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*: Before we start today, I need to talk about something that happened last time. Or rather, about something that didn't happen. When Nocturne asks you a question, it may add a certain number of points to one or more invisible meters depending on your answer, and each Reason has its own meter. For example, when Gozu-Tennoh asks if you'll join the Mantra, accepting gives you 8 Yosuga points, refusing gives you 4 Shijima points, and saying you can't decide gives you 4 Musubi points. This isn't limited to obvious major characters, as even some less remarkable NPCs will ask questions that may increase meters. For example, your answer to the Oni near the Ikebukuro shops to whom our crew pretended to be oppressed may increase either your Yosuga or Shijima meters by 2 points (but not Musubi). As a rule of thumb, if a NPC asks you a question again if you talk to them a second time, it has no effect (because you can't grind points by answering the same question multiple times), but if its dialog changes you probably had a chance to get some points. Also, the questions related to the Amala Labyrinth and the Fiends (the Maniacs expansion content, basically) never have points associated, and your interactions with Hijiri don't seem to affect the meters either. I mention this because the Musubi meter has now had an effect on the story. If we had either accumulated 32 Musubi points, or if we had agreed with Isamu right after we saw his transformation in the Amala Network, Isamu would have given us the opportunity to summon Noah ourselves by dunking Hijiri in the Magatsuhi pool. Your answer then either confirms your Musubi affiliation, or locks you out of it forever. Of course, we neither agreed with Isamu way back then, nor have we sufficiently reflected the Musubi philosophy in our travels, so he didn't think highly enough of us to ask us to do the honors. In an ideal world I would have asked for viewer input every time points were in play, but this is an LP in the world we have, it would have made for terrible pacing, and that's the sort of thing best left to a streaming environment with a live audience. You're definitely getting all the major decisions though. Besides, seeing how things have been going so far, I doubt the ending we get will hinge on the time I told that one Yosuga angel to gently caress off, or on other similar minor decisions. Alright, that's settled; we can now return to our regularly scheduled programming and go on mourning the demise of the best reporter in the world.  : ...I guess this is it, then. : Hmm. I don't think so. : Right, me neither. If we're still together in the Vortex World... : IT MUST MEAN SUMMONING NOAH WAS NOT THE FINAL STEP. : There may still be time, then.: There has to be time. We just need to track Isamu down. : And kill another god. : How will you find him? He just disappeared.: Usually we'd ask Hijiri for info, but...: Do you have anyone else on your side?: That Takao chick? I don't know how she'd know anything.: Futomimi has to know.: Ah, there's a good point. : WHAT IS THIS?: Eh...?: OVER THERE! Music: Mystery    : ...Finally, a Reason has been conceived.  : Lady Chiaki is on the move. Our god of Yosuga will soon descend upon us at Asakusa.  : The Manikins! We gotta go! Everyone get the lead out!  : Now, with Musubi, we can do whatever we want! : It seems that he has gained power using the Magatsuhi here. Some demons from a rival group came on a reconnaissance mission...*: We reach the large Temple Terminal and warp directly to Asakusa.  Aw hell. *: Before we go anywhere, we hit the Cathedral. : Princess Kushinada, Lord Okuninushi, you've both been steadfast and valuable allies and I wish I could make more of a ceremony of this, but...: Right, we're in a bit of a hurry! : We understand. Keep making use of our power wisely.: I will. Thank you. Minister? : Here we go.Kushinada + Okuninushi =   quote:Lv44 Fury Dionysus  : Are you all ready to PARTY?: Nope, no time for parties right now. We gotta kill a bunch of angels first.: Kid, that sounds like the second best kind of party!: Gotcha. Let's go! : Hey! Hey! Can you speak? : Gah, dammit!*: There are no other Manikins in Nakamise-Douri. But there are now random battles.  I expected angels, but there's no one left to guard the entrance, so the local demons are pouring in.    *: Ah, so there are angels too then. This is definitely Chiaki's handiwork, if we had any doubt. In any case, there's no time to walk all the way to Mifunashiro, so we use the Terminal again. Atmosphere: Massacre at Mifunashiro      : ...we're too late.: Maybe not. I don't see Futomimi here. They might be putting up a last stand deeper inside.: Right. Right! Let's move.We're here to help, so I dare hope Futomimi won't mind us trespassing this time.  : Dammits, you idiots! I'm not here to fight you!*: Their responses are the same as in the Manikin encounters in Ikebukuro. We run.  None of the Manikins we see near the entrance are alive to tell any tales, but the door in is open.     : A demon-like girl came to steal our Magatsuhi... : Are we all going to die...?: Not if I can help it. But I can't stay here just for you, so, try to keep a low profile, will you?  quote:Lv54 Brute Shiki-Ouji *: Hanuman levels up and learns Life Surge (increases Max HP by 30%), which I let replace Berserk. That was his last skill, so...    quote:Lv54 Fury Wu Kong *: This is Onkot's final evolution, and it earns us another phys-immune ally!  : Is... that true...?: I... I don't know. I wish I could tell you.*: A Cube slightly hidden below the door surrenders a Magic Mirror, and that clears the first room.   : This place... this place is beautiful.: A little eerie maybe, but, yeah, it is. Though it'd look better with less blood and fewer corpses.: ...this crime must be punished.: ...yeah. : Futomimi... chased after her...: That bold fool.     : All that's left is to finish off that arrogant mud puppet, Futomimi...So he's still alive!   *: A small Terminal already? I won't complain, but I wonder how much trouble they thought we'd have getting here.  : No... No matter how hard we try... we are not match... for demons, or for humans... We should have... run... : I... I can't... I can't fight... Th-There's n-no way I could beat a d-demon... I don't wanna die... I don't wanna die!!!!: ...sorry.: I know...! Y-you're a good demon, right...?: I... Uh...: Yes, he is. What is your request? : That's the plan. : Then... I'll be hiding in here, so hurry... *: Curiously, this is the first Divine fight we've had since we arrived; the other enemies so far are Gogmagogs, Titans with Sudama, Shiki-ouji with Shikigami, and various Manikins. We still have Sophia equipped for immunity to Expel, in any case.      This feels like a giant vertical cavern; it seems we keep going in and out of this waterfall formation.    : I heard there were a bunch of idiots and tools messing with the Manikins down here. I see neither of us are disappointed. : You are much different from those mud puppets who can only talk about creation. : A world without hierarchy, where everyone lives equally in peace... *chuckle* As followers of Yosuga, it is not to be tolerated.: Exactly. We must destroy their hopes before a monstrosity such as that even begins to take shape... : There's definitely monstrosity going on here today, but the Manikins have nothing to do with it. : Yes. I am.: ............ ...So be it. After we finish off the mud puppets, Lady Chiaki's god shall descend upon us.: Not if I can help it!: Once you see that magnificent sight, your opinion shall change...: Why don't you come down here and say that to my fist, huh?  : YEAH, THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT! > Will you take it? : I'm thinking I might have done enough desecration already today.: WHATEVER IT IS, MAYBE IT COULD HELP US AVENGE HIM.: ...maybe. Alright then. My apologies, friend, but I probably need this more than you at this point. : ...thank you.*: We use it on Titania right away.  More dead Manikins...  : Ah! Sir, let me...: ...Up... ahead... A girl... and... Futomimi...: I know, I know. Don't speak.: ............  Hall of Mirror, eh?   > Will you step into the light? Nowhere else to go.  Cutscenes + Boss battle: Never leave us again: CHIAKI! GET BACK HERE!: She's gone, man.: GAAAAAH!: Zed...: That... that creature mentioned Ginza, right?: ...: Boss, there's nothing we can do here anymore.: MASTER, WE MUST NOT LET THE DEBT ACCRUED HERE TODAY GO UNPAID.: We will not.quote:Seraph Raphael quote:Seraph Gabriel quote:Seraph Uriel *: This fight is a bit like the Moirae Sisters fight, in that you have three enemies with distinct abilities, but the Seraphs are individually stronger and as a group they're not as focused on synergy. All three of them nullify ailments, reflect Expel and Death, and resist the four main damage elements, so physical attacks are the way to go. Raphael is the main irritant, as he'll typically spend his turn on either Tetrakarn or Makalakarn, though he also knows Stasis Blade, Diarahan and Beast Eye. Uriel is more of a damage-dealer with Prominence and Megidola, though he also knows Beast Eye and Diarahan. Gabriel's most dangerous attacks are Radiance (heavy Expel damage to all foes) and Holy Wrath (chance to cut current HP by 50% for all foes), but she has Maziodyne too in case you had the foresight to shut her down with Expel-immune Magatama and allies. All together, that's a recipe for a pretty tough fight, especially if Ralph and U-dawg start flexing their Diarahan muscles. However, you may have noticed that none of them know Dekunda or Dekaja. If you bring the appropriate buffs and debuffs, you can easily turn all three of them into a tragic joke. They all have 3000 HP too, so with a few stacks of Tarukaja and Rakunda, Zed's Focused Divine Shot could potentially 1-hit-KO each of them in turn without Diarahan ever being a problem. As you may have guessed, the Yosuga alignment meter came into play here. If you have accumulated 32 Yosuga points, or if you agreed with Chiaki back in the Mantra HQ before she lost her arm, you are given a chance to ally with her, which cements your Yosuga affiliation. If you refuse, she of course still throws the Seraphs in your face to keep you busy while she does her dirty work. If you accept, she asks you to kill Futomimi yourself. That sure would have given this LP a very different feel, wouldn't it?  : You. Come with me. I'll give you this chance.  : Heh, heh...> Shiki-Ouji is smiling fearlessly. : Comply with my desire. Offer me 910 Macca.: Small price.: O wearisome robber baron, Nay... NAY, 'tis not enough! I require 670 Macca.: If it'll save a life.: More, I say! Empty thy pockets as thou hast emptied my patience! : This guy has no idea what's going down, does he?: I require 1 Life Stone.: ...take it.: I cannot comply. I have trust in thee, but I cannot ally myself with your grace for our swords will conflict.: That's your funeral, chump!: Leave. Now.: Here! Take thee this.> You obtained Dis-Stun x1. : I. Said. LEAVE.: I must bid you adieu.> Shiki-Ouji left. : Wow, I really thought you were gonna wad him up and eat him.: This is a holy place. Only angels die here now.*: A few "battles" later...   : If you think so, I recommend you turn around and walk away.> Shiki-Ouji is content.  : I am called Shiki-Ouji of the Brute bloodline. My fate lies in thy hands.> Shiki-Ouji joined your party.   *: Huh, I didn't notice this coming in, but it would appear Chiaki hit the door so hard it flew all the way over here. At any rate, by the time we leave, only angels have died. I could warp straight to Ginza, but I want to check out the rest of Asakusa to see if there are any survivors with interesting stuff to say.   : Well, I guess it's a good place to kick back and relax... There's no one around, so I can enjoy some peace and quiet.: ... : Well, we don't really care.  : ...he died. : I see. I guess it must be pretty rough. : ...I don't like the idea of a world controlled by power.: Yeah. Me neither, brother.: Living here, I've realized that Nihilo's Reason of Shijima is the best. No more fighting, please.: Oh gently caress off. : I like it. I mean, why do I have to live with all these losers?: Said the dead loser. : Kid, I never thought I'd be this happy to see you. : Oh, you're back. I don't have anything for you, but... I'm not stopping you from playing. So, why don't you try?: Sorry kid, I'm really busy right now. Maybe some other time. : You don't have to push yourself anyway...: You keep on gaming, alright? : ...that's one way of putting it.: Yosuga, Shijima, Musubi... These three are all competing for the right of creation. I don't know who you're for, and I don't want to know. But, the time is nearing.: I'm still holding out hope for one more. : Now that Futomimi's dead, Asakusa's nothing but a ghost town. It's just as Lady Chiaki said. We need to watch Ginza... The Assembly of Nihilo. : I hope you're happy.: Manikins were running about here, not long ago... Now, demons are here instead. Is this the flow of time? : There's still some 'round here. : Having to live like this again... *sigh* Life is short...  : Aw hell, old man. I'm sorry. : ............ ...I'm tired of it all! : drat...: ............: Hmm...?: ............: Are you alright?: ...Maybe lying here wasn't such a great idea. : But, this place was bustling with Manikins just a short while back.  : I'm not a Musubi, but I think they should've respected themselves more.*: And that's it for Asakusa. The junk shop owner and the Collector Manikin are still here, but they have nothing new to say. Just before we leave, Sparna levels up and learns Diarahan, its last skill. I let it replace Fog Breath, since Zed has a lockdown on that one. Gives him something to do!  : Hmm?> Sparna gave something to you. You received Mamudo Rock!   : You placed death in my hands, and now you place life. Very clever! quote:Lv63 Avian Garuda *: That'll be that. To Ginza, then. Dropping a save, I see we've passed the 100 hour mark! Of course a lot of that was typing dialog down, and it doesn't include close to all of the time I've spent on this LP, but I ain't complaining!  And the world goes on.   : Something happened! They must've been doing something! : Sacrificial fusion... The Demonic Compendium... But... there's a rumor that they're hiding something even better. : ...I mean, Shijima. It will be shrouded in silence. : There's a tunnel at Yurakucho Station that leads to Nagatacho.: Hmm. That's where the Diet is. Very helpful, thanks.  : Commander Hikawa is the supreme ruler of the battle for creation. We may be a late entry, but that's because we were preparing for an incredible god.*: True fact: I accidentally typed "we were preparing for an incredible dog" and then proceeded to giggle for like thirty seconds.  : Dude what is your problem, we don't need to know that.*: Everyone needs to know about incredible dogs.  : They're sayin' there's a guy diggin' a tunnel at Yurakucho. I doubt there's any relation to what Hikawa's doin', though.  : Now, we can create our ideal world of stillness!  : Even if our headquarters was attacked, even if we lost the Nightmare System... He'd still be victorious! He conceives plans as if he knows what events will take place.: He sure is crazy prepared, I'll give him that.: He may be human, but he's a brilliant strategist. : You become one with the universe, and there's no need to suffer. ...It fits a person who keeps his cool, like me. : It's going to be a refined new world where the weak don't exist. I think it's a pretty rotten idea, personally.: Yeah, me too. And I'm pretty strong, so you know I'm not just trying to save my own skin. : Their world is one where you can do anything you want without ever having to meddle with anyone else. What do you think of that?: Sounds nice on the surface, but I know I'd just get sick of it within hours.  : I hear he's after the large amount of Magatsuhi at the Diet Building... It's ironic that a human is using demons to do his bidding, rather than the other way around.The National Diet Building is really the last place I would have expected to visit after the apocalypse, but I guess it makes sense. Politicians, demons, what's the difference, really? *: We heal up, drop a save, and head out towards Yurakucho Station, near the back entrance to the Assembly of Nihilo dome. It was locked last time we went, but if Hikawa had to move his troops through, it's probably still open.    *: The overland encounters haven't changed, and the trip is uneventful. The destination, however... Cutscene + Boss battle: Fiend TrumpeterWell he sure went down like a chump. Is the final Fiend really so weak, or... have I grown so strong? quote:Fiend Trumpeter *: Wow, I didn't think I'd get away with this one so easily. The Trumpeter only has the basic boss immunities going on, so that's not a problem. He knows Megidolaon, Makakaja, Dekaja, and all four Ma-dyne spells, but that's not quite the problem either, especially since you can debuff him with impunity. The problem is that he casts Holy Melody or Evil Melody every four turns, alternating between each. Evil Melody instantly kills your teammate with the lowest HP (in percentage of maximum HP, not raw current HP), and I'm pretty sure it bypasses any Death immunity you might have. If everyone's at full HP, it just picks a target at random. Holy Melody picks its target the same way and heals it to full, but if Trumpeter himself has proportionally lower HP than anyone on your squad, it gets its 11000 HP back. The basic strategy here is to make sure Evil Melody doesn't kill the Demi-fiend, which isn't too hard to do if you have allies with skills that cost a lot of HP, then revive them with a Revival Bead or the basic Recarm (so they have very little HP) and summon them just in time for Holy Melody to bring them back to full health. Of course, Zed hits so hard thanks to Focus/Tarukaja/Rakunda that the cycle didn't exactly have time to repeat. I'm also pretty happy with how strong Wu Kong is even without Focus on; he's not in the same league but he contributed a great deal anyway. Next time! We may go after Hikawa, or... we may go bring light to the darkness. : Man, that's not even a question, I'mma go down that pit again and punch stuff a lot.*: Well forgive me for trying to introduce a little suspense in the proceedings.
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Jan 29, 2016 02:25
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I honestly have very little recollection of what happens in the Labyrinth from this point on (though I did make sure to verify where exactly the point of no return is so I don't pass it by accident before I have a chance to put the final decision to vote), so my intent actually is to punch stuff a lot, with maybe exploring and refreshing my memory as secondary objectives. :3 That said, thinking about it now, we might actually go through Yurakucho Tunnel first even if only to get things rolling on the, uh, time-sensitive event there. I'm not sure yet. Llab posted:This update was pretty intense. Futomimi might not have been human, but he's been very decent to us, which is more than we can say about any of our former friends and other humans(I'm assuming everyone here is done with any bullshit Reasons that are left for us to choose.) I'm assuming once Shikawa's god is summoned, we'll pretty much be ready for the endgame? There's no more fiends left to beat up, either. Yeah, we're pretty close to running out of mandatory main story dungeons, but considering how Serious Business they are, I'd say we still have a good chunk of game left. I don't recall exactly how long they are, but I suspect one of them won't fit in a single reasonably-sized update. Mifunashiro was short and simple, but that's the calm before the storm. Of course, we still have the remaining Kalpas to go through, and there's at least one other optional location I can think of. FredMSloniker posted:So we're officially locked out of two endings at this point, right? More than that actually, but I shouldn't go into details right now for reasons that will probably become clear at some point. But at this moment, even I don't know which of the remaining endings we'll get, so there's definitely room for choice left. Shitenshi posted:On the other hand, if the pacifistic Futomimi had managed to kill Chiaki, and he is surprisingly tough, even stronger than the bloodthirsty Sakahagi, would the rest of the angels bow to him seeing their beloved leader dead at the feet of someone stronger or would they turn on him anyway out of some strange sense of loyalty to their dead savior? The latter option has no place in Yosuga, ironically enough, for all that they revere her, and because of his strength, if he willed just living peacefully, they would be honor bound to obey. That's assuming the angels have any code of honor, especially after ganging up to slaughter a bunch of helpless Manikins, instead of actually proving their strength by redeeming their honor against Nihilo. That's a good question. But I suspect the angels are following Chiaki not because she's strong (though she definitely is), but because she's the origin of the Reason that gives them the biggest boner. If Futomimi beat her before Baal Avatar showed up, I think that would just have ended Yosuga right there, the remaining question would have been "can Manikins actually create their own Reason?", and the angels would probably have gone back to doing whatever they were doing before Chiaki and Gozu-Tennoh hooked up. Shitenshi posted:And Baal Avatar is always one scary looking bitch. Isamu beat the others to the punch in summoning, but they're still getting their chance. Noah looks like a simple lump that would rest in its own corner of smug self-satisfaction while Baal Avatar looks ready to fight. Right, Baal Avatar hits those old cosmic horror themes of this glorious, proud, immensely powerful entity, that has not one smidge of mercy or compassion and just doesn't give one half of one poo poo about anything it can kill, which is a lot. Man this gets me wondering about the alternate universe LP where we're straight going through the Yosuga path. Zed'd probably be calling her his beautiful mighty goddess or something like that. : Aw man what, why are you even saying that stuff? I think I'm gonna puke.: Dude, the Internet's a big place. I'm sure there's a forum out there that would have voted for it. : Not helping!
