on the next level up.

Alright, we're good to go. Let's blow this healthy joint.



Music: Large Map

That's a bit of a geographical change, let's say. In a neat touch, you can see the hill of dirt in front of the eastern entrance to the hospital. And your eyes aren't tricking you, we are indeed walking around the interior of the Vortex World.

Do note the spherical indicator in the bottom left corner. It shows us on which segment of the overall world we're currently located. The point of view of this indicator is fixed (think of it as being from the perspective of a geosynchronous satellite), so we can rely on the segment with Shinjuku on it always being the back, so to speak.

In any event, we're surrounded on three sides by a terrifying void speckled by chunks of land still somehow barely hanging on, so our only egress is to the west. Or, err, well, whatever "west" means here.



I'd talk to these new guys, but they are of the Wilder race and there's essentially no point.




quote:

Lv6 Wilder Zhen
A colorful mythical bird of Chinese folklore, the Zhen is most notable for being extraordinarily venomous due to its strict diet of viper heads. In an interesting parallel to the western Basilisk leaving devastation wherever it walks, the Zhen can kill animals and vegetation just by flying over them. Wing Buffet is still a fairly weak group-hitting force-elemental attack, Toxic Sting can cause poison, and War Cry debuffs physical attack power by two levels.

We used to know the Wilder race as the Youjuu. They are dangerous supernatural animals or demon beasts, and as with the Haunt and Foul races, communicating with them is difficult at best.


: No... But, let's pretend it is.
: Then, let me tell you something. This is Shinjuku, and if you go south from here... ...Well, Tokyo's round, so I'm just talking relatively here... If you go south, you'll see Yoyogi Park and Shibuya. Speaking of which, I saw a human head toward Shibuya.

*: In a clever bit of design, the enemies around here are Haunt, Wilder and Foul, so you pretty much can't avoid earning yourself some battle experience here, unless you run away from everything.



Here's Shinjuku Station, essentially inaccessible. As we wander around, we can see pockets of abandoned buildings in between stretches of nearly featureless desert. The sand around each island of former civilization forms concentric circles strangely reminiscent of zen gardens.




*: Hot drat! Look at the good fortune on this guy!
: Er...!! You! You, over there! You! You! You!
: Settle down, little dude, you're real easy to notice.
: Life Stone... You have? Have?
: Yeah, sure, don't spend it all in one... uh. Whuh-oh.
*: Yikes, I must have sold our last Life Stone to a Shikigami without realizing it.
: Me tricked! Me look stupid!
> Zhen suddenly attacked!

Guess I better start minding my supplies!


: Do I know you?
: ...Have you heard of the Tokyo rumor?

Rumor? Aw hell, that must be that student I ran into before the... before. Is it racist if I can't tell ghosts apart?

: I probably haven't heard, no.
: A guy with a strong will is going to change this chaotic world....
: Dante!
: ...That's a good one, huh? Tokyo's forever in chaos! Hahahahahahaha!!
: I gotta say, I liked you better alive.



So there's Yoyogi Park. We made a deal, better honor it.


: It's a bit further than I remembered, but I probably can't trust my recollection anymore.

: Does... does it have to be?
: We made it to Yoyogi Park, so I guess we can part ways now.

: Are you kidding? Have you seen the rest of my crew?
: *bUrrRrp*
: Fire! Fire! Uweeheehee!
: GET IT AWAY FROM ME! IT'S IN MY HAIR!
: Awe we thewe yet?
: It's like hell's own daycare in here. Please stay. I need you.
: Mmmm... I like the way that sounds. *flirt* You win! I'll stay with you a while longer!
: Thank you! Oh thank you!

*: Just like that, Pixie is now with us for as long as we'll have her. You can tell her to go instead, and if you do so she'll give you the Ankh Magatama and leave forever. Now a Pixie with a couple levels on her versus a free Magatama seems like a no-brainer, but there are two facts to consider, neither of which you are aware of on a blind playthrough.

First off, Ankh is available for purchase later. It has basic healing spells learnable at low levels so it would be nice to have it now, but we're not permanently screwed out of it.

Second, this particular Pixie is unique. We want her in our party in some form for the remainder of the game. We can fuse her into something else without problems, and fuse her descendants as we please, but if we sacrifice or dismiss whatever creature she's currently part of, we'll miss out on something much later on.




There's no one keeping me from exploring this place now, so I might as well check it out while I'm here.



Oh what the deuce.


: Can't say I've had the pleasure.
: Then, hurry up and go to the Fountain of Life up ahead. ...She's hot!
: Alright, alright, just... Just watch where you're pointing that thing.


: They locked the door, so we can't get in...

*: He's not kidding. The door across from the entrance, leading to the construction site proper, is locked from the other side. Of course, Pixies can fly, so it wouldn't have been a problem for our companion.


: The name Hikawa comes up when I look at it... ...I feel like something bad happened to me...
: Trust me, it's best not to think too hard about it.


: Protesting the 1%, I suppose.
: Is there a large amount of Magatsuhi stashed there or something...?

*: As if on cue, we get into a fight with two Pixies, but it doesn't come to blows.



Better play it cool here.

: Not... specifically, no. What about her?
: Seems that she came from some hospital.
: !!!

*: The area has a couple doors leading to nondescript square rooms and a few Cubes (we get Life Stones, a Dis-Poison, and a Chakra Drop), but on the eastern side...







Music: Recovery Spring

: Holy crap, penis dude was right, she is hot!
: Your name has reached my humble ears... I will assist you to the best of my ability.
: The honor's all mine.



*: Healing! Not free, but whatchagonnado. As in previous games, the cost of healing depends on how much HP and MP you need restored. I'm not sure of the exact formula, but MP costs more than HP, so I'm pretty sure it's not cost-efficient to give your own healers a shot at patching you up first, or at least not for a long time.

As there is no longer a law/chaos alignment axis, the Lady of the Fount is the only health care provider we have to deal with, and our choices never impact her pricing.

If we use the Talk command...


: The Magatama is a spirit of misfortune... There may be times when you shall receive a terrible curse by the Magatama raging within you. But, I will be able to purify your curse with this fountain. Please keep that in mind...

*: Some Magatama will randomly inflict the special Curse ailment on you upon level up. There are specific circumstances where being cursed is actually desirable, but I do recall it has occasional detrimental effects in combat so most of the time you want it cured as soon as possible.

: Go forth now, and do not look back...

*: That's all Yoyogi Park has to offer for now, but we check on Major Dick before we go.

: We've met the Lady. As much as it pains me to agree with you, you were right.
: ...Man, she's hot!
: I like this guy.
: You would, wouldn't you.




: I think I owe you an apology.
: It's just like I said... The world's all round! But even now, no one believes me!
: Well, I certainly believe you now.
: I hear prophecies from Jupiter! You believe me, don'tcha? *hic*
: I'd usually draw the line at drunk ghosts, but you have a good track record so far.
: Oh! You believe me!? Then, I'll tell you something good! The 'Demi-fiend' is the one that's going to create the new world...
: Huh.
: By gum! You wouldn't be... Naw! *hic*
: Man, there's no way that's me. I wouldn't even know where to start.


: Used to be a bit nicer, before the cultists moved in. Worst gentrification ever.
: I wonder if the east side of the park is being occupied by fairies.

*: We level up and learn Ice Breath (weak ice damage, multiple hits randomly assigned to enemy group). Both our Magatama seem relaxed enough now, so I switch back to Marogareh.



Between the high cliffs and the gaping void, we've been everywhere our feet could take us. The only way to the eastern part of this area is through Yoyogi Park, and that's not happening. This is Shibuya though, and if there's a human in here, we gotta check it out.








Not as lively as I'd hoped, but it'll have to do.


: The other cities battle it out because of disagreements, but everyone here's laid-back.


: Hmm?
: Where's that Forneus!?
: No... no idea... sorry...

Aw...


: There's one with shops, and one with a club. For shops, I recommend the Cathedral of Shadows. They have creepy ceremonies there.
: There sure is nothing else I'd rather buy!

*: Speaking of creepy ceremonies! Going behind the building in the center here...



...prompts us to open a door. It's rrrreally not obvious that there's anything at all back there.




*: Mysterious! Ominous!
: Familiar!
*: If you look closely, you can see the four colored statuettes from Hanada's ritual in SMT2. Nothing else is going on in here for now, though, so we head back to the intersection and go down the stairs to the underground plaza.



Those floors are much shinier than I would have expected.


: What of it?
: He's the king of poo poo Town, you know. Show proper respect!
: Welcome to Kick-rear end Deli, punk! Try my knuckle sandwich!!
*: We're thrown in battle against a single Will o' Wisp. It ends predictably.
: ............. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!
: That's better.
: I'll offer you some juicy information, so please forgive me...
: I'm listening.
: There's a human girl at the club downstairs.
: Okay thanks bye!

*: I was thinking of exploring the first basement, but this seems more urgent.



This must be it!


: The club's up ahead.



Yup, this seems clubby enough.







quote:

Lv7 Foul Mou-Ryo
Your basic earthbound human soul, unable to reach the afterlife on account of some emotional or karmic weight holding them back. However, they've degraded to the point where they hardly remember their former lives, and have turned into barely-sentient lumps of anguish and misery. The addition of Pulinpa (causes Panic ailment, single target) and Toxic Sting makes them a fair bit more dangerous than they used to be.





quote:

Lv6 Foul Slime
It's more a pile of animated ectoplasmic goo than a legitimate mythological being. Their physical resistance makes them annoying to fight hand-to-hand, so they tend to be a bit of a MP drain. Last Resort is a kamikaze explosion that can mess up your day, and Sonic Wave can Panic your entire party, so you really want to get these fights over with as soon as possible. Gathering summons more Slimes to the fight, but they seem to use it infrequently enough.

It'll take more than these miserable things to stop me now!



Chiaki!

FrankZP fucked around with this message at 01:37 on Nov 15, 2015

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!
Huh, I didn't realize the Test Poster was for more than just testing! Thanks for the heads-up. I got six more in the can for daily posting before I'm done catching you guys up, so I'll be doing as you suggest until then at least. Once I get back to posting updates as I make them, I expect 2 or 3 updates a week so that might be less of a problem, but we'll see.

FrankZP fucked around with this message at 03:04 on Nov 15, 2015

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!