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Jan 29, 2016 07:07
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FredMSloniker posted:I just noticed you don't have Platinum, Frank, or I'd PM you about the endings that remain. Sorry mang, I gotta be real careful with my dinero these days. :3 Gideon020 posted:Don't forget to update the TOC on page 1 when you have the time Frank. Oooh, dang, thanks for the reminder. I guess Futomimi's passing perturbed me more than I thought! MarquiseMindfang posted:See, that bell is what I was hoping this was all going to be about, actually! I vaguely remember what the bell refers to but every detail surrounding it is lost to the mists of memory, so I guess it's just as well, heheh. Miacis posted:Dionysus is a cool bro with a badass design and a fun unique skill in Wine Party. I hope we'll get to see his animations and hear his voice clips somewhere down the line. Dionysus is replacing Kushinada as our Life Drain-equipped healer, so I'm sure we'll see him in action before long. As for the concentric circles, they might be more related to the markings on Uzume's legs and fans, which I think would make them glorious sun discs, whereas on Shijima structures they're probably representing the Buddhist concept of the wheel of Samsara, which is to say the cycle of reincarnation, despite how Hikawa's efforts are a gruesome perversion of that entire worldview. ModeWondershot posted:The exact point of no return for what you are thinking of is standing on the elevator that leads to Lucifer at the end of the fifth Kalpa, which is immediately after the hallway you first saw after becoming the Demi-Fiend and fighting the tutorial fights. Furthermore, you are locked out of the Lucifer ending after you step inside the final Kagustuchi tower for the first time. Right, that's what I gathered, but it's good to have additional confirmation!
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Jan 29, 2016 17:22
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I'd say it largely depends on your perspective. If you're from a position inside of a Vortex World looking at your options for the next cycle, then yeah the Reasons are vastly different in traditional alignment. But if you're in a position outside of any Vortex World looking at the entire Amala Universe over a long period of time, then they're all fundamentally the same in the grand scheme of things, and the only Chaos entities are the ones who would throw a wrench in the whole system. Neither perspective is incorrect, and in fact even Lucifer, who is clearly espousing the latter perspective, still leaves it to us to decide for ourselves what's more important to us even if that would mean us choosing the former.
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Jan 31, 2016 06:26
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I think the core of Lucifer's whole thing is that he respects free will and he's extraordinarily patient because his only hope of victory is playing the long game, but he still has goals, he still has plans, he always has pieces on the board, and he really doesn't like to lose.
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Jan 31, 2016 20:10
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Lunar Suite posted:Mana Refill has spread through my ensemble like an STI through a summer camp and with fusing in Makatora I now have a perpetual motion machine. It dispenses pain. The satisfaction of crafting a well-oiled death engine of a party is real. And the MP recovery skills are really the unsung heroes of Nocturne; the peace of mind they afford you is unmatched, especially considering how long some of the dungeons get.
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Feb 1, 2016 07:09
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: Guys, I'm not gonna lie, I don't feel like hanging on to those Candelabra any longer than I have to. : They are no longer a threat to you. : We are all vainquished.: Yeah, but...: You're curious about what's going on in the Labyrinth, aren't you?: Aren't you?: Yeah, sure. But, I don't know if going there has ever been a good idea.: IT HAS GRANTED US VALUABLE KNOWLEDGE.: Sounds like the monkey lost his nuts!: Yuck it up, tipsy. If the boss wants to go down there, I'm going down with him. But we can't forget we have other problems here too.: Either way, it's kind of a long walk back to Ginza, isn't it? Can't we keep going until we find another terminal at least?: Hmm. Yeah, good point. Alright then, let's get a move on. And keep an eye out, we don't want to stumble on Nihilo's rear guard if we can help it.  *: Unlike the other stations we've visited, there are two staircases down here.  The western one takes us to a well lit platform...  ...while the eastern one plunges us into darkness.  There's no way to tell which one will take us towards the Diet Building, so we might as well start with the eastern one. We run into fights with Loki, Quetzacoatl and Shiki-Ouji down here. A few Cubes around the area get us a Muscle Drink, a Bead, a Medicine, and an encouter with four Loa. The Blessed Fan actually takes a couple of them out! They drop an Attack Mirror.  Both sets of stairs leading to the eastward tunnels are blocked off, so we retrace our steps towards the first lit platform. Boy am I glad I decided to look at this side first! On the way back, Horus levels up through Watchful; he learns Mediarama, replacing Liftoma, and Mana Gain transforms into Mana Surge (+30% max MP).   : I just saw a human woman! She was headed for Kasumigaseki. She was creepy, like she was possessed by something... She was hot, though!: Is Ms. Takao going after Hikawa herself?: I want to say that's crazy, but maybe Aradia has a plan.: You really believe that?: ...I don't know.*: As usual, there are two tunnels leading westward. I choose the northern one. Here's to hoping we get the dead end with loot first!   A dead end with a spirit, I'll take it.  : Ah, right, I've heard about you. Find anything good? : After years a pokin' around, I finally located the treasure right here! But... The earth here's as hard as a rock turtle with frostbite! So, I can't dig, ya dig?: Wouldn't a frozen rock turtle be especially brittle?: Don't even, it's not worth the trouble.: ............!! Ya got demons with ya!? Hoo-doggie! Could ya spare one a them demons a yers? If ya do, I promise ta split the treasure with ya!: Ehh, I don't know... : There's a sentence I never thought I'd hear. Anyway, I admit I'm curious.: Really!? Hoo-doggie! Thanks! *whistle* : I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm a bird.: Yeah, no.: *whistle* How about Black Rider?: I'm not lending you Famine just so you can put a pickaxe in his hands. He may be a schmuck, but he's a prestigious schmuck.: I appreciate the compliment, sir.*: Shige pretty much goes through all your allies one by one; I suspect the developers didn't want to make a demon selection interface just for this one guy. I'll spare you the repetition.  : Hmm, that might actually not be a bad idea. What do you think, big guy?: Yeah, sure, no problem, I'll have this done in a jiffy. Are you going to be alright without me?: To be honest I'd rather keep you around, but there might be something cool in here.: Well, I'm up for it.: It's settled, then. You got your worker.: Whoa! This one's as ornery as a bobcat with his tail on fire!: I'm sure I don't want to know how you came across that information.: Look forward to ma results!: Aight, I'll be checking in again in a bit. See ya later, sport!: Later, boss man.*: We return to the platform and take the southwest tunnel this time. We run into an obnoxious amount of five-Quetzacoatl groups; let's just say it helps to have three allies immune to physical damage and Death effects. Wu Kong learns Hassohappa, a group-targeting physical attack that scales off HP. I let it replace Sukukaja, since Black Rider has us covered there.    : It's a maze in there. Plus, there are steep slopes. You'll slide right down to the bottom! If you jump in unprepared, you might die of starvation, or worse...: I appreciate the heads-up, but I really can't turn back. : Or, uh, maybe I can. Just this once.*: This is in fact a Large Terminal, and we head to Ikebukuro to heal up, register, and shop. Asakusa isn't a safe place anymore, and we used up a bunch of Mazio Stones against the Quetzacoatl hordes, so I figure it won't hurt to stock up on attack items again before we head to the Labyrinth. We had nine Tickets to begin with and we spend enough to get eleven more; picking the white box twice earns us Strength and Vitality Incense! That should be preparation enough; we drop a save and warp to the Labyrinth. We could use the shortcut to the third Kalpa, but I want to hear what Kamala has to say now that Dante's the only Fiend left.   : You don't have to worry about them anymore! Yay!: That's great news! Thanks Kamala, you've been a big help.: I, um...: Shhh.*: As we cross the Third Kalpa to reach the remaining pedestals, it occurs to me to visit the last Luck door we couldn't open before... and it opens! We have 22 base Luck at this time, so the break point is probably at 20. Behind we find a Burial Chamber for Ongyo-ki, Mara, and Black Frost. There are also Chests containing Strength Incense and a Great Chakra. And that's all for the northern branch!   : The Emperor has returned!!: Eh wot?: I want his autograph, hee ho, so I'm gonna go look for him!!: COULD HE MEAN...?: Probably. I guess this is where plans to become evil will take you.: What does that say about us?: ...: Well, we can leave whenever we want. That must count for something.: Yeah.  quote:Lv47 Deity Atavaka *: We've used up a fair bit of Gogmagog and Titania's MP getting down here, so I ask Dr. Dark for a 5k full heal.  : Yikes! We'll do without for now, thanks.: Whatever happened to all the money, I wonder?: Very funny.*: Yeah, dude's hiking up his rates. We could afford it, but I think we'll be fine at the moment.   quote:Lv45 Kishin Mikazuchi *: I'm a little surprised to see new demons down here, but the Kalpas actually scale with your level somewhat and tougher opponents start appearing as you grow stronger. I'm sure this is to make it harder if you decide to wait until the endgame and clear the Labyrinth all at once.  Pale Rider, Mother Harlot, Trumpeter. Majesty, Beauty, Godliness. And Sovereignty is mine to keep.    : I know.: Not only is it dangerous, it's VERY dangerous!!: That's okay, so am I.: I mean, it's EXTREMELY dangerous!!!: Dude, I'm not leaving.: If you still insist on going, I won't try to stop you, but... Make sure you go straight. Don't ever, ever turn left! Okay?: Uh... sure.: ...Please believe me.: Alright. Oh crap. Well. He did say it would be EXTREMELY dangerous.  *: We have an opportunity to go left. We don't take it.    The color scheme feels like less immediately gross and unpleasant than the third Kalpa's, but it does kinda feel like someone set a bunch of fires in the first Kalpa and didn't mind the smoke damage.  Ah, okay, we're back to looking pretty gross.  We have more choices here, but I'm gonna keep going as far right as I can.   quote:Lv55 Holy Chimera    : It's only a short distance to the other side, but every time you enter, you end up somewhere else... You'll see what I mean once you try it yourself... No pain, no gain. Let's go.   Hell's Vault, eh? *: Trying to use the automap button returns a "It can't be used here." message. Whuh oh.    Teleporters, and no automap. Glorious.   quote:Lv63 Raptor Gurr   quote:Lv63 Haunt Rakshasa *: In addition to these new guys, we keep running into lesser Haunts like Pisaca, Legion and Yaka, so the Blessed Fan keeps coming in handy. Zed levels up, masters Satan and learns its final skill, Deadly Fury, a group-hitting physical attack with a high critical chance. We replace Xeros-Beat with it; it has served us well for a long time, but it was really time for an upgrade. Next on the list will probably be Miasma, so we can upgrade Shock to Glacial Blast. It should also tip our alignment to Dark so we can open that one door in the third Kalpa. Aaanyway. The aforementioned teleporter sends us to a room with four dead ends and a Chest containing a Bead of Life. Going to the western dead end warps us to a room that looks a lot like the entrance to the Twelve Meters of Eternity...  Ah.  : If you want to go back, then return through the 12 Meters of Eternity. It's really strange... From the other side, the phase of Kagutsuchi determines where you'll end up, but from this side, you can only return to the entrance.*: This'll require further exploration for sure, but I'm curious about that ladder here.    : I am, but not nearly enough for this!  : It looks like you can get to the other side from the Kalpa above, so...: Huh, really? Well this'll be annoying.: Why don't you try to make your way across?: I bet it's that golden door we couldn't open. There's one behind the switch here too, see?: Ah, you're right. We just need to find the key, then.*: Apart from small room with a Tetraja Rock and a locked gate, there's nothing else down here. We gotta hit the Twelve Meters again.  Welp, here goes nothing.  *: Hell's Hall, this time. We can't use our map again.  Oh balls. *: We use a Repulse Bell right away, and start heading east. This area seems pretty huge! The first door we encounter looks like it would take us to the Twelve Meters again, so we turn back and keep exploring.   : Well, the sooner we kick his rear end the sooner we can get out of here, hopefully. : BE CAREFUL!! Great, I'll add it to the pile.  : Gaaaah, sure, fine. Here.*: Restoring our HP in here is a silly proposition, but we could use a MP refill if the leader of this place is close by.  The other doors here so far have been the same blue swirly type that we first saw in the third Kalpa, but this one is the red pulsating type. Hmm!  Wicked King's Hall. Welp!  > Will you enter? It's that or walking back through that awful place. We go forward. Cutscene + Boss battle: The Wicked King: Holy crap! High fives!: Aw yeah!: MARVELOUS!: Kid, I owe you all the drinks.: Well, I-: Haha, gimme a hug, you bony bastard!: Ah? H-hey!: I take back every time I've called you a schmuck. : I don't mean to cut the celebration short, but... What's with this "creating a demon" business?: There's an excellent question.: Hmm. I suppose that is worrying. Yo, Riders, you know anything about that?: Uh...: Everything Lord Beelzebub told you is correct. Beyond that, we could not say.: ...right.: You could not say, huh? Because you don't know, or because someone ordered you to keep quiet?: ...: Well...: How useless you both are!: Hey, that's a little harsh.: THERE ARE POWERFUL FORCES INVOLVED HERE, AND WE ALL HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY.: To hell with that! Speak up before I shove my staff where the sun don't shine!: Wu Kong, stand down!: But...!: I know how you feel, but if they can't tell us, they can't tell us. We'll just have to find someone who can. And if we don't like their answer...: We shall give them a right good thrashing!: We shall give them a right good thrashing.quote:Tyrant Beelzebub *: The first obstacle to whittling down Beelzebub's 16000 HP is that he reflects Expel and Death, nullifies ailments, and resists everything else except fire. The second obstacle, of course, is that he fights back. His signature move is Death Flies, which instantly kills all opponents who are not immune to Death effects and inflicts a fair chunk of Almighty damage to everyone else. He also knows Dekaja, Dekunda, Mazionga, Mazanma, Maziodyne, Mazandyne, Megidolaon, and Focus. Fortunately, he doesn't have Beast Eye or Dragon Eye, and he only has his basic attack to spend the Focus buff on (though he's level 95 with 30 Strength, so it'll still hurt a fair bit). Zed's Focused up Divine Shot is strong enough that it still contributed non-insignificant damage through Beelzebub's physical resistance, but Dionysus's Agidyne and White Rider's Fire Boosted Prominence did most of the heavy lifting, especially when the latter hit twice for around 700 damage total. Besides, using Fog Breath often was essential, as B-bub's Agility is so high that even Prominence has a big chance to miss, and if your healer doesn't get a turn on account of a miss then you might be in big trouble. Makakaja and Tarukaja are nice while they last, but even when they don't last, an icon spent on Dekaja is not an icon spent removing Fog Breath or calling Death Flies. I think I could have been done a little faster and spent fewer MP items if I hadn't been so afraid of a Focused attack that I thought I had to keep Tetrakarn up so much, but otherwise I'd say the battle went about as smoothly as it could.   *: There's another door on the other side of this Hall.  Oh-ho!  Of course.    Not too shabby! But this doesn't seem to get us any closer to the next Kalpa. The key we're looking for must be somewhere else.  Oh hey, the horrible smog is gone. Excellent.  : Yyyyup.: THEN, YOU SHOULD LOOK FOR THE STAR KEY! IT CAN UNLOCK THE GOLDEN DOORS. IT'S SOMEWHERE IN THIS LABYRINTH, WHERE IT USED TO BE CURSED... THERE'S ANOTHER DEMON WHO KNOWS WHERE IT IS. IF YOU CAN GET THE STAR KEY, MAYBE YOU CAN MAKE IT TO THE BOTTOM!: Aight, I'll keep looking, thanks for the hint.*: We make it back to the Twelve Meters without further incident. Let's see if other K phases would take us to interesting places.  1/8th waxing sends us to The Road to Hell. It's a simple descending hallway that looks like it will return us to the Twelve Meters, but...  Hmm.  Yup, that was a hidden passage.  : This is a dead end. You spent all that precious time coming here for nothing.: Dick.: Just so you know, there's a place nearby that looks like a dead end, but you can actually go through it. Have fun looking for it.: I don't care, you're still a dick.*: The only other available path leads to a Deathstone, and...  ...another hidden path. There's only a Burial Chamber behind, for Aciel, Skadi and Albion, so we return to the Twelve Meters. Half K takes us to Hell's Vault again, but we can take a different path. We faff around a bit, finding a Great Chakra and an Attack Mirror, until we're teleported to a room with an actual door... which takes us back to the entrance. Alright, I've had enough of this for now, let's give the Twelve Meters one more go.  2/8th waning takes us to Hell's Maze. Is that a Manikin?  : Once you're inside, you can never get out.: We'll see about that.: But, if you do find a way out, please let me know! *: We have two doors from here. Let's go east first.  We can't go back, but here are two more doors. If we had our automap this would probably be trivial, but I'll just have to draw my own at some point.  : There was a guy who managed to escape this prison, and that's what he used to say. I wonder what he's doing now...Music: Manekata  : Aight, shoot. : Uh... You probably wouldn't know it from the way I've been acting down here, but, yeah, I do. : I've been called worse.  *: We actually run into some Manikin random encounters here too. Strange!  : Do you think he can find his way out of here?: I don't know... He'll probably give up, and then run home and cry about it. *chuckle*: Joke's on you, assholes. I don't have a home.: Come on, he can't do that. Think about it. How can he run home if he doesn't know where the exit is?: Oh... That's true. ...So, this poor demon's lost and he's all alone? How sad. ...Hey, you there. If you wanna go home, head north. You'll find your way out of here eventually. : But, which way is it...? North or south, east or west...? Good luck finding it. By the way, I know exactly where it is. : You might as well give up all hope. Just look at me... I'm going absolutely nowhere... : ...that haircut... : I contributed to society by doing just that. My company grew as a result, and became highly regarded. : If your company is the only aspect of your life worth mentioning, then I assume that it wasn't. : Just when I thought I'd achieved happiness, my fortune collapsed like a house of cards. You should be careful. You never know what tomorrow may bring...  : Have you talked to either of them?: Both, actually.: Oddly enough, it feels like I've met them somewhere before...: That businessman... That was Sakahagi, wasn't it?: Yeah.: He seemed... regretful.: That's unlike him.: IT IS SAID THAT REGRET CAN CHANGE THE NATURE OF A MAN.: Bah, it's easy to be regretful when you've been condemned to eternal torment.: If that was Sakahagi, does that mean the other one was Futomimi?: He didn't strike me as the knife-licking type.: Maybe regret changed him too. : ...Just kidding. You think this is the exit? There was a guy who escaped from here, with something he called the Afterlife Bell. He was saying that the bell has the power to resurrect the dead. If that's true, I wonder if he's come back to life in a cemetery somewhere...: A cemetery, hmm? Not a lot of those left. *: At any rate, we enter the nearby vortex to get the heck out of here. It does return us to the Twelve Meters, but this time we turn back and return towards the Kalpa's entrance; we did pass a number of "left turns" on our way, and maybe they're less EXTREMELY dangerous now that Beelzebub is gone.  : That means the Wicked King has been defeated, but... Who could it have been? ...It wasn't you, was it?: Is that so hard to believe?*: We run into Dr. Dark again up here, but we pass.  : ...then you can call forth the deaths that you have conquered, just as you have created new demons. It all depends on the light of Kagutsuchi, though...  : ...I'll sell you something special. Interested?: Mmmmmaybe.: Here's what I'm selling... ...a demon that wields an assortment of powerful attack spells. It's a charming and dependable companion! I'm asking 50000 Macca. I know it's kinda high, but it's well worth the price... So, you want it?: I got plenty of demons who wield assortments of powerful attack spells. Maybe later, I guess.: That's fine. If you change your mind, feel free to come back anytime.*: This Broker is selling a level 60 Mothman with all Ma-dyne spells, Mahamaon, Mamudoon, Megidolaon and Mana Refill, which isn't too shabby if you want to fuse some of those onto something else, since you can find another Wilder and make an Element out of them, and combine it with another Element to make a Mitama. A Chest in the same room contains a Soma. While we're waiting for full K, Black Rider learns Mana Drain, which will be super helpful, as his skills that make him effective in random battles are very expensive.  : Of course!: I heard that your innate abilities, such as your agility and strength, affect your performance in there. If you plan on collecting Macca in there, then you might want to train yourself first.*: Ooh, right, I forgot about that. If your Agility is at least 15, you get a bit of a maneuverability boost, and I think you need a Strength of at least 15 to break some of the larger obstacles.  : Whuh-oh. : ...Who is he? Sorry, I can't give out his name. But... He's so noble, we call him the Lord of the Flies! I can't stop thinking about him...*: Turning left at the very first intersection leads us to a wide hall with many doors. The first one has 25000 Macca behind, the second one another 25000, the third one is a Burial Chamber for Specter and Sakahagi, the fourth one...  : Ehhh, mostly I guess.: It can take you to different places like the vault or the maze, but... I'm warning you, don't go through it when Kagutsuchi shines the weakest.: Why?: ...Why? Whaddya mean, "Why?"! If you wander into the Wicked King's room, you won't come out alive!: Haha, right, sure.*: ...and the fifth one contains a Deathstone.  I think this whole halllway would have been under the curse if we had come here without taking out Beelzebub first.  : Ha, well said.: It was VERY dangerous!!: Uh...: I mean, it was EXTREMELY DANGEROUS!!!: I KNOW.: ...It's a thing of the past, though.*: We keep climbing out. I'm pretty sure I know where the key is, and I also realize I forgot something important. In the central room of Dante's first maze...   : Heeeeee hoooooo! I guess I'm a little too late.: What the...: I tried so hard to get here, too!  : Yyyyyeah.: The "Emperor of Kabukicho" has finally made his comeback!!: Not the best choice of venue, though.: Um, if you're wondering how I managed to make a comeback... that's a secret.: You have no idea, do you?: Don't ask me why I shrank in size, either. Okay, hee ho?: I couldn't care less, honestly.: Anyway, once again I'm aiming to be the best! If I tag along with you, hee ho, I think I can become super-cool and super-strong!: I... Uh, that's not...: He's not wrong!: Yeah, fair enough.: So, let's go! Heeeeee hoooooo!!  *: Of course he starts at level 66. Black Frost lost his innate ailment reflection and his physical resistance is back to the standard 50%, but he does keep the rest of his immunities, and in fact the last three skills he learns are Void Mind, Void Curse and Void Nerve. Now for the key. We climb further up to the Second Kalpa, and go see that one Efreet.  : You can go now.: Don't mind if I do! *: Indeed, the corridor is back to normal, though the tough random encounters still occur. : You got something for me now?  : My drinking buddy is somewhere up in Tokyo having a drink. He's got the key that opens the golden doors.: Ah. Well, okay, I'll, uh, find him then. Thanks again for the other day!: That's not as helpful as we'd like, in any case.: Eh, there's only one decent bar in this craphole world, so it does narrow it down.: Do you think his buddy could be Loki?: Oh cripes, I hope not.  : Well, not even he can stop our master's plans now.*: That was the Flauros at the entrance to the second Kalpa. He's still talking about the voice we heard the first time we came down here. Anyway, we take the shortcut out of the Labyrinth and warp back to Yurakucho Tunnel.  Hmm, Titan must be doing good work.   : Oooh, good news then.: I owe ya, lil' buckaroo! We'll split the treasure, as promised! There's four chests ahead, so pick two of 'em.  *: Two Chests and two cubes. We pick the two Chests, earning us a Sapphire and a Great Chakra.   : Yer more useful than a cat in a barnyard fulla mice! Here's a little somethin' fer ya! It was in one of ma chests, but I don't reckon I need it. Ya might be able to find a use fer it.> You obtained a Kimon Ball. : Huh... I wonder...*: The Cubes contain 10000 Macca as well as the Kimon Ball; if you pick the Ball you essentially get cheated out of a pick, since Shige'll give it to you no matter what. If we talk to him again... : Hey, uh, where's Titan? : ...what? He died? What the hell, man?: Well, if it's any comfort, he'll be joining his puree'd brothers.*: So, yeah, don't lend Shige a demon you want to get back. Weak demons take longer to dig the tunnel though, so you don't want to cheap out. Besides, you can still get them back from the Compendium if you really gotta. Next time: we find a bar, we find a graveyard, and we unravel the mysteries of the Kimon Ball!
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Feb 1, 2016 07:09
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Shitenshi posted:Pretty sure Shige is supposed to be a parody of Shigesato Itoi, the creator of the Mother series, and also known for having blown a great deal of his fortune on unearthing ancient Tokugawa gold and failing miserably at it. Huh, I had no idea! But somehow I'm not surprised. Oh dang, it puts that one dude digging for treasure in Onett in a whole new light. And that diamond in the mine! It all makes sense! GilliamYaeger posted:And to be fair, if you gave humanity free will and all they did with it was all of human history, chock full of warcrimes and atrocities as it is, you too would be quite eager to undo that particular mistake. Looking back on the past, it is evident that the history of mankind is comprised of meaningless events. The worthless overgrowth of a civilization blind to its sins, continuous bloodshed and war, and thousands of years of repeating the same mistakes again and again. The world must start over from the beginning. April truly is the cruelest month. 
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Feb 2, 2016 13:22
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*: So, the Kimon Ball. Or, err, the Kimon Stone, as it now says in the inventory. We've seen this word before. Let's head to Asakusa. We heal up, save, register, and restock on Light Balls, earning a few Tickets, then we leave through the western path where the Collector Manikin has set up shop.  : If you lose, you're out. That's pretty tough...: It saves you the hassle of living in a world you despise, I suppose.: Art thou thinking of abandoning thy fight?: Ha, not a chance.*: Zed levels up on the way and learns Glacial Blast from Miasma, replacing Shock. It's 25 MP instead of 9, but if a weak elemental skill would come in handy, we might as well use an attack item.  All of our non-mastered Magatama are wriggling and shining, meaning that they would all teach us their next skill on level up. All, except Marogareh, our first one.  This question mark is really the only instance of a Magatama with an unknown next skill. Strange! Aaaanyway...  Remember this temple in northwest Asakusa? The one that seals the Kimon of Tokyo?   > Will you enter? We sure didn't come all this way for nothing. Cutscene + Boss battle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZOckN4iuPk quote:Kishin Bishamon *: Bishamon can be tough here if you don't know what to expect (he did instantly incinerate Shiki-Ouji and Gogmagog), but he doesn't have any irritating gimmicks and essentially offers a fight against a strong, straightforward opponent. He's got boss immunities, on top of reflecting fire and being weak to ice, and he knows Focus, Hassohappa, Prominence, Diarahan and Holy Wrath. If you just chip away at him he'll use Diarahan at some point and negate all your efforts, so you mainly want to apply buffs and debuffs until you can chunk down his 4568 HP in a few rounds.  And here we have the upgraded Force element Magatama, with decent fighter stats. The first skill it would teach us is Wind Cutter, which is a single-target Force skill that is in fact one of the most damaging spells in the game. If you're doing a specialized Magic build, it's hard to go wrong with Tornado, Wind Cutter and Force Boost, even for the endgame. Alright, that's it for this quest line until we find the last Magatama. Now, we need a cemetery, and as far as we know, Zoshigaya's the only one left. To Ikebukuro! We pick up a few more elemental Rocks while we're here, earning us another tenth Ticket. However, I pick the black box by accident, and we only get a Bead. I like getting Beads because you can't buy them anywhere and they're great healing resources even with Zed's low Magic... but they're not Incense.     : The Manikin over there died... He died the instant he became human.: Ouch.: You see, humans can't live in the Vortex World... May his soul rest in peace...: I'm pretty sure you need a fact check on that one... but that certainly is one dead guy right there, in any case. *: Yeah, that's a faintly glowing, human-shaped pile of dust.  > Something is in its hand. Will you take it? : Well, you sure don't need this anymore, buddy.> You obtained the Afterlife Bell.  Intriguing! *: Alright, what's next...? A bar, right! We head to Ginza.  Aw hell, there he is. It's gotta be him.  : So. : Oh... You again.: Star Key. Hand it over.: What? The Star Key...?: Don't play dumb.: Heheheh... It's in my stomach... As liquor, of course.: Behold our savior and his miracles! Behold he who turns keys into booze!: Do not encourage him.: I sold it to a curious Manikin.: That's... actually pretty good news.: ...I needed the money, since my room was raided. ...Know what I mean? Heheheh...: I'm not sorry.*: We head straight back to Asakusa. Using the Talk command in the Collector Manikin's shop... : So, you got any new cool stuff lately? : ...: Haha what.: Oh, Loki. Loki, Loki, Loki. : It's called the Star Key. But, I'm not interested in it. I'm only interested in man-made items. So, I'll give it to you if you'd like. : Hey, sure, I'll gladly take it off your hands.: I see. Okay then, here you go.> ZedPower received the Star Key. : Thanks!: Well, I hope you enjoy the rest of your shopping.