RickVoid posted:

No problem. Most first time SA-LPers that post their first SA-LPs on the day they register, that already have a bunch of updates posted somewhere else, are generally terrible, so this has been a breath of fresh air. It helps that this is a hybrid screenshot LP, so you aren't (really) youtube dumping on us (and plugging your channel). I also like the voices you've given to the characters, staying both true to the source and you haven't been super creepy about Pixie/the female NPCs.

The trick is to make a conscious effort to make the inserted characters into more than one-note joke delivery vehicles. I mostly go for a humorous tone, but it's nice to have a defined personality in mind to fall back on when something dramatic happens in the story.

I figured you guys got plenty of chaff, what with how big the place is, but I didn't realize my exact situation was that common! The heart of it is, I let honesty and respect be my guides, and I didn't come in expecting anyone to make exceptions for me. And I don't have an ulterior motive beyond gaining the unique pleasure of entertaining smart people for a few moments every once in a while.

GeneralYeti posted:

I'm really glad you're doing this LP - I happen to like most RPGs, but I don't know if I'd have the patience to sit there and try to get every unique monster/yokai/whatever the hell they are. Also, the starfish demon waiting for Forneus made me snicker.

Ha, I can't promise I'll recruit one of everything, some of the critters are a genuine pain in the butt to get. But I'll give it the old college try for sure.

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!
Update 5: Exploring Shibuya

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!

mauman posted:

All I ask is that you keep your original pixie with you (evolved forms count). She deserves that much from us.

Sorry mang, I pre-emptively disappointed you like a week ago. :3

If it's any comfort, I always make sure she doesn't end up as part of any sort of gross monster!

Apepresident posted:

Otherwise she's just going to eat up an entire spot for 4/5 of the game, which is actually kinda painful.

Yeah, even empty ally slots can be as valuable as filled ones, especially going into a new dungeon. Keeping an outdated creature around is rough chuckles.

Apepresident posted:

The interesting thing about the evolution of demons is that it not only requires your demon to reach a specific level but also your character has to reach a certain level.
You would think that the MC would need a higher level than the demon (since otherwise those beasts wouldn't follow you) but interestingly enough, that's never the case.

Right, exactly. It's an extreme example, but Lv8 Night Lilim evolves into Lv80 Night Lilith. It would be crazypants to be able to evolve one without a MC level check.

Polsy posted:

well, just head towards Ginza, navigating by this featureless passageway

That's sort of the first overt clue about Hijiri's part in the story. He eventually has access to nigh-unlimited information through the Terminals and the Amala Network, but since he doesn't leave his safety zone, he lacks proper perspective about what's really going on.

Aight, update incoming, hold on to yer butts.

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!
Update 6: The Amala Network

FrankZP fucked around with this message at 16:47 on Nov 19, 2015

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!

Montegoraon posted:

This game may be fairly old now, but I think it still looks really good. It is what it tries to be. The character animation is subtle, and clever too. I didn't realize it until years after I first played the game, but when Hijiri takes that magazine out of his bag he briefly holds his hat in front of it so you don't see the bag not opening when it comes out. The artistic direction is phenomenal in general for a game made in 2003, like with the use of lighting in the scene where you meet Chiaki again. And there's all kinds of other signs used to show the broken wrongness of the world. Like outside in Shibuya, how the shadows of the buildings (and the Hachiko statue) are all pointing in random directions. Just like the older games in the series, the game may be pretty minimalist in a lot of ways, but it still manages to be very atmospheric.

Oh absolutely. The art direction is top-notch. It's a weird comparison to make, but it has that Wind Waker groove to it, where the world is more about shapes and colors than it is about textures, so it has aged extraordinarily well. Every once in a while I take a fullscreen screenshot and I'm just amazed at how good it looks even in 1080p. I'm gonna post a bunch of those later, but in the meantime, take a look at these: Hikawa's room, rooftop, Ms. Takao, definitely not Johnny Depp smiling knowingly, the horizon was the first casualty of the apocalypse. (For real though, if I was inside the Vortex World myself, I'd just be having vertigo 100% of the time.)

Of course it's a Playstation 2 game, so it can't avoid a few weak textures here and there, some models could use a couple more polygons, and the software does a lot of heavy lifting, but by and large, considering this was first released in 2003, it still looks incredible.

There's also a very subtle nuance in the art design that does a lot of world-building by itself: what's left of the human world tends to be desaturated, monochrome and hazy, while the new, supernatural, divine or demonic areas are all in intense colors and strong shapes. We haven't seen a lot of the latter yet, but do just look at Hikawa's room again, and mind how this deep, ethereal blue clashes completely with the rest of the hospital and the real world outside. This distinction is kept up throughout the game, and it really makes you think about what Yuko meant when she was talking about "a world that loses its power" in the very first cutscene.

Montegoraon posted:

Also, I love how Shibuya is only the third area, but already we've met Shikigami, which can repel elec, the first magical element you get access to, and now Nekomata and Choronzon. Those encounters aren't likely to be all that threatening, but it really makes an impression to see all your press turns disappear at once. It definitely sets the tone for how unforgiving this game can be later on. But even though it does very rarely happen that you'll get taken out before you get a turn, I don't find it all that unfair. You just have to have a good memory, and remember to use Analyze absolutely any time you see something you don't recognize.

Yup. You're kinda pushed into the pool right away when it comes to the battle system, but you're still given a fair amount of time to get used to the water before you gotta go in the deep end. It's tutorial-ish, but it'll still kill you dead if you don't pay attention; it's a mark of a developer that respects the player's intelligence.

Montegoraon posted:

By the way, when are the previous protagonists going to notice that this guy doesn't need to spend magnetite to summon and maintain demons, on top of every other advantage he has over them?

Oh, that's coming up for sure. There are some things that I gotta mention as it comes up, but I'm saving a lot of details and comparisons to previous games for upcoming intermission posts just to keep the mid-narrative infodumps to a minimum. The first one's planned for right when you guys are caught up; I'm working on it already so I got something to do while the actual game progress in on hold.

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!
Update 7: Another slight detour

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!

ManlyGrunting posted:

This is an excellent LP, especially for someone who doesn't know the social mores of the site (I've seen some special LPs come this way). Try not to burn yourself out though.

Ha, thanks, much appreciated, I'm glad people seem to enjoy it. And that's good advice for sure. I always make sure I end a play session well before I actually start feeling like doing something else, that way I'm always looking forward to the next one. There's a lesson I wish I had learned a long time ago.


RickVoid posted:

You monster.

:D

My people prefer the term "demon". :3

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!
Update 8: The Great Underpass of Ginza

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!

Apepresident posted:

The Nozuchi/Uzume line up is the same one I use at this point in the game. I think they're both amongst the best choices for what's going to happen next.

Yup, that's pretty much my intent. But I'd probably get Uzume anyway; I'm inordinately fond of humanoid party members for some reason, and she's a great healer besides, as far as the early game is concerned.

dasmause posted:

Physical damage is the only viable option, really

Well, I beat the game with a pure wizardy type before, so in the sense that something can be simultaneously sub-optimal and viable, I kinda disagree. (Though I did describe myself as a Johnny/Timmy; one of the greatest primal joys I get from gaming is choosing options or paths that most people say aren't so great, and then making them work anyway.) But if you're looking for an optimized power build, then yeah, physical is absolutely the way to go, no contest.

Montegoraon posted:

Actually, thinking about that, if you want to try something probably nobody's ever done before, how about a luck-heavy stat build? Load out your moveset with ailment-inflicting and high-crit moves for bosses, just to see what that's like.

I actually did that in DDS. If I remember correctly, you get two skill points per level in that game, and as far as Serph was concerned I always put at least one of them in luck. It mostly worked, but in the end I personally found relying on the RNG pretty unsatisfying somehow. It ends up like, say, lightning damage in Diablo II; a skill that does 5-150 damage where others would do 70-80 ends up being 1/4th fist-pumping thrills and 3/4th kick-in-the-pants.

GeneralYeti posted:

Huh, so these games are where :atlus: comes from. I'm more used to that company thanks to Etrian Odyssey.

Yup. Jack Frost made his first appearance in Megami Tensei II on the Famicom, back in 1990. But his distinctive hat made its debut in Shin Megami Tensei on the Super Famicom, in 1992.

GatewayOfLastResort posted:

I am really enjoying this LP. Nocturne is definitely one of my favorite PS2 games and probably my favorite SMT game (4 was great but I like Nocturne's setting way more.) I think your treatment of the Demi-Fiend is spot on.

Thank ye kindly, glad you dig it. It's sort of a balancing act between remembering that a half-demon is nevertheless a half-human, and still trying to make sure he gradually becomes the transcendent being he has the potential to turn into. He's a high school student who likes video games and visits his teacher at the hospital with a couple classmates, but he also leaves the message he leaves in DDS and means every single word of it. Tricky!

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!
Update 9: ˇOlé!

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!

Digital Jello posted:

Something I've always found really amusing with the SMT series is the way the demons talk; no matter how badass or godly they look and act, they often talk like regular people, using everything from slang to obscure social media references. I like your commentary for our hero, because most of the time it really does sound on par with the rest of the in-game cast.

Right! I think one of the biggest selling point of the series, along with Persona, is that they have a very modern feel that goes beyond cosmetics. I like kings and castles as much as the next guy, but there's a unique cachet to stories set in our lifetime, starring characters who, for at least a portion of their lives, have had existences similar to ours.

Digital Jello posted:

Incidentally, in semi-regards to your latest update, I love SMT Loki. He was my most powerful demon back when I played the poo poo out of SMT Imagine Online. He was a bitch to fuse though since you had to rely on other players' demons. Weirdly, I don't think I ever used him in Nocturne though.

Heh, it's not so weird. Loki is not recruitable, fusable, or fightable in Nocturne, for whatever reason. (Never mind that, I am the fool of fools.) I do have a fondness for trickster types myself, in any case. I played Imagine for a while, but I had so many people bitch me out for using sub-optimal builds that still worked that I pretty much stopped having any fun. But that's my history with any MMO I've ever tried; I have nothing against minmaxers, but I'm just not cut out for it.

blankd posted:

Also I'm not sure if you're going to cover it or not, but you can punch the objects in the Amala minigame. (Spoilering just in case)

Oh crap, I totally forgot about that! Thanks for reminding me!

blankd posted:

But anyway, great LP, usually these kinds of added dialogues can be a hit or miss but I think you're nailing it pretty well, keep up the good work and hope you're adjusting just fine to SA. :)

Dang, I'm essentially blown away by the reception so far. I had confidence in my work (or I wouldn't have tried my luck in the first place), but my expectations are beyond surpassed. I'm glad so many people are digging it!