*: I pick up three Wagtail Plumes, dude earned our business. We could go back to the Labyrinth right away, but I'd like to perform at least one fusion before we do so, and none of the candidates are quite ripe just yet. So we return to Yurakucho Tunnel and resume following Hikawa's troops.  Well, that guy wasn't kidding when he mentioned steep slopes. In any case, if Nihilo's Berith and Eligor could find a way out on horseback, I'm sure we won't have insurmountable problems down here. *: We slide down.  There's definitely no climbing back up from here.  There was a down ladder near the Terminal that we didn't really explore, so I kind of assume that's one way back, though.  Yup, we find the bottom part of that ladder quickly enough. Let's return to the... tunnels...  Oh. Welp. We do climb the ladder and fall down the slope again, and we go all the way down to B4 before we reach a split in the path. We run into Loas, Kaiwans, Gogmagogs and Titans here. Going through a northward path on B4, we find another slope, and slide down deeper still. It really feels like another dungeon that we might have to visit several times going in the same direction before we can clean it out. B5 starts with another assortment of doors, but I figure we can always pick the northernmost path and work our way south later. As is my luck though, we find a ladder back to B4. It looks like a separate section though, and we come across Small Terminal A on the way. Then there's a one-way door, another slope... Aight, you know what? You get the picture, I ought to spare you the details before I put you to sleep. Lemme get back to you when there's something new. ...okay, this is interesting.  The four paths leading to the space inside this corridor are downward slopes. We came in from the south, the western path is one-way, the northern room is an empty dead end, and the eastern room has a ladder down, which I assume is our way back up. Let's drop in from the northern end.  Oooh, nice. While we run around, Titania learns Charisma, a passive skill that randomly raises the success rate of all her conversation attempts. And Zed masters Miasma without learning Ice Drain from it.  We're now a Slayer, which is a Dark-aligned title, and quite fitting besides. That'll be one more thing to check out when we get back to the Labyrinth. At any rate, the Chest contains a Bead of Life. That seems like an elaborate setup for a piece of... treasure... Wait, the only ways out of here are upwards slopes. What the...   Ah, of course. A series of one-way doors and ladders allows to us climb back up to the eastern side of the circular hallway. There were a couple doors I didn't have the chance to investigate, so I'm going to fall back down.  Oh dang, a loose recruitable Cerberus. I definitely want one, but considering our crowded situation it might be a little while. Going south from the room the pit drops you in allows you in a little corridor loop with a couple Cubes. One of them is a fixed encounter with two Loas and a Cerberus, which earns you a Megido Rock, and the other contains a Soma Droplet. There's still a one-way door to the west down here though, so we climb back up again, and drop down the western slope. Along the way, Shiki-Ouji learns Mahamaon, making it one of the few demons that naturally learns both Mahamaon and Mamudoon.  Ah, right where I hoped we'd fall. The first door west from here has a Chest with a Pearl, and the second one leads us up...  That door to the east is one-way and would take us to that round corridor again, but there's a new door to the south.  Now this is promising!  We keep going upwards, I like the sound of that. In fact, we find Small Terminal B here.  I can't help but wonder if the game's doing this to mess with me, but I remain optimistic.  Aw yeah. I knew we were bros, Nocturne. I knew we were bros.   : I know, right?: But, you're best off not goin' near the Diet Building. If you get in the way of Commander Hikawa... *gulp* : I'm not in his way. He's in my way.: Then, Commander Hikawa really will make you... *gulp*: He sure as hell is free to try. I could use a challenge.: BEWARE WHAT YOU WISH FOR.: I know, I know. Is just, it can't hurt to appear confident, right?   : Yeah, pretty much.: I see... But, there's no need to help. We have 'their' protection.: Hmm?: I won't tell you to turn back, but from here on out, I can't guarantee your safety...: That's alright. No one can. *: Oh-ho! The ends of the station lobbies opposite the entrances are usually empty, but this one has a Chest with a Vitality Incense inside.   We're back in the bottom section. That's clearly the National Diet Building up north, but let's explore some.  Ah, this is the other side of the Amala Temple area. The Cube here contains five Life Stones, and that's all she wrote. Time to get political, then!    The National Diet Building is the rough equivalent of, say, the United States Capitol, being a place where elected officials meet to grind legislation into the guts of the constitution to make the juicy sausages of representative democracy. Atmosphere: The National Diet Building     Voice: This edifice of Magatsuhi is in Nihilo's possession... Our god shall soon descend upon us, and we shall acquire our Reason. Leavest not, and thy life shall be the price. Begone, lost sheep...! : Whoever you are, you can clearly see me. So take a good look at this!: Wait, I thought this meant he thinks you're number one.: It... really doesn't.Voice: ............ > You cannot hear the voice anymore.  *: There are doors to either side of this hall, but there's clearly a Terminal up the stairs across the entrance. And it's a large one! What a dang relief.  Two doors on the ground floor, and two doors up here. Where to start...? ...actually, come to think of it, I have a bigger problem. There's no way I'm tackling the notorious Diet Building mid-update, that's crazypants. Ooooh, alright, lessee. Let's go back to the Tunnel and clear it out first. Maybe that'll earn us enough experience that we can get a fusion done. Aaaaand we only missed a Bead in a Cube near the beginning and a bunch of dead ends. Gogmagog leveled up but he's definitely not up for fusion. Hmm. ...if I'm in such a hurry to get a fusion done, why did I even keep him on board? Derp. Aight then, let's go ask a friendly information source about the Afterlife Bell.   : Yo, Lady B, sorry to be a bother, but I ran out of friends who might have the least idea what this thing really does. Can you help a dude out?  : It's called the Afterlife Bell. It has the power to resurrect wandering souls. I thought it was still hidden in the Labyrinth of Amala...: Well, you gave me the run of the place, I've been more or less turning it inside out for loot, and I found a couple clues that allowed me to track it down. I don't know why you would have expected something different.: A Manikin must have stolen it and fled, in hopes of returning to the Vortex World. : ...do you know how Manikins are born?: From river mud? I don't know the details.: They are originally fragments of human emotions... that acquire physical form and become sentient.Cutscene: Strong ones remain: So they really couldn't create their own Reason, then.: That's... kind of a shame.: Would they not have been your enemies, if they were to create a world without humans?: Well, they were human enough, I guess.: NO, THEY WERE NOT.: For me, I mean, even if not for this creation nonsense. Besides, don't Christians believe the first people were made out of clay or something?: Not only Christians, but, yes, they often do.: This whole situation is hosed up the a.: Business as usual, then?: You know it!*: We then take the shortcut to the Third Kalpa, and look for the golden door. You usually get to its location by failing one of the stat doors around here, but there's also a ladder in the north section of the Luck area that'll get you down there.    Oh! I didn't expect this, but if it's taking us to the Kalpa below, it makes sense. *: Good Lord this tunnel is difficult. But we manage without too much damage, and find ourselves in the fourth Kalpa.    Well, that was simple enough. I don't want to get too deep in the fifth Kalpa without my fusion done, but we should at least be able to unlock the final shortcut. We go back to the third Kalpa, then down to the fourth, and we head for the Twelve Meters of Eternity. Speaking of, it can take you to four places. If you go during new K, you're sent to the Hall, where Beelzebub awaits. If you go during half K or full K, you're sent to the Vault with the teleport maze. If you go during any odd-numbered phase, you're sent to the Road, where you'll find the Burial Chamber behind a couple hidden passages. And if you go during the remaining two phases, 2/8 and 6/8, you're sent to the Maze with the Manikins. For now, we go to the Maze, and find the two strong souls again. From the start, Sakahagi is all the way north, then west, and Futomimi is all the way east.   : I never felt bad about it, and I don't regret living that way, either. But... when I met that girl, the words just slipped out of my mouth... "Everybody has kindness in their heart." Why the hell did I say that? Maybe I was just curious what warmth and kindness feel like... If I could live my life again, I... I'd wanna be the kind of person who is liked by everyone.  : Yeah, I'm, uh, all about feelings and stuff. Lay it on me. : ...you've made the right choice before. You can make it again. Here, listen.> You rang the Afterlife Bell. Its pure tone fills the air... : I guess it's time to say goodbye to this place... The part of my soul that I was missing... The "me" that I really wanted to become... It's gonna wait with other demons for a new life... ......  : I should have taken revenge back then, for what that boy did to me.  : If I ever screw up badly, I can only hope one day someone will give me another chance. And it won't be said that I bring only death and pain. Go, and do better.> You rang the Afterlife Bell. Its pure tone fills the air... : Ah... I can see... my black heart... A new shape surrounds it... I am in a place... that gives rise to many demons... ...... : I hope you didn't just make a terrible mistake.: The Manikins are all but gone, Ms. Takao is apparently under divine protection, I don't mind if Sakahagi takes out Hikawa, and the other demons can take care of themselves. How much harm could he do?*: Time to take a peek at the next Kalpa. We return to the ladder at the exit of the Twelve Meters.  : Now, you can move on. Good luck!  Cutscene: The eternal witness: So. It's me. I'm the demon to be created.: You're taking this remarkably well, all things considered.: I guess I've known for a while, somewhere in the back of my mind.: And you guys both knew too, didn't you?: Yes, we did.: My apologies.: No, no, it's... it's fine. I get it. If anyone had told me sooner, I probably would have been pretty mad.: BUT YOU'RE NOT MAD NOW.: I've seen a lot of poo poo go down since I got here. I guess at this point I don't know what to think anymore. I mean, Chiaki and Isamu, right? They were more human than I was, and look at how they turned out. And Hikawa didn't even need to be part demon to murder everybody.: I would refrain from judging all humans from a few of their least savory examples.: I know, I know, but...: So, will you go through with it?: Is that even a hee ho question? It's totally gonna make you super-cool and super-strong!: I haven't decided yet. I guess there's still stuff I want to do up top before I figure it out. Besides, maybe I'll want to support Ms. Takao and her Reason, right? There's still a chance it won't be completely messed up.: The outlook isn't so great on that.: I still gotta see for myself. And on top of that, even if Aradia turns out to be a wet petard, maybe I'll want to finish this whole thing on my own terms. It's not like, you know, like serving Lucifer is my only alternative. It can't be.: Well, for what it's worth, we're with you either way.: It's worth more than you can imagine. It really is. Being a human is pretty cool, but, maybe being one of you guys wouldn't be so terrible. I guess we'll see.*: Hijiri's fate brings to mind the medieval, typically anti-semitic legend of the Wandering Jew, about a man who taunted Jesus on his way to Golgotha to be crucified, and was therefore punished by God by being forced to roam the earth in misery, unable to die until the end of the world. In the context of the series though, there is a theory that Hijiri is in fact... : Oh this gon' be good.*: ...that Hijiri is in fact the protagonist of Shin Megami Tensei II.  : ...what.*: I'm not sure of the details, but at least one path in SMT2 has the protagonist outright kill YHVH, or whatever was the current manifestation of YHVH at the time. And his punishment for this is stated to be an eternal cycle of torture, painful death, resurrection, and more torture. : No, seriously, what.: Almost makes you feel glad you quit before then, eh?: So I'm Hijiri. Wow.*: Well, maybe not. That theory has never been confirmed as far as I know, and besides, given the whole Amala Universe business, it's just as possible that the world where SMT 1 and 2 take place is the same world where Nocturne takes place, but on a prior cycle of rebirth, as it is possible that they are different worlds entirely. : So, Hawke, tell me. Where'd you get the hat?: Where'd you get the broken face?: Huh? I don't-*: Whoa! Whoa whoa whoa! Settle down! : Lemme at 'im!*: Aight kids, time out, for both of you! : But-*: ZIP IT. Welp, in any case, it can't hurt to just open the door, right?  Oh. *: Looks like we can't proceed further inside without agreeing to meet with the Big L. Now this may look like a definite point of no return, but it actually is not. In fact, there's some pretty cool stuff in the final Kalpa that we can get to without locking ourselves into or out of anything, and I definitely want to check it out.   : Uh, yeah, sure, it all sounds super spiffy and everything. : I will open the way to the last door; please use the candelabrum and come see us. We look forward to seeing you soon. Well hey, if I change my mind, I'll have lied to the Prince of Lies. I'm sure he'll be able to appreciate the irony of the situation. *: We ride the last tunnel down. Dang there are actually obstacles coming up from behind, falling faster than we do. That pretty much requires pure memorization right there.   Slayer Francois Hawke. Sovereignty.     *: As anticlimactic as this is, I don't want to get into this just yet, so we take the shortcut up to the first layer, then back down to the third.    The Cube here contains a Deathstone.  : I'll sell you something special. ...Wait a minute, your party's full. If you want a new companion, make some room first and then come back.*: This broker sells a Lv4 Preta. This isn't so great, but it is a Lv4 Gaki that comes with Megido, Megidola, Megidolaon, Mediarahan, Samarecarm, Tetrakarn, Makalakarn, and Recarmdra (an easily abusable spell that sacrifices its user to restore the entire party's HP and MP). It's not a bad idea to let him earn a bunch of levels and use him as sacrificial fusion fodder. And that's it for the Dark alignment door. I did say it didn't change much! I take the time to get into a few fights here. Long gains Violet Flash, his last skill. This dude's been with us for a long time! Soon afterwards, Shiki-Ouji learns Megido, Titania learns Mana Surge, Zed passes on Wind Cutter, and Dionysus learns Wine Party, a unique passive conversation skill that occasionally plies an enemy with drink. Aight, that'll have to be good enough. Let's... leave the Labyrinth. And head for the Cathedral. My original plan was to level Titania and Shiki-Ouji, then fuse them together to make a level 70 Night demon. However, due to the way fusion works, now that we've made Night Black Frost available, that combination would produce... Lv66 Black Frost. And that's no good for us, as we of course already have Black Frost. I have other plans for Titania now, and besides she still needs to learn her final skill. But Shiki-Ouji's done, at least. Back when we fought Sakahagi, he was of the Corpus race; if we had fought Futomimi, he would also have been a Corpus. The Corpus are a special race, and you can't ever fuse something into a Corpus, or get one in your party. However, now that their powerful souls have been guided by the Afterlife Bell, Sakahagi and Futomimi have transcended their past natures as Manikins. Sakahagi is counted among the Foul, and Futomimi is counted among the Kishin. Foul and Kishin, we can fuse. Shiki-Ouji + Garuda =  : Friend, I know you're not the type to seek vengeance. Or, not anymore, anyway, right? But we might just get it anyway. : If I may ask, what kind of world would you create?: It hardly matters anymore, does it?: Still, I would hear it.: I gotta say I'm more than a little curious myself.: I still don't know, honestly. But... The world you talked about... I don't think I would have had it in me to crush it.: You did help us, all the way to the end, even though you weren't one of us.: The Vortex World may forget the Manikins, but I won't. It's an honor to have you by my side.: Let us go forth, then. There are still abominations we can prevent, I'm sure. *: Futomimi's skill setup intends him to be a physical bruiser, and that's sort of what his boss battle would have shown us. He actually has more Magic than Strength though, and the only physical attack skill he learns is Lunge (though it's still halfway decent with Focus on), so I got him Rakunda, Mazandyne and Megido to round him out. And with the ever useful Life Drain, he'll always be able to cast them. I would have liked Garuda to learn more of its own skills, but I just had to free up a spot. Speaking of which, I use that spot to summon up two Nigi Mitama from the Compendium, and fuse them to Titania and Black Frost so their Glacial Blast and Mabufudyne can benefit from Ice Boost. Neither of them have MP recovery, but when they do spent their limited juice, it'll count. Of course it's 18000 Macca each, but we have like 700000 right now so it's really no big deal. Alright then, we have one final dip in the Labyrinth on our plate before we return to the Diet Building. And for this one, we head straight to the fifth Kalpa.  Well, doesn't this look familiar? But I can't say I'm surprised. Cutscene: One coin: That was a real cool speech and all, but Lucifer can wait. : Hmm? What do you have in mind, then?: You and I, we're gonna clean up the Japanese government. : That's funny, I could have sworn you just told me we were going to clean up the Japanese government.: I'm your client, I've paid good money, and if I say we're fixing democracy, then democracy is getting hella fixed.: That sounds like an even bigger waste of my time than that whole business with Lucia.: What were you even thinking, though? Seriously. Did your agent have a hidden grudge or something?: Alright then, enough talk, democracy isn't going to fix itself!*: Of course, Dante's coin is double-sided; if you pick heads you'll win every time.  So, Fiend Dante. Not only does he have standard boss immunities, but he resists both physical and magic damage. All of his skills are unique to him, though one of them is a renamed existing skill. We've seen most of the ones he has already; Never Yield is functionally the same as Endure, and Intimidate is actually a passive conversation skill that works best against indecisive demons at least ten levels lower than him, or demons with a childlike personality. He'll get more new toys as he gets stronger, but I'll mention those as they appear. There are a couple fairly big downsides to Dante, however. One of them may not actually be a problem for us, depending on Stuff that I can't quite talk about yet, but in any case, you can't kick him out of your roster (though he doesn't have to be in your active party), and you can't fuse him, so he's using up a slot until your New Game+. And since you can't fuse him, you can't use Mitama to boost his stats. Even though he starts pretty strong, his stats only grow slowly as he levels up and he can easily be outclassed by high level custom demons. That said, you can give him Incense to remedy to that somewhat, and it might not be such a bad idea given that stats have a hard cap of 40 and the Demi-fiend can count on endgame Magatama stat bonuses for a fair chunk of that number. In the end, it's often recommended to skip hiring Dante entirely, even if only not to permanently occupy an ally slot. But dang, this is a LP, how can I not show him off? His name's on the box! Aaaanyway! Man that was one disjointed-rear end update. But at least we straightened a bunch of loose ends, right? I still want to fully explore Hell's Vault at some point, but for now it's high time we get back on the main path. : Look, broseph, I'm sorry I mentioned your ridiculous hat.: IT'S NOT MY GOD DAMNED HAT YOU WHIRLING CROTCHNOZZLE.
FrankZP fucked around with this message at 14:30 on Feb 5, 2016 |
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Feb 4, 2016 13:09
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MarquiseMindfang posted:I hope you're going to do what I think you're going to do. FredMSloniker posted:If you think he's going to do what I think you think he's going to do, I hope he doesn't, for reasons I'll explain when it's no longer spoilers. Welp, I guess I'm disappointing at least one person today. :3 Lunar Suite posted:You beautiful bastard. Ha, I figured someone would catch that sooner or later. I didn't originally set out to make the reference, but when I realized it fit what I was trying to say about the the situation so perfectly, I just had to push it through.