Montegoraon posted:

Ah, Matador. Some people say he's really not all that tough. They're wrong. Sure, if you're really experienced with the game and know how to get Fog Breath before the Demi-fiend learns it at level 21, you can neutralize him. Hell, if you've played through once and know the importance of spells like Sukukaja, he's not too bad at all.

But that's if you know he's coming. Almost any opponent in an RPG can be beaten by simply grinding enough. It's all a numbers game, ultimately. The real metric of how difficult a boss is, is how much effort you have to put into preparing for them.

Anyway, the game really benefits by having him. Stat buffs and debuffs are inefficient if not nigh-useless in most RPGs. Matador lets you know that that's not the case here, with the subtlety of a vuvuzela.

Well said. Matador is the wake-up call boss, but he's also the capstone of the tutorial area, so to speak. It's the school of hard knocks, sure, but you're still learning through the pain.

alcharagia posted:

And the funny part is that he wasn't even in the game originally :v:

Once you know what's the deal with Nocturne Maniax and such, it gets pretty obvious why the Fiend battles are placed where they are. For example, the Great Underpass is not a major story dungeon (other than for the introduction of Manikins), and it didn't have a boss to begin with. It feels a little tacked on, but overall they did a pretty decent job at making sure the main plot progression isn't derailed too badly. Unless Matador kills you a bunch, I suppose.

dude789 posted:

I don't think the game would be nearly as well regarded without the new optional content added in. The amala labyrinth is kinda tedious, but still better than some of the main game dungeon and all the extra fights and cutscenes are among the best in the game.

The way I understand it, is that a lot of it was stuff that was cut out of the initial release for budgetary reasons, and Maniax is somewhat of a director's cut version that aimed to restore the original vision for the game. Considering the plot revelations you get as you travel from Kalpa to Kalpa, I don't find that hard to believe.

ModeWondershot posted:

Also, meant to bring this up way back when, but I actually thought of this game when I was in Japan back in 2012, as while I was there I saw Yoyogi Park for the first time. Based on that experience, I can totally believe people going apeshit over someone building some kind of cell tower substation right in the middle of it, as well as fairies deciding to take it over in the alternate reality version of Tokyo.

With that, thanks for reigniting so many fond memories of my trips though both real and SMT Japan with the LP. I'll look forward to its continuation.

Yeah, I've been doing some research on the real world areas we're visiting (for reasons), and clearly putting a construction site there is a colossal dick move. And Tokyo doesn't look like it has an abundance of grass and wide-open spaces in the first place.

I feel a little chintzy for not responding individually to every positive comment, but I'm a little worried it would be bad form to just quote a bunch of people and go "thanks, glad you like it" to everyone. In any case, I appreciate your time and attention, and I'll keep doing my best to be worthy of both. Thanks for reading! You guys are a pleasure to write for.

The tenth daily update is coming up in a few minutes. It's the last one I had in the can from before I joined up, and I haven't played since, so you'll see every update from 11 onwards posted right out of the oven. Judging from the pace at which I've originally produced the ones I put up so far, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say I expect around two updates a week. I love Nocturne but it's still a JRPG and it turns into a pretty hardcore dungeon crawler, and besides that, proofreading in a second language is a bit of a time sink!

Aight, let's get this show on the road once more.

FrankZP fucked around with this message at 22:41 on Nov 20, 2015

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!
Update 10: Ikebukuro

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!

mauman posted:

I'm confused, what do you mean Loki's not fusable?

He's classified as a Tyrant in the game and perfectly fusable.

Digital Jello posted:

I'm...actually not sure if I was ever aware of that. Loki's been in so many SMT games that I always just assumed that somehow, he was accessible in Nocturne. Or maybe I forgot. It's been years since I played this.

Wow, I don't know what I was smoking. My apologies, you guys are completely right. I must have been thinking of some other demon, or some other game. Yikes! Thanks for calling me on it. Man is my face red!

GeneralYeti posted:

I'm pretty sure he's running this LP on two boards at the same time, and this once-a-day thing was solely to catch us up to speed. It should slow down now.

Yup, that is the case. Once I decided to put it up here I couldn't in good conscience continue playing and allow you fine folks to fall further behind. I absolutely understand the advantages of a backlog, but I tend to prefer to interact with my audience as close to the actual game experience as possible. I wish this had been the case here from the start, but if it's any comfort, the Brontoforums people have been on this Ikebukuro cliffhanger for nearly two weeks by now. :3:

FrankZP fucked around with this message at 22:34 on Nov 20, 2015

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!

ModeWondershot posted:

Huh, I would generally argue in favour of skipping skill changes to keep Bright or Dark Might over their more general-use cousin. While you are absolutely correct about Might being more applicable at all Kagutsuchi phases, the reality of it for me was that random encounters in this game, even among other Megaten titles, are far less liable to kill you than boss fights. In some cases, the boss fights were tough enough that the exploitation of Bright/Dark Might seemed at least as worthy of consideration as grinding out a more suitable party.

I don't mean to criticize your choice of play, of course. I just like the strategy discussion content of the LP and am curious to know what you think concerning whether or not an exploitable mechanic ought to be considered in a game or series like this reputed for its unforgiving nature.

I have to admit there's a tiny little voice deep inside of me that says "it's broken, don't use it". But the fact of the matter is, you make excellent points, Bright Might is in the game for a reason, and if it hadn't transformed, I would have kept it and used it. I gambled twice in hopes that some other skill would upgrade because on some level I was still okay with not having it, and I lost twice. That's pretty much all there is to it, heheh.

Feinne posted:

Nocturne's got a bit of an odd thing where you can really tell that ATLUS was still feeling out what they could do with the PS2. There are a few really cool fights (and those are the ones you remember) but the boss fight design just isn't very inspired for the most part. Maniax helped a bit of course but also brought us some fights with gimmicks that more annoy than challenge (as we'll see later).

Yeah, Nocturne's got its share of pain-in-the-rear end bosses, and there's definitely a bunch that I'm not looking forward to fighting in the least. Matador was pretty rough, but once you know what to expect he's not nearly as aggravating as some of his colleagues. Unevenness is usually the price for being so experimental; for every aspect that's sublime, you have another that risks coming off feeling half-baked.

Still, I'd take that over the boss battles in SMT1, where it feels like 95% of them are vulnerable to Shock or Freeze or both and you can keep them perpetually locked down without even trying. :D

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!
Update 11: Intermission the First

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!
Huh, that's correct. Well, it's the same base melody, or very similar, but the instrumentation and arrangement are different. (Yeah, on further listening it's that organ part that messed me up.) I never noticed! You got a sharp ear, mang.

I'm beginning to regret that moment just before I was born when I decided to put all my skill points into the "making ghost fart jokes" skill.

FrankZP fucked around with this message at 23:58 on Nov 21, 2015

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!

IthilionTheBrave posted:

Just wanted to pipe in and say you're doing a great job on the LP! It inspired me to start playing Nocturne again for a bit, and after reading through your LPs of the previous two games I played a bit of SMT2 for the first time out of a sense of masochism and curiosity. That and I'm kinda curious to see how your downward spiral in the LP could have been avoided. Not entirely sure if I'll continue, though, because the age for the UI shows. Still, though, keep up the good work! Normally I hate narrative LPs like this, but your SMT and Dr. Fetus's Etrian Odyssey LPs are the exception!

As for my own experiences with Nocturne, I remember I stopped playing shortly after fusing Daisoujou and right around when a group of optional Fiends showed up. I think I was maybe past the halfway point?

Yeah, the Super Famicom SMTs have aged rather poorly, I'm afraid. The second is less clunky than the first, but in other regards it felt super disjointed, and the grind finished derailing me completely. The first held itself together better in terms of narrative and setting, but even towards then end the fighting really really started wearing me out. Four enemy encounters every three steps is rarely my idea of a good time. As for whether the point you're mentioing is the halfway point, it's been too long since I've played, I really couldn't tell you. I guess we'll see! :3


Neurion posted:

Piping in as well to say you're doing a great job with this LP so far. I, too, have played Nocturne more than is reasonable for a human being who needs to also hold down a job and social obligations.

It's also neat to consider what Atlus tried with SMT3 that they improved upon in later titles. While demon negotiation is pretty much fixed no matter how you answer questions in this game (either the RNG doesn't continually seed on a per-frame basis, or it's just decided when you start) this changes in their other negotiation-using PS2 title, Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon. In that game, each demon species has an assigned personality (i.e. Old Man, Old Woman, Child, Punk, etc.) and this personality adjusts the weights of your answers to their questions. Also nice in that game is the fact you can ask for an item or recruit with the same talk skill. Even better, if you successfully negotiate a recruit with a demon but your party is full, the demon will depart but remember your successful attempt and will join you without hassle next time you have space in your party and Talk again. It's saved my rear end on a number of occasions!

Huh, that sounds like long-overdue convenience. If I do another SMT-related game it'll probably be Digital Devil Saga (well, pair of games, then), but I'm still being tempted. That's a long way off though, heh.

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!
Update 12: Texas Justice

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!

Montegoraon posted:

No, I meant give him a cameo. P4 is everywhere, it seems.

While I'm aware of the series' fundamentals (can't help but absorb some of it even if only through social osmosis), I've never actually played or seen played any Persona game (*gasp!*) so I probably wouldn't be able to do justice to a proper cameo. :3

GeneralYeti posted:

Speaking of, I'm doing my best to keep track of who's in what monster. Right now Pixie's in Unicorn and the best wingman Shikigami is in Bicorn, right?

Pixie's still in Unicorn, and Shikigami was in Bicorn, so now he's in Incubus, which is to say, still a wingman. It's just a phase, he'll grow out of it! I'll probably post a family tree in an intermission one of these days.

In other news, i wasn't sure how long I'd leave the question open, but I think I'm seeing a trend here, so I'm giving it until the end of the day, then I'll get started on the next update.

FrankZP fucked around with this message at 15:51 on Nov 25, 2015

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!
Alright, the people have spoken, and the question is settled. I'll get started on update-crafting momentarily!

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!
You can give all those skills to the Demi-Fiend and make it work, but that's half his skill slots occupied by various flavors of "hit all enemies once" physical moves, and that's a big hit to potential versatility.

As for his team, that's a bit of another story, and I pretty much agree with what Sordas said. That said, there is a surprising amount of flexibility in what skills you can give to what demons, considering you can fuse entirely unrelated demons into Elements and Mitama who can carry over the skills you want without irreversibly transforming your target demon into something else, and with enough Mitama and grinding you can make early-game demons relatively viable for a long time. But even then, it'd be a gigantic, time-consuming pain in the butt. And now that I think of it, I believe the DDS Arahabaki has a couple skills that straight up don't exist in Nocturne, but I can't recall for sure.

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!
Update 13: The Assault on Nihilo

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!
Oh dang I had totally forgotten about that. I'm probably not gonna keep Shock forever anyway, but that's an excellent point in general.

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!

FredMSloniker posted:

Hey, quick favor to ask: when you screenshot a decision, could you do it with your cursor on the choice you actually made? This update's not the first where this has happened:

Oh I've just been leaving it on the default choice, and figured it'd be made clear what answer I picked when I write the subsequent dialog. It's a simple enough change to make if that's a sticking point though, no sweat.

FredMSloniker posted:

Also, how come you put the update in the off-site thing? Now that you're caught up, there's no reason not to put it in-thread.

Ha, that would be force of habit. I'll be switching back to in-thread then. Thanks for the reminder.

FredMSloniker posted:

Also also, wow. Not one, but two checks if you're sure you wanna fight Daisoujou, and yet freaking Matador and Dante attack us without even warning.

Well, Daisoujou is optional, and you wouldn't really have a reason to go back to the Ikebukuro eastern area if you hadn't been clued in by the local NPCs. The game assumes that the Candelabrum acting up when you enter the area is warning enough... but I do seem to remember some later fiends outright ambush you, so who knows.

FredMSloniker posted:

Also also also, I'm confused. Are we railroaded into destroying the core, or could we choose not to? I'm wondering why we're going through the trouble of collecting the nails if we might (at least in theory) want to ally with these guys.

We're really just here to meet up with the Nihilo leadership. Hijiri wants us to get the skinny from Hikawa, but we especially want to see Ms. Takao, since she's the reason we're alive, she outright asked us to find her, and she promised strength and guidance. At this point we couldn't give a toss about who's collecting emotion juice for what purpose, so the core itself is none of our concern beyond helping us grab the attention of someone high up the food chain.

Montegoraon posted:

Screenshots really cannot capture how incredibly disorienting that spinning hallway is. Looking at that thing's the only time I've ever been made dizzy by a video game.

Yeah, it's a trip and a half. The nearer sections of the hallway rotate faster than the further ones (EDIT: it's actually the opposite, doy), so it only takes a few seconds for the visual effect to kind of break apart and start feeling extremely chaotic.

FrankZP fucked around with this message at 03:07 on Nov 29, 2015

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!

GeneralYeti posted:

Any possibility of getting a GIF or video of the hallway, or should I just search for it on Youtube?

Excellent suggestion. Granted!

Oddity: Nihilo's Wonderful Spinning Hallway

To me, it's especially mesmerizing when the cycle restarts, and when it's about halfway through, when you can detect the order restoring itself for just a moment and then slipping away again. On a New Game+ you can actually play in first person perspective, and it must be even trippier then.

I'll probably relink the video in the next intermission so it's included officially.

Rigged Death Trap posted:

Ability ro get daisoujou unlocked.
Game won.
Nothing to see here.

Well, we still need to pick up a Deathstone from the Labyrinth, but, very near there for sure. My first time around, whatever I fused into him gave him Makatora, the MP sharing skill, and I used him as a rechargeable battery for like three quarters of the game. I did get sick of him hogging valuable experience after a while though.

FredMSloniker posted:

Ah. So we're threatening the core until someone pays attention to us. How very Mantra.

Ha, that's one way to look at it, and a fairly insightful one at that. The Mantra rank-and-file don't think much of this whole creation business, and are well content with the current state of affairs; as far as we can tell, it looks like Gozu-Tennoh isn't involved in the greater purpose of the Vortex World and would rather conquer it and rule it forever than see it change or be destroyed. Our goals and the Mantra's may differ, but we have something in common in that we're not willingly participating in the official process either (not yet, perhaps not ever), and anyone precipitating events that we don't have a chance to influence is a potential threat, both to us and to whatever Ms. Takao's goal is (regardless of whether we would go along with it or not, were we to know what it was).

In any case, Hikawa and Ms. Takao both know we've survived the Conception as they did, but I don't think they know we're somewhat less helpless than Chiaki, Isamu and Hijiri are. Remember when Hikawa told us "even a pebble creates ripples when cast in water"? Dude's gonna wish he brought his surfboard along.

Arcade Rabbit posted:

Maybe its just me, but the Candle Fiends seem pretty densely packed around here. We've fought three now, with only about a dungeon and a half among them, right? I don't remember them being so close together.

Yeah, I'm a little bit surprised that they're showing up in quick succession too, but, well, here we are! That said, I do remember Daisoujou pissing me off so much that I ended up leaving him alone for a long time, so maybe that colors my memory somewhat.

FrankZP fucked around with this message at 03:23 on Nov 29, 2015

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!


That's the only other way from here.




: Compared to the Mantra, it doesn't take much.

: Yeah. But I just want to talk, for now.
: Commander Hikawa is on Floor B15 of the core. But, you need the four Kilas, stakes that control the Magatsuhi in this structure, to get to him. You saw those four pedestals on the way here, right? Use the Kilas there...
: That's pretty much what I figured.
: Occasionally, there are visitors like you, but they all disappear up ahead. They all fall prey to the traps made by the great Commander Hikawa.
: If you think he's so great, why are you feeding me info?
: So, why tell you all this? I figure you have the right to know before you die...
: How kind of you.



What the...?




: This is the storehouse for Magatsuhi. It's separated into three floors, and each leads to a storeroom where a Kila is kept. You see that switch? It's set up so that it changes the flow of Magatsuhi. *chuckle* In other words, if you don't use the switches properly, you'll never make it to the storerooms.





*: As the spirit explained, this is essentially a multilayered maze with pathways controlled by those round switches. You can spend a minimum of time in here and go straight for the Kila rooms, but there are Cubes here and there, and I want to get them all. In fact, before we even touch the switch, we can reach...



And when we do activate the switch...






There's another switch in the northwest corner.






This one allows us to access a ladder in the southeastern corner, as well as a door in the north. But before we can reach either, we get in a fight with Nihilo patrols.



Seeing as we're now running into Forneus as random encounters, I'm extra glad I gave Zio to Kikuri-Hime.



: Even if someone were to make it that far, they'd be killed anyway. So, that's why we don't have to panic.
: Yeah, we'll see about that. Get your panic pants ready.





White Treasure Room, eh?

*: We get the usual warning about strong power behind the door.



: I am Eligor, one of the fallen angels. I guard this Kila under the order of our commander.

: I like those with intelligence.
: Are you hitting on me?
: To show you my respect, I will kill you painlessly.
: Ah, right, that'll make more sense.

: The decision is out of your hands, my friend.
: Die!!





*: Eligor starts the battle alone, and he's not a full boss so he only gets one turn icon. However, he gets a suprise round, and opens up with Beast Eye. Beast Eye is a weaker version of Daisoujou's Startle, turning a full icon into two half icons. He uses one of these icons to cast Gathering to summon one Dis, and the Dis uses the other icon to cast Makajam on Badb Catha. It lands, but Badb Catha doesn't have any spells yet so it's no biggie. However, on the second enemy turn, he summons a second Dis, who uses Stone Gaze (and misses), so we don't want to mess around for too long.

Eligor turns out to be weak to electricity, so Kikuri-Hime's Zio comes in handy. A couple Focus shock-crits later and we only have the Disir to finish off, which is simple enough with Heat Wave.


quote:

Fallen Eligor
Eligor is another member of the infernal nobility, namely a Great Duke of Hell, commanding 60 legions of demons and appearing as a mounted knight. If he is summoned, he can find lost objects, talk about wars past, present and future, and attract attention and favor from soldiers, knights, kings, and other leaders and notables.




So there's number two. We could now take the ladder down to the next layer, but Zed used up a bunch of MP on Fog Breath, so I decide to return to the terminal and heal up before we attempt the second Kila guardian fight. We could probably win either way, but I don't feel like taking chances.

As long as we're in Shibuya, I drop by the Cathedral to register my party, and visit the Junk shop to pick up a Revival Bead and three Dis-Mute items. Heeho used to run this store, but he's gone on his trip, and he's been replaced by another "alternative lifestyle" Manikin who also gives out Lucky Tickets.

Alright then, back to Nihilo.






*: The enemies we run into down here so far are Forneus, Koppa and Fomor. Large amounts of Koppa can buff one another's offense and get pretty scary if you let them live long enough, but they're individually fragile and fall quickly. Momunofu learned Brutal Slash, a strong single-target attack that eats up a decent chunk of HP, but seeing as Kikuri-Hime knows Diarama and can replenish her MP with Mana Drain, we can still make liberal use of it.



As long as you leave the switches in their default positions on the second layer (B11), you can access a small terminal; however you need to cut off access to it in order to proceed.



Now I'm not going to detail all the switch stuff, but I'm showing you this picture here because you can clearly see the 5x5 maze on the floor below, taunting us with promises of future pain in the butt.

On the way, Zed levels up and learns Might from Kamudo, which is the last skill this particular Magatama has to offer. I replace Taunt with it.



This is the confirmation that Kamudo has nothing more to teach us. Mastering Magatama like this actually has a fairly small hidden effect, but it won't be visible in any way until we master a couple more.





: That's my line!



*: Eligor uses Beast Eye again, and summons a Yaka this time, which wastes a turn on Diarama. I foresee no great difficulty this time either. In fact, Badb Catha and Kikuri-Hima can take one Yaka every round together, so Eligor's further summons are for nothing, and Momunofu and Zed have free reign to use Focus and basic attacks. The fight is over quickly and at little expense.



We don't get the next Kila right away, though. There are multiple short paths branching off the main corridor.



A small empty room...



And another dead end with a Cube.



: ...a world where we throw away our individuality and become a part of the grand universe. There is no pain or struggling due to individuality.
: That sounds pretty good, but on the other hand, no individuality.
: ...Commander Hikawa is wonderful. All shall be bliss...

Man that Hikawa sure likes his cultists.



*: There's another small terminal here, so once we're done exploring we'll be able to heal up easily enough.


: She will be the foundation for our new world.
: That's a lot of weight on the shoulders of a high school teacher.
: So, no matter how much demons like you cause trouble, we won't be disturbed. ...The world we desire has no need for emotions in the first place...

*: Sparing a random Incubus earns us 350 Macca and a very clear voice-acted "thank you!". I hadn't decided for myself if Incubi sounded like Barry White or Mickey Mouse, but their high-pitched, nasally voice clears up all doubt.

After some more exploring interconnecting corridors for a while...



: Is this guy getting on anyone else's nerves yet, or is it just me?
: Nah, I'm with you.
: Even I would like to shove that spear up his nethers by now.

*: More Beast Eye, and another Dis. Judicious use of Shock and Zio sees us through quickly this time. However, the guy was guarding a dead end. I can only assume he's going to ambush us again as we look around the area.

A bit later we find a Mystical Chest, at half waning Kagutsuchi. I don't want to be back later, so I pass the time in the same room. Boy am I glad I have an ally with effectively infinite MP. In fact, Kikuri-Hime levels up, and learns Me Patra (replacing Taunt) and Maiden's Plea, a special passive conversation skill that sometimes pacifies demons trying to end talks out of anger.



Incense! Score!

But as we leave the room...



: I found you.
: God dammit.
: Alright, that's enough!
: It sure is.

*: He summons Incubi this time, but it's not much more difficult. In fact, I focus on taking out his summons first, and use Kikuri-Hime's Zio on Eligor himself, allowing us to come out on top every round. He does start using Mudo though, which is slightly worrying.



We should be almost done with this layer now.




Red Treasure Room, at last.

*: We get a warning about strong power, but there's no one inside. We grab the Red Kila, turn back, and...


: Halt...
: Well at least it's not that other rear end in a top hat. Remember me?
: I am Berith, the great duke of hell.

: You're not turning me away so easily this time.

: ... Then, prepare yourself... for my spear shall pierce through your insolent skull!





*: This is already a more threatening fight. The Succubi in particular are giving me the willies. In fact, I'll outright try using a Mahama Rock.



Aaaaand they have boss immunities going on. Okay then, time to put my game face on. Kikuri-Hime's Mabufu uncovers Berith's weakness to cold and freezes a Succubus, so we're still off to a good start. The Succubi try to use Lullaby, which is the prelude to Eternal Rest; Momunofu is weak to ailments, but Kikuri-Hime voids sleep so it's a wash overall.

Aw hell, Berith uses Maragi, hitting Kikuri-Hime's weakness as well as Zed's (since I gave him Hifumi after mastering Kamudo). Badb Catha gets charmed, hits Zed, leaving him with 16 HP, and Zed counters, also leaving BC with 16 HP. Daaaaaaang. It's a good thing Kikuri could use Diarama before the end of our turn, beause the next round's two Maragi casts kill her off along with BC. I summon Chatterskull to start absorbing fire damage and cut down on extra turns. I knew I kept that dude around for a reason.

Momunofu bites it on the following turn, but the Succubi are gone and I can summon more replacements. I think it's in the bag now, though it's a more expensive bag than I'd have liked.

After a few rounds Berith starts using Hellfire, a stronger fire attack than Maragi, but we hold on thanks to a couple of Incubus War Cries, and eventually prevail.


quote:

Fallen Berith
Berith is another Great Duke of Hell, commanding 26 legions of demons. He knows much about the past, present, and future, and can turn any metal into gold. He's also enamored of the sound of his own voice; reportedly, he once possessed a nun and proceeded to recite the name of all the demons possessing her with him, and when he was done he was so disappointed that he had nothing else he wanted to say that he started naming the saints who would be most helpful in banishing each and every one of them.

To put the poop cherry on the turd sundae, Zed levels up, and Hifumi stuns him. Oh boy.



Yeah, we'll be using that terminal now. Fortunately that was the last room of this area, so we never have to see these corridors again. One more Kila to go.

The trip to Shibuya and back is accomplished without difficulty, and we reach the 5x5 cube maze easily.





It does seem pretty simple, though. The way north is already unlocked.





What the...

: There will be hell to pay if you touch that switch!
: I won't let you get past here. How's this?





: Son of a bitch!

*: Not so simple, then. We got a teleporting douchebag operating switches now.



In addition, this cube has an open side pointing straight down, giving us an opportunity to drop to the smaller layer below. I do so right away, just to see if there's anything of importance down there.



: I don't know why you're surprised.
: ............ Well... you can get to the storeroom on the floor above by turning the three switches blue.
: Huh, alright then. Thank you.
: ............ An intruder got this far...? I hope Commander Hikawa isn't slipping!
: Seeing how many of you guys are giving me clues, maybe it's not his fault.

*: Hmm, there are two ladders up from down here. This'll be every bit the pain in the rear end I remembered.

During a Koppa fight...


: Alright, I can't keep slaughtering you knuckleheads like this, my fists are getting sore. How about joining the winning side?
: What the hell? You want me to join you?! I see...
> Koppa is thinking.
*: He asks for money, Life Stones and a Chakra Drop, then asks us if we think we can change the world, just like that Oni did back in Ginza.
: Every time I punch something, the world gets a little different. One of these days I'll punch something really really big, and you'll want to be there to see it happen.
: ...You might actually be able to.

: I'm Koppa the Yoma. I'm itchin' for a good fight!
: Welcome aboard.



*: He's only level 19, but on his next level, he'll learn Watchful, which allows a reserve party member to gain full experience from battles it doesn't participate in. This is what that NPC meant a while back when they were talking about Nihilo having a demon that earns experience without fighting.


: I saw one of you fight by Eligor's side, and man, you're so much more impressive than he is. How about joining up?

: Oh-ho-ho-ho!
*: She takes money and a Bead.
: Very well, then. I am Dis of the Yoma lineage. I will serve you gracefully.
: Eh, we're not that formal in here. You can let your hair down, it's no biggie.
: Um.
: Still so incredibly smooth.
: Are you trying to out foot-in-mouth me?
: Eh...?
: ...
: Aw hell. I didn't even... Aw hell! Aw crap!
: Look, we got off on the wrong foot. I really dig the purple lipstick deal you've got going!
: Did you recruit me to fight, or because you wanted to comment on my appearance?
: Please accept my apologies, I don't know what I was thinking. I suspect with horror that Incubus' creepy may be rubbing off on me.
: As long as it's the only thing he's rubbing off on you, amirite?
: Heyo!
: ...
: Uzume would think that was funny.
: If you'll notice, Chatterskull isn't laughing either. And Chatterskull is always laughing.
: Yeah, not feelin' it. I'd shrug, but, you know. Shoulders.



*: Now that we've befriended the most common denizens of this obnoxious pit, it's mostly just a matter of getting to the red switches and turning them blue, some of them more than once on account of the teleporting dirtbag. He gets tired of the game before we do, though.





It would have been too much to ask for the Green Kila to be right behind that door, huh?

*: Four doors on either side, and one at the end. But the side ones are all locked. Hmm. At least the far one opens for us.



It looks like another set of branching corridors, and this one has another small terminal right at the start. On further exploration, it turns out there are only a bunch of dead ends instead of the little empty rooms of the red section. One of the passages turns into a T intersection with two doors. Taking the left one...



And the right one...




Green Treasure Room. So close!

*: No strong power warning this time.




Aw man what.


: Why don't you take a wild guess, you floating sack of puss?
: Had a hard time figuring out those switches at the storehouse?


: You'll be blue and red paste when I'm done with you.

: Hahahaha!!

: Get back here! Dammit!

The big hallway with the locked doors comes back to mind. Is this going to turn into a Scooby-Doo climax?






Yeah, that's where he's fleeing to. Great.



Hmm, lessee. All these doors look the same, so I might as well try the first one on the left.



Man I'm going to kill that rear end in a top hat so dead.


: I am Kaiwan, but I'm not the one with the Kila. Can't you tell the difference, fool!?



So I might get to kill him multiple times. That's... almost an enjoyable prospect. Almost.

*: He uses Evil Gaze, which is Death-type effect that reduces a target's health to 1. Ouch. I immediately dismiss any ally hit, but we still manage to beat him before he can actually kill someone. Did I mention I'm glad I have a healer that can't run out of MP?

In any case, we return to the main corridor. There must be a trick to this, but I'll be damned if I can remember it. Hmm. I observe the glowing, pulsating circular symbols on the walls and doors, but they all seem to shine in unison. I examine every door closely, but if there's a different one, I'm not seeing the difference. I even try to go back to the cube maze in case Kaiwan escaped there without my notice, but there's nothing there either. I return to the empty treasure room in case the only way to win is not to play, but it's still empty. I must be missing something.

I guess I might as well keep opening doors.

Hmm, the southwestern one is empty. Second northern one...



: Well, I guess it suits you... Hahahahahaha!



*: So, a single Kelpie. It only gets one turn, which it spends healing itself, but it's not enough to survive us.

quote:

Fairy Kelpie
A water spirit from Celtic folklore, taking the form of a strong black or green horse, perpetually wet and with kelp tangled in its mane. It's said to entice people (usually children) to ride it, whereupon it captures them thanks to its sticky skin, then runs underwater to drown them.

Maybe the trick is that there is no trick and I'm just wasting time. Next door!


: Sounds good to me, but I'll believe it when you're dead.

: ...Playtime's over.

Mid-boss battle: Night Kaiwan

*: Huh, I figured there'd be some dastardly trick to deal with so I made sure to record the fight, but they pretty much went down like chumps. Well, it's just more evidence that Momunofu is made of awesome and win.

quote:

Night Kaiwan
Kaiwan is a god in Assyrian mythology, associated with Jupiter. It's also apparently another name for Hastur, some sort of eldritch entity from the Cthulhu mythos.



Finally, we can get out of this madhouse. Or, well, we can get deeper in the madhouse, as the case may be.

*: We make another round trip to Shibuya, then we return to the pillar room, and use the remaining Kilas.







So, deeper it is, then.



*: And that's an Eligor in a random encounter. Guy musta got a battlefield demotion.

: Look, you're pretty strong. But maybe you need someone to do the thinking for you, you know what I mean?
: You wish me to join your ranks?
: I'm offering you an opportunity here.
*: He takes a bunch of money, but only ends up healing Zed.
: Cheerio.
> Eligor left.



Man, you can say what you want about the Mantra, but at least their elevators were slightly more convenient than this.

*: We run into Incubi on a Full Moon, and as I see them use Evil Eye and Life Drain on our party...

: I'm really going to have to make sure you get some training, huh?
: We'll get to spend so much time together, boss!
: Oh boy.




Great, more of this.

*: Hikawa is on B15, and we're only on B14. We've got a bit further to go.


: Nihilo aren't making the best use of your talents, huh? In any case, no, I don't think so.
: I suppose I can be happy with that.
> Eligor is content.
: ...Very well, then. I'm Eligor of the Fallen lineage. Take me with you.
: I'm impressed to see you deal so kindly with your former enemies.
: If I'm going to change the world, like every other critter I meet seems to believe, I probably ought not to behave like everyone else does.



*: Oooh, Dark Might. It's like Bright Might, but works for new K instead of full. In any case, I'm really glad I managed to recruit this guy, even if only because visually it's one of my favorites. Call me boring if you like, I know it's "dude in red armor on black horse", I 'on't care.

There are a couple Cubes around, with Sacred Water and a Revival Bead inside. A bit further, there's another Mystical Chest.



> Let it continue?
: Don't let me stop you, broseph. You've more than earned your freedom to turn into whatever you like.




quote:

Lv30 Vile Arahabaki
Another pre-Shinto Japanese god, apparently a protector deity watching over travelers. Its worship was outlawed as Shinto took root, but its distinctive appearance at least is still part of Japanese culture, and you can see it pop up in the most unlikely places. Its Vitality and HP are pretty high for this point in the game, but with that extremely unusual set of resistances and weaknesses, it kinda needs to be durable. Depending on what you're up against, the guy's either indestructible or a huge liability.

The Vile are evil gods, usually presiding over disease, famine and other such disasters. They used to be called Jashin.

*: Unfortunately, Arahabaki can't keep Brutal Slash, because it doesn't have a weapon anymore. In the same fight, Koppa learns Watchful, and starts to show signs of change. Dis can also evolve later, so that's still two locked in my party, heh.

The Chest contains a Balm of Rising, which revives a party member with full HP.



And that's the whole floor, with only an elevator left in the middle northern part.





There's another small terminal on the side. This has got to be the end.




We could probably go straight to the core, but there are rooms on the sides that I want to check out first. The encounter gauge is back to blue, so it's not dangerous yet.



Oh wait, you can't actually go around, those doors are only accessible through the core itself. Welp, that simplifies things. Strong power, will you enter, etc. etc.




: Hikawa.

: You should keep closer watch on your staff, they're practically all on my side by now.

: I'm still a free agent, no matter what Gozu-Tennoh's people have been telling anyone.


: Yeah, I'm pretty amazing in general.
: And judging by your appearance... you've gained considerable power.

: For many reasons, only one of which is any of your business.

: Nobody else in this drat world seems to have any idea what's really going on, and an associate of mine thinks you're the one with all the answers. I'm skeptical myself, but here's your chance to prove me wrong.
: ...I see. Even though I nearly killed you, you've tracked me down to obtain the answers you seek.


: I commend you for reaching this place on your own. If it is truth that you seek, then I will reveal everything... all there is to know of this world.

:siren:Cutscene + Boss battle: The Nightmare System:siren:

*: Not a lot to say about this fight, really. Makarakarn reflects all spells until the start of the user's party's next round, but in this case it was just a question of having everyone punch him for a bit. Ose can also use Tetrakarn, which reflects all physical damage in the same way, but we had plenty of magic damage so it would have been even less of a problem. The biggest threat is Focus + Heat Wave, and he can max out Sukukuja stacks if you let him, but Matador and Dante forced us to deal with a lot worse than that.

quote:

Fallen Ose
A Great President of Hell, ruling over three legions of demons. He appears in the form of a leopard, presides over the liberal sciences, and answers truthfully to all questions, yada yada yada. More uniquely, he can make people insane. Specifically, he is said to make people believe they are the Pope. He must be a hoot at parties!

Dammit, did Hikawa get away?


: How's it feel to be thrown away just to delay me, hmm?
: But, you will never be able to find our commander, or the Maiden. The Nightmare System has been activated. This base will soon be closed down, and the way to the Maiden will be lost forever...
: To hell with that! I'm finding Ms. Takao no matter what Cheetahmen rejects like you think they have to say about it!
: Begone, demon! It is we, the Assembly of Nihilo, who will create the new world!!

*: A flash of light surges from Ose's body.



Dammit! They won't be rid of me that easily!


> The door is tightly shut.

Gah!

: Hey. Um, I'm sorry to interrupt, but...
: No you're not.
: Okay, I'm not. But are we really going to let this slide?
*: I'm... I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about.
: It sure looks like the Mantra are going to die from lack of Magatsuhi.
*: That... would appear to be the case.
: It's strange, I seem to recall someone talking about how Magatsuhi is specifically not required for demons to live, that's it's not an essential nutrient or some other such highfalutin verbiage.
: Now that you mention it, I do remember that too.
*: Ah, well. There's a perfectly valid explanation for that.
: This ought to be good. Let's hear it then.
*: I hosed up.
: Oh! Is that what it was?
*: Yes, quite. I done hosed up, son. I apologize. Are you happy?
: A little bit, not gonna lie.
*: Well, since we're talking about remembering times from the past when mistakes were made, I do seem to recall a reckless young man killing the Four Heavenly Kings who were protecting Tokyo from God's wrath, just because they were there, therefore allowing a great flood to take place and causing the death of thousands and...
: ...ah. Yes. Well. That doesn't really have anything to do with...
*: Oh I'm just putting things in perspective.
: That's a little petty, man.
: ...
: In fact that's more than a little petty. You feel bad about temporary misleading the Internet, so you bring up accidental near-genocide? You know what the fellow's been through, that's out of line.
*: Aw, cripes, you're right. Sorry mang.
: It's... It's fine. I'm over it by now. Things got... things got better, didn't they?
*: You're made of strong stuff.
: Now kiss!
: What the hell?
*: Yikes. No.
: Nobody needs to see that.

*: Aaaaanyway.



Anathema is a spellcaster-oriented Magatama; one might think of it as the opposite of Ankh. The first skill it would teach us is Mana Drain, which is fairly tempting, if not exactly something we'd keep until the end.



: Apparently not.
: I heard that a bunch of Magatsuhi was sucked up from Ikebukuro!!

I'm not going to pretend I care about about Gozu-Tennoh and his jocks, but Isamu's still in there! I gotta go back.

But... Ms. Takao...

Hell. One problem at a time.

*: We return to Ginza. A quick look around seems to indicate that no one has anything new to say, so we go to the Terminal and teleport directly to Ikebukuro.



We can't get back to the Nihilo terminal through here either.



: ...We didn't lose, did we?

*: As we enter the Mantra headquarters...



: Chiaki!

: Holy crap, what are you doing here?
: I heard about the trial by combat, and I thought it might be you who was the winner.
: Well, I appreciate your confidence, but this is still a really dangerous place!
: Getting here was tough, to say the least, but I'm glad I made it.




: I'm listening, Chiaki.
: I decided to play by the rules of this world.
: I can hardly blame you for that. I... I've been playing by the world's rules ever since I woke up in the hospital.
: You know what the purpose of this new world is, right?
: Yeah. I do now.

: ...
: ...You probably think I'm crazy.
: I don't think there's such a thing as crazy anymore.

: ...that voice I heard when the world changed...

: Yeah, I heard it. Kagutsuchi's voice.






Music: Chiaki





: Not just about what I have to do in this world, but why the world ended up like this. And then, I realized... that there were too many unnecessary things occupying the previous world.
: ...unnecessary?

: But, nothing new was being made. Time passed, and nothing changed. What the world really needed... it was not getting.


: But, I survived the Conception. I was chosen... That's what I'm going to believe, and now, I have to look forward.

: ...but if I can swallow it down... endless possibilities await... The power of creation... will be mine.







: The world doesn't need any more worthless things... That's why I want to create my ideal society... a paradise ruled by the strong, the chosen... The world of Yosuga.


*: And we come to another decision.

Maybe the world really was running out of juice, its potential lost or squandered. Maybe it needs the strong, the chosen, the fated, to remake it in a more... a more vigorous form. A more meaningful form.

Or maybe Chiaki's just putting a fresh coat of paint on the Mantra philosophy, such as it was.

Or maybe it's best not to get involved in that nonsense either way.

What say you?

Kagutsuchi is watching.

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!
Dang, lotsa good points in here. Always a pleasure to read.

Digital Jello posted:

God, I had forgotten all about the annoying Kaiwan until I read your update. Pain in the rear end dungeon for sure, but then, it's crap like that which I like to think helped define SMT Nocturne. Also, and maybe it's just me, but the core where you confront Hikawa seems to have a very lazy background. It reminds me of the cyberworld in Mega Man Battle Network, which uses the same simple pictures for its wallpaper-like backdrops.

RPG dungeons often fall into a predictable and boring pattern; fundamentally, they're a long succession of forks, each having a side that leads to a dead-end that may or may not have loot, and the other side leading to either a boss battle or another identical fork. Nocturne doesn't always escape this pattern, but when it does, it does so in an interesting way, if also sometimes in an annoying way. But even then, it's still a cut above the forks archetype.

As for the core background, it just strikes me as being intentionally spartan and utilitarian, which reflects the Shijima philosophy. The intense red/blue lighting is also looks like nothing we've seen yet. For my money it successfully depicts a large instrument that manipulates gigantic amounts of raw power and isn't intended to be aesthetically pleasing.

Dr. Snark posted:

The point Chiaki's trying to make...I'm not really seeing her point of view. Not only does it seem like she'd be thrown under the bus in the world she wants to design, but it's obvious that she's gaining a massive god complex and is just trying to rationalize it.

There's something to that for sure, but she also believes that she's chosen, that she has a special fate, and that having a destiny like that is its own kind of power. The game doesn't really mention this outside of Isamu talking about Chiaki as being difficult to please on account of her upbringing, but, and I quote the instruction manual here... "Born and raised in an upper-class family, she has a habit of talking down to people." (It's pretty much the only character detail mentioned in the manual that isn't so explicit in the actual game. I suspect she may have had a particular speech mannerism in the original Japanese that didn't carry over in translation.) She's had that notion that she's more important than most even before the world ended, and it's probably bubbling to the surface and amplified now that she's regained her composure.

Kemix posted:

The world needs strength, yes, but losing compassion and soul...I don't think I could live in that world.

That was exactly my reasoning when I first played the game. The Reasons that we have learned of so far, Shijima and Yosuga, can be defined by what they are ("world of stillness and harmony", "world of the strong and useful", respectively), but they can also be very precisely defined by what they are lacking ("world without passion" and "world without compassion").


FredMSloniker posted:

I'm a bit confused by Hikawa's pre-boss-fight banter. Did he really have enough juice stored up to, basically, win the game right then and there, only to squander it all being a petty dick to the Mantra?

There's kind of a three part answer to that. First off, I seem to remember that something will happen in the world when the conditions for Creation are met, so it's probably safe to assume Nihilo didn't have enough Magatsuhi stored up to start the process yet. Second, the Mantra are extracting Magatsuhi from Manikins, so they control a resource that could be of use to any potential competitors.

And third, well, it's about Hikawa himself. He's a bit of a contradiction. He's passionate about eradicating passion. Do look back at his introductory cutscene, and mind his body language. There's definitely a serenity about him that translates into an economy of movement. He's even in a swivel chair that can pivot with just a slight push of the foot. But that's not all. There are his fingers drumming deliberately on his armrest, the sharp, theatrical gesture for his summoning, and the twitch of his eyebrow when Ms. Takao threatens him. He could have told us to leave the hospital, but he almost instantly decided to ask a level 33 demon to murder us instead. The man is a caged tiger, pacing in a prison of his own making; what he is, is at odds with what he wants. There's a part of him that's just begging to slide a claw through the bars and take a swipe at something, anything, just to prove it can. His intellect is largely keeping it all in check, but when the Mantra come knocking, there is absolutely no way in hell he's going to clam up, play dead, and wait it out.

It's a strange reference to make, but I'm reminded of the SHUT UP scene in Kindergarten Cop. It doesn't serve his greater purpose, and in fact it actively sets him back. But sometimes you just gotta tell the kids to STFU.

FredMSloniker posted:

On review, though, I think that's deliberate. The protagonist of Nocturne, I think, hasn't been isolated from his friends and made into something apart from everyone else.

In a way, he always was.

Yeah, I think that's well said. And in a subtle way, it ties in with what the Lady in Black said early on, about how she's been watching him for a long time. Whoever Lucifer chose to inherit the Magatama's power had to be able to cope immediately with being a Freak Unique, and to capitalize on that power without looking back. Even Chiaki practically admitted to succumbing to the weight of the new situation at first, even if only temporarily ("no matter how much I cry or shout, this nightmare won't end"). That said, there's another aspect to this isolation and alienation that hasn't come into play yet; when I originally came across this particular wrinkle that I can't talk about right now, it contributed to a lot to the path I ended up taking, possibly more than anything else.

Tactless Ogre posted:

I don't think they're adapting well except for Hikawa, and considering the conception and the fact that he can apparently summon demons, he's probably planned this out. Chiaki's just reacting to the pain she's feeling by dealing more out and Isamu's doing jack poo poo like any normal human probably would in a demon infested world. Ms.Takao's still MIA and Hijiri's only learning from the Amala Terminal as opposed to really doing anything.

Hikawa definitely expected to be the only game in town; his every action points to making sure that once the Conception occured, his final victory would be inevitable. If Ms. Takao hadn't insisted, for whatever reason, on bringing her favorite students along for the ride (and if Hijiri hadn't been a, let's say for now, a special case), it very well might have been.

As for adaptation, they all have their issues and problems of course, but the fact that they managed to survive as humans, without having the Magatama as a crutch of sorts, could kinda count for a lot depending on your perspective.

Rigged Death Trap posted:

Mantra and Nihilo are Chaos/Law, respectively, or at least they enshrine some of the ideals and end goals that the classic factions had. But they arent staffed by the usual suspects. Even Thor, Mr. I Nuked Tokyo for YHWH's Glory, is on the seemingly Chaos side, and the Nihilo isnt staffed by various angels, but by Hell's aristocracy, sharing one thing in that there is a hierachy in both Angels and the Demonic Aristocracy.

I often hear Mantra/Nihilo interpreted as being Chaos/Law, and I can see value in that interpretation. But the way I see things, is that all branches of the path of creation are each some flavor of law; they're not so much about eliminating rules as much as they are about setting up new ones. It depends on whether you're looking at them as a comparisons to the real world (both ours and the fictional "real world" of the game), or as absolutes existing in a vacuum, and I would have a hard time calling either perspective invalid.

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!

ManlyGrunting posted:

That's an interesting point, but I've always sort of seen Law and Chaos as different sides of the same coin: Law is simply preservation of order as it is now and Chaos is the upheaval of it for a new one (or in other words, the odds are that Lucifer is going to make a world where he is safe if he wins and supplants Law entirely is pretty drat high: those in power like to keep power and for Joe Peasant there's not going to be a lot of difference in their life save for what might bring on any particular flavour of being crushed underfoot). Plus there's the fact that the biggest justification of both Law and Chaos are the monstrosity that occurs in the other (at least in IV, never played I, II or SJ), whereas in Nocturne other paths don't matter: there is no reaction to other paths, only your ideal world matters and only if you win; there is simply struggle with the other and a coherent end goal. It doesn't matter if the argument is security vs freedom or if the sides are arguing for the exact same world except one doesn't have smooth jazz and the other has free ice cream Fridays, the reasons are basically developed independently of each other instead of in direct opposition.

Hmm, that's a sensible point of view too. To some degree I'm tempted to use the well-being of the little people as a measuring stick, but even then that's more the domain of the Light/Dark alignment axis, and in SMT, the Light/Dark axis feels like a bit of a sardonic joke half the time.

Alright, great input everyone. The votes are counted, and I'll be getting started on update-crafting in a jiffy.

FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!
: Chiaki.

Deep breath.

: I thought I was the one who changed the most, but if you had been talking like that when we first met...

: The strong, the chosen... What about everyone else? They don't count? They don't get a voice? Because they didn't have the good fortune to be born with muscles, or some... some special destiny? I can't get behind that. If I don't use my strength to fight for those who can't, then I'm the most unnecessary of all.
: ...That's too bad. I was hoping you'd understand.
: I understand very well. I just disagree.
: But, no matter what you say, I won't change my mind.



: Honestly, I don't know where to begin... But, since Yosuga is the Reason of the strong, I'll see what I can do on my own first.
: At least you put your money where your mouth is.
: ...I'm glad we had the chance to talk today.
: ...yeah. Yeah, me too. It's not the first time we don't see eye-to-eye, but you know I've always enjoyed your company, even when there were more... when there were... I mean, even before all this. And for what it's worth, I'm glad you found your own path in the middle of this mess.
: We both survived the Conception... I'm sure we'll cross paths again.
: Take care, okay?
: See you later, Francois.
: See you, Chiaki.


: Are you going to be alright?
: Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. But thanks.
: She's an interesting young lady.
: One cannot tell where foolishness ends and bravery begins.
: Somehow I'm not worried about her. If she made it this far...
: Son, we made it this far too. It doesn't mean we should let our guard down.
: Eh, you're right. But she's not one to let her guard down either. She's smart.
: And hot, too!
: Man, don't even. Don't you even even.

Alright then, now to check on Isamu. Prison security must be more lax than ever right now.


: For some reason I can't feel entirely sorry for you.


: ...Hey, the prisoners are escaping!

There's our chance! To the basement!

*: The Pyro Jacks down here are doing a number on Arahabaki. I want it to level up and learn Mabufula as soon as possible, but I tag in Badb Catha for now.






: Hey, are you alright?
: Please save Futomimi!
: Who?
: I feel like I'm free, but our leader is still locked up. Futomimi, who leads us with prophecies, is still being help captive...
: Alright, I'll do what I can to find him.

I got a lot on my plate already, but if I want to find Ms. Takao, I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to have a prophet on my side. And, well, if it helps the Manikin at all...



*: Oooh, the prison doors are open. There's a Mystical Chest down here (containing a Bead of Life, which restores all HP and MP for the entire party), but I remember there was also one in one of the cells on the upper floors. We get into a few fights waiting for full K, and I recruit a Nekomata, filling up our last ally slot. There's a reason for that, but we'll see.


: Futomimi is being held captive at Kabukicho Prison!
: Yeah, I should have guessed.

*: Entering the section of the jail where we ran into Isamu...


: Whoa dang, Isamu! Good to see you again. Man I'm glad you're alright.
: Ms. Takao isn't with you, is she...?
: ...no. There was... there was a temporary setback.

: Yeah, I still can't punch through that massive door. And besides, that Hikawa guy told me Ms. Takao wasn't there after all. We're gonna need another lead.
: The Mantra's finished, Nihilo's gaining ground... and we still have no idea where our teacher is...

: Doing our drat best, that's what we're doing. Pull yourself together, man.

: That guy?

: Right! Futomimi. I just heard about him.
: They say he can see the future... He actually predicted the fall of the Mantra. Maybe he can tell us about Ms. Takao... and what we should do from here.
: Great minds think alike, brother.


: There's no place where I can be safe... So, I'll take my chances.
: Yikes, are you sure about that? I'm going too, so...

: Isamu?


I'd feel better if he came with us, but... I have to trust his judgement.

*: We try our luck with the door in the back again, but even with Kamudo equipped we're still not strong enough. At this point I want to get the other Chest I was talking about, but we might as well check out the whole building again just in case something else of note happens.




: That woman... This is the doing of that human woman of Nihilo!!

Huh, they're blaming Ms. Takao for this. It doesn't feel right, but... for all I know, she's at least partly responsible.

*: Dis levels up, learns Diarama, and attempts to change a skill. I let her, and she turns Makajam into Void Mind, a passive skill that makes her immune to Mind ailments. Kind of a side-grade, I guess, but I think I'd have rather kept Makajam. Oh well! Both skills are highly situational, but when they're useful, they're really useful.


: Where... Gozu-Tennoh...? ...Why... he no save... us...?
: That's really not his style.



*: We make it to the Mystical Chest just in time, and it contains a Strength Incense! The other cells are already deserted. While we're here though, we might as well go up top and see what ol' G to the T has got going on.



:siren:Cutscene: The King of Heaven:siren:

Huh. Well, that's that, then. Heaven and earth shrug when the almighty's head falls from his shoulders; god's death makes no sound across the land...




: Yeah, he's gone. I guess you're in charge now.
: No... The Mantra has been utterly destroyed by Nihilo's attack.

: We, on the other hand, did nothing more than enforce a reign of terror. ...That is the reason we lost.
: It's a little late for self-awareness, but at least you're still around to do better next time.
: And all those that we called comrades have deserted us.

: Yeah. What about him?
: Both of you are free to do whatever you want...
: We didn't need you to tell us that.
: I have no business here anymore. There is no point in guarding an abandoned city. ...Farewell. I will go on a quest to realize my dream of a world where the strong thrive. If you are truly strong, then we shall meet again...



Slow learner, isn't he? Bah.

I wonder if Chiaki is into the muscly 10 foot tall type. She might tell him to cut his hair.

*: The Mantra HQ isn't as dangerous as it used to be, but we still expend a bunch of MP, so I go back to the shops area, buy four Maragi Rocks for a ticket (and for reasons), heal up, and look around a bit.




: The prophet Futomimi is there.


: Then, our oppression will end. ...I think.

So, Futomimi, and Kabukicho Prison. That's a good enough goal for now. But... hmm.

*: Gui Xian levels up and learns Estoma, which reduces the rate of random encounters until the next new K. On a whim I check our inventory, and notice that we have 9 Lucky Tickets. I wait until full K, and go buy a Float Ball / Light Ball combo.


: Ain't I just your favorite customer, eh?

: Aight, gimme... the white box.
: Ah, you got a Ag Incense. Good job!
: Hot drat!

*: The Lucky Ticket prize essentially makes you pick from three Mystical Chests, and the best stuff shows up on full K as well. You can get some high-quality items like Bead Chains and the like, but Incense is pretty much the best you can do.



We haven't used any Incense so far. It's five levels' worth of stats, but... what if I need the healing somewhere down the line?

: Yeah, and then you beat the final boss with thirty-seven bits of incense in your inventory, just sitting there.
*: Don't judge me!

Hmm. Alright, you know what? Isamu's got things well in hand for now, Chiaki's figuring out her issues on her own, and Ms. Takao's not going anywhere. I feel like punching stuff that wouldn't ever let me get away with not punching it, my crew could use a bit of training, and I've got a Candelabrum burning a hole in my pocket.



: Good news, Mr. and Mrs. Fancypants! I'm back!


: My master is resting right now.
: Ah, I've come at a bad time then. Is alright, I see how it is. I'll just let myself in the back and mess around for a bit, no need to bother him.
: ...I want you to know that I'm always thinking about you. The Fiends possess strength beyond compare... But, I have confidence in you.
: Yeah, that's why you guys hired Dante to kick my rear end. Really feeling the confidence here.
: Francois, I know that you'll return all the candelabra to the Labyrinth of Amala.








*: As Blankd reminded me, you can actually punch the obstacles down here with the circle button. The small red ones in particular are worth destroying, because they earn you 100 Macca apiece. If your timing's off you lose health and money though, so it's a bit tricky.

: Alright, chuckleheads, listen up. Daddy's back, he's here to kick rear end and chew bubble gum, and the world is all outta gum. Let's dance with the devil in the blue moonlight!

Music: Battle ~ Amala Labyrinth

*: I'm glad the battle music is so drat rad, because I'm hearing a lot of it.



Hello, what's this?



*: The music cuts out and is replaced by an impossibly creepy wind sound.


: It's inscribed as the demons are killed by you-know-who...



*: The texture on the tombstone is just high-res enough that I could probably make any sense of it if it was in a language I could understand. It's clearly the Latin alphabet, but other than that... not a sausage.



We can still examine it the old-fashioned way.


> It is inscribed, "Here lies Forneus."

*: The other says "Here lies Troll." We can't do anything with those yet, but, well, here are monuments to our dead enemies. Reassuring!


: You could say that, yeah.
: I'll sell you something special. Uh... Wait a minute, your party's full. If you want a new companion, make some room first and then come back.
: I'm fine with my current squad, but I'll keep you in mind when a spot opens up.



: I'm good for now, but maybe I'll be back later.
: Good. One lives, one dies... That's the way it should be. I pray that you find rest soon.

*: Dr. Dark can heal our party, but not for free anymore; it's a flat 2000 Makka fee. If we really really mess up, this can end up being cheaper than the Fountain of Healing, but the location is fairly inconvenient. For now, with Kikuri-Hime around, hopefully we won't have need of his services.


: It remains unchanging, like the still of the night. We demons await the master's words, his proclamation of a new beginning..." That's what a demon I met earlier told me, but I have no idea what it means.

*: Aight, this entire endeavor is already enough work without having to write a detailed walkthrough, and besides, there's plenty of that around already. So I'm mostly just going to post pictures of any new visual elements as they come up.

















*: Oh, those cheeky mofos. You can usually only obtain Arahabaki by evolving a Momunofu, but this is the Labyrinth, you can't recruit anyone, so they're free to show up and bring suffering to your undercarriage.

Zed levels up and learns Mana Drain. I let it replace Mana Bonus, because 10% of our maximum mana is absolutely not better than being able to top off whenever we like.



Music: Playing the Fool

: What a deal!
: Yyyyyyeah, how about no.
: How dare you?!
: I got a bad feeling about this.
: Oh... Well, please come again!

*: These girls are cheats. They will actually heal you, but you lose consciousness and wake up at the entrance of the Labyrinth with a hell of a lot more than 500 Macca missing. Still, if you're really desperate, they're a quick way out.



*: This red stuff is a damage floor. Fortunetely, Badb Catha came with the Liftoma spell, which is equivalent to a Float Ball in that it protects us from that kind of trap.


: It was pretty rough the first time I came here, but today, I manage.
: Really...? Lucky you... *sigh*





quote:

Lv25 Wilder Raiju
In Japanese folklore, the Raiju is an animal whose body is entirely made of lightning, usually in the form of a cat, wolf, fox or weasel. It's essentially a pet and companion to Raijin, the Shinto god of lightning. It enjoys sleeping in people's bellybuttons for some reason, so especially superstitious folk try to sleep on their stomach during thunderstorms so they don't get a nasty jolt when they wake up.

*: Oh hell, the Arahabaki here know Dragon's Eye, which turns a full icon into FOUR half icons. That's rough chuckles. It turns both Dis and Zed to stone with Stone Gaze, and seeing as my other party members are Nekomata and Eligor, who lack any non-physical damage, I'm forced to run away.



*: Ooooh, I remember this. Look at the ceiling here; some of the tiles up there are white, and some are black. Stepping on a square with a black ceiling triggers a pit trap that would drop us down to the damage floor below. It's actually a sort of vortex that sucks us down, so Liftoma is no help here. If you're very precise and careful you can cross a diagonal between black ceilings, but it's tricky and I don't think the game ever requires it.





*: Not sure what it does, but it probably won't hurt to throw it.





Ah, this looks like an important gate near the entrance. Excellent. I've still got a lot to explore but I'll be glad I came here first.

The Chest in the same room contains a Luck Incense, and the Cube gets us our first Deathstone. The in-game description for the Deathstone says "A stone that brings death to its possessor", but it's a lot more useful than you might guess: Deathstones allow us to fuse any Fiend whose Candelabrum we've taken. It needs to be the right combination of races, on the right Kagutsuchi phase, and the Deathstone is used up in the process, but that's still pretty good news.




Music: Manekata

Huh. That's what it comes down to, I suppose.

: I'm a human.
: I hate humans. They're so cruel... Don't come near me!

*: We can try again.

: I... I was just kidding. Have you taken a good look at me? I'm totally a demon.
: I'm Kamala. I like demons. They're my friends. Come see me anytime. I'll tell you all about the Fiends.

*: If we talk to her again...

: Hey, you're back! I have something important to tell you. Wanna hear it?
: I can always use good intel. Whatchagot?
: Um, I sense the presence of a Fiend on... a highway near a tall building. So, I think you should stay away from there. I hope that helps!

*: Kamala will basically tell us a clue about a Fiend that we could reach, if there is one. The tall building in question here must be the Mantra HQ.

A bit later, a battle against Disir and Yakas turns sour, as a Dis turns Nekomata to stone and a Yaka shatters her brittle form with a basic attack. Yeah, that's a thing that happens. Not a good scene. I'd revive Nekomata because I want her to level up, but considering how many other party members are competing for valuable experience, I don't feel like spending a Revival Bead just yet.




Hmm, strange door.


: I dunno about the vault on the other side, though.



*: We can see the interior of the vault through a barrier like this. Three cubes and a spirit; I'll keep it in mind.



*: Ah, this is the important gate we opened earlier.






quote:

Lv31 Wilder Nue
The Nue is an ancient Japanese mythological creature, with the head of a monkey, the body of a tanuki, the legs of a tiger and a snake for a tail; it is rumored to fly around in the shape of a black cloud. Legend has it that an emperor once was afflicted by recurring nightmares. One of his retainers noticed a black cloud over his castle, and fired an arrow into it, whereupon a nue fell dead from it. I'm not sure what Dark Howl does yet; maybe it summons help.









*: Hmm, I think that's almost it for the First Kalpa.





Uh... what?

:siren:Cutscene: The Amala Universe:siren:

...gently caress.

Billions.

Billions!

Just...

gently caress.

What...

What is... how... how am I supposed to...

gently caress!

Okay, no. Okay. Focus.

There's only one world that has me and all my problems in it.

I gotta keep moving.

FrankZP fucked around with this message at 07:37 on Dec 9, 2015

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FrankZP
Nov 11, 2015

AIGHT SHITBIRDS, IT'S EXPLOSION TIME!

Lunar Suite posted:

Some research of the first line brings up the "Almanach der neuesten Fortschritte, Erfindungen und Entdeckungen in Wissenschaften, Kunsten, Manufacturen und Handwerken, Band 3", written by Johann Joachim Bellermann.

e.g. it means nothing but it's german and written in gothic font, which makes it spoooooooky.

Huh! Thanks for the info. Kind of a shame that it's practically lorem ipsum, but in the end, that text was never meant to be looked at in 1080p so I can't blame them for taking a shortcut. Still, it seems like a pretty unusual source for a Japanese developer to go to; I wonder if it might be included in some sort of royalty-free texture resource pack somewhere.

Ubiquitous_ posted:

One of those sequences is one of the best ways to get Macca, too.

Yeah, if you don't suck. Like me. I suck so bad at this minigame, I practically forgot there was anything to it but punishment. Mostly I just keep my fingers crossed hoping I don't bang my head against too many rocks. :3

FrankZP fucked around with this message at 13:37 on Dec 8, 2015

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