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Feb 4, 2016 13:09
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I may have undersold Dante's strengths while frontloading his disadvantages, but in any case we'll definitely see him put to good use. If you've played Dark Souls, Dante is kind of like the Drake Sword, which has high base damage but no stat scaling. If you're trying to optimize and minmax a build, it's basically pointless, but at face value, it can definitely carry you through a fairly hefty chunk of the game. The dude does start out at level 80; right now he's not just stronger than any demon we have, in some ways he's also stronger than the Demi-Fiend. (Dante doesn't have Focus, but Zed doesn't have a bunch of powerful group-hitting elemental attacks backed by a Magic stat of 22 or permanent immunities and resistances to pretty much everything.)MarquiseMindfang posted:I was hoping you'd set up the Afterlife Bell sidequest to take Futomimi to the endgame. He's not the vengeful type, yes, but ending Yosuga is a worthy goal anyway. Right, that's the plan. In the end it's not about vengeance as much as it is about making sure the Manikins are the last innocents Chiaki gets to slaughter. RedRupee posted:Just caught up to this LP. This is some real good stuff you've got here. Having not played Nocturne I have no idea how any of this is going to end but I look forward to what Ms. Takao's Reason will end up being. Ha, glad you're enjoying it, good to have one more on board. Petiso posted:By the way, you called the Preta the broker sells a "Gaki". Yeah, that's another old habit from my earlier LPs. Gaki's the Japanese name, and Preta's the Sanskrit name. I'll make the correction, thanks for pointing it out! Lunar Suite posted:I request that Futomimi get to MANIKIN PUNCH! Baal Avatar's spine out. : If that doesn't happen, I'm going on strike.Kemix posted:Shame that Dante doesn't get Pierce like Zed/Demi-fiend can and he's completely unfusable, but hey, with all that INCENSE YOU HAVE STASHED AWAY, I think we can max out those attacking stats of his without any trouble. I've actually been using Incense here and there, mostly when Zed has to use Deadly Fury twice in one fight so he might not have time to regenerate between encounters. But... we do still have a fair stockpile. :3 DraconicImpulse posted:Since I'm enjoying this LP so much I decided to try out the series myself, starting with IV since a friend was willing to lend it to me. It's pretty fun! The ability to save anywhere definitely lightens the punch, though. Ha, I'm a late 3DS adopter and I picked up SMTIV maybe a year ago. But not long after I started playing I realized I'd be able to get a new PC before long, so I put it on the back burner until I could LP Nocturne. Though I'll probably take a SMT break before getting back to IV. I'm having a great time putting this sucker together, but when I'm done it'll be pretty cool to be able to spend more than a day or two without thinking about demons, heheh. ModeWondershot posted:It may be painfully apparent from my previous commentary, but I never actually got the Afterlife Bell and the full story behind Futomimi and Sakahagi in-game. Might be something to do on the playthrough I am semi-forcing a friend through, though (if we are still friends after he reaches Matador I think that will be a good sign). Given how little I remembered of that side-quest, I suspect I never undertook it myself before now and just read about it after the fact at some point. My memories of the endgame are hazy in general, but it's really like I have no first-hand recollection of the Bell. There is a point to be made about how easy it is to miss at least one of the locations the Twelve Meters of Eternity can send you to, if you go into it uninformed. ModeWondershot posted:Of course the prior-protagonist peanut gallery reacts to the revelation of Hijiri's reincarnation with an argument about hats. : Well, it was that, or mock him about how he went off the deep end with the "I AM KING KNOW-IT-ALL AND I AIN'T NEED NOBODY" nonsense.*: Or, you know, not mock him at all. : Man, it's like you don't even know me.ModeWondershot posted:As far as endings go, I would argue that any of the options before us might make sense for Francois, given that he is a human, and a demon, and has had to sacrifice aspects of both halves of himself to get to where he is now. Whether to create or destroy will be his decision, and I'll be rooting for him regardless. That, or maybe Ms. Takao's Reason might provide one more alternative. I've certainly been making efforts to avoid railroading the narrative into this or that ending until the relevant decisions are made (whether those efforts have been successful or not, it's not my place to say), so I'm at least as eager to see how it'll all end up as anyone else!
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Feb 5, 2016 14:27
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*: As we start, I notice something I've somehow never consciously realized before: the Labyrinth theme adds melody and instrumentation as you go from Kalpa to Kalpa. I put together this video to show how it's changed since we first came here! Music: Amala Labyrinth comparison With that done, we head to Ginza. I pick up a few Repulse Bells at Rag's, then register, heal up, and save. We're about ready for the Diet!  As it turns out, both doors on the upper level next to the Terminal are locked from the other side, which cuts down on our options pretty quickly. We run into Kaiwan, Cerberus and Loa down here, and encounters with Efreet, Djinn, and Girimehkala await us deeper inside.  Quite unlike the other man-made places we've visited, the Diet is definitely not washed-out and desaturated. This was a place of power before the Conception, and it still is one now. ...the eastern door on the ground floor is also locked. That's one dilemma solved.  Ice Boost. Aw yeah.   There sure is.    Hmm, one's missing. Well, I can't say I care all that much about dead politicians. Let's get a move on. Boss battle: Tyrant Surt quote:Tyrant Surt *: Well he went down like a punk. Surt's a pretty tough opponent when you're not completely immune to fire, but I suppose you'll have to take my word for it. On top of having the typical boss immunities and obviously absorbing fire, Surt resists physical damage. He knows Tempest, Hell Thrust, Retaliate, Dekunda, Beast Eye, Hellfire and Ragnarok, the latter of which is the strongest single-target fire spell in the game. He also has the entirely unique quirk of a basic attack that deals fire damage, and this applies to other effects that use his basic attack, such as any counter skills he may have (but not other physical attack skills). Of course in this case this played against him, since it meant he could only ever harm us with Hell Thrust and Tempest, which aren't bad skills per se but are kinda middling by this point of the game, and easily healed through besides. For a moment I consider returning to Ginza to get our MP back, but, eh, nah.  The statue in the northeast is gone, but so is its pedestal.    : Looks like this might turn out to be interesting after all... I think I'll play around with him! *: The statue disappears. Ominous! Atmosphere: Inner Diet Building    : Finally... Finally, the Reason of Shijima will be conceived! So the world ended at 10:08.   quote:Lv48 Yoma Purski *: A similar room at the end of the first south corridor contains a Cube with a Smoke Ball.   quote:Lv56 Night Queen Mab  : The Nihilo demons suddenly arrived, and now the halls are all messed up!: Well, they do have a lot of horses, if you know what I mean.: ...It's okay to go this way, right? It's not a picture, is it...?: Huh? What are you talking about? Hello?*: He says nothing more.  : Not for long, I don't think.: Oh, what to do...? Yosuga? Maybe Musubi?  Is that another pedestal at the end of this hallway? What's it doing there?  Waaait a minute.  Um.  : You have got to be kidding me. Is that your plan, Hikawa?: That's cute, he thinks you're Wile E. Coyote.: Who?: You know, Road Runner, that whole thing. Meep-meep. I, uh... I don't...: Ahhhh... Never mind.*: From a distance, the illusion is actually pretty convincing!  The nearby Cube is empty, but we can head north from here.   I knew politicians were crooked, but I didn't expect it'd leach into the actual building.  This definitely looks like a safer direction.  Oh. : I gotta say, I don't really know much about Japanese architecture. Was this place always like this, or...?: I want to say no, but, well, government. Whatchagonnado.  *: It turns out there are no gimmicks there, the floor just angles up and down for a bit. Behind the first door to the north...  Oh shi, I can't not record this, wow. Lessee... Man I'm glad I keep save states for stuff like this. Feature: Trick painting I had no idea how well these tricks would hold up in high res, but this is still mind-blowing. Turning back...  Voice: You fell for my trap! : Your trap? I thought this was an art installation! Are you sure you're not just trying to be creative?Voice: Dumbass! Get outta here!  *: We're teleported back to the false corner. If all of this guy's traps look so rad, I won't mind running into more of them.  The end of this corridor seems normal from a distance, but if you get close to the second door and look at an angle, it's clear this is another trick painting. Feature: False corridor  *: We're sent to another hallway this time. I'll want to check out that second door later though.     The north and west doors look legit, but the south and east ones are clearly fake. Let's try north.   Yeah, no contest, east it is.   Let's try the door.  Yeah, no. North it is, then.   Hmm.  : If you don't have the eyes to tell the truth from the lies, you'll be tricked over and over. Beyond the truth waits the demon in charge of this place. That's why I pick the lies... *: All of the doors here look painted on. Except the one we came from, of course. I'd rather exhaust my other options before I take a chance here. We go back south, then east.    Not falling for that one again! *: After a fight with two Decarabia, Dionysus levels up and learns Dismal Tune, replacing Persuade. He then gives us Luck Incense!   This door is clearly leading to that long hallway, so we go east instead.  Nope.   Seems legit... The first western door reveals a Cube with 3000 Macca, the second nothing, and the third is a Mute trap. Before we reach the end of the hall, Zed levels up and doesn't learn Force Drain from Gundari.   One of those doors clearly takes us back to the Terminal, so there's one option left.  Yeah this is definitely not another dead end.  Nice try!  The lights here are swinging back and forth. We gotta be close. Boss battle: Vile Mada quote:Vile Mada *: Gah, I brought Long in because I figured I'd use Makakaja to accelerate the rest of the fight, but all he did was gank Dante's experience at the last second. Oh well! Mada has boss immunities, and absorbs physical damage (yay). He knows Beast Eye, Hades Blast, Agidyne, Dekunda, Debilitate, and can use Gathering to summon Pazuzu. His signature skill is Intoxicate, which has a high chance of inflicting Panic to any demon vulnerable to Mind ailments. He's irritating to fight with a physical-built Demi-fiend, but unlike most physical-immune boss battles, the Pazuzu he summons give you something worth punching so it's not a bad idea to keep Focus up. Other than that, having your own Dekunda effect is a must (on account of Debilitate), you probably want to bring as many Mind-immune allies as he you can, and, well, bring in your good spellcasters. Fortunately Mada has only like 2500 HP and relies on Pazuzu to heal him, so if you got a good survival strategy going on, you can get away with using demons who have attack magic but aren't necessarily specialized nukers.  We've been returned to the entrance of the second floor, where we first saw the empty pedestal in the trick picture. The way to proceed is clearly east, but I want to go back and make sure I didn't miss any loot.  : I guess I'm... saved.*: And, no, that was pretty much it, apart from a couple dead ends with illusions we've already seen. We do open the shortcut to the Terminal, though, and it doesn't lock behind us. We're not in too bad a shape, but given the opportunity, it would be foolhardy not to get a MP recharge, so we do so. In Ginza, a Preta buys a Life Stone off us for 40 Macca. Can't forget the little people!    This would be the second floor balcony in the Central Tower.  : It's hard to miss!: Hikawa and another human -- a woman -- took that to the top.: Aw crap, she got caught. This isn't looking good.: ...W-What kind of world is Hikawa planning to create?: It's built on mass murder and kidnapping. What do you think?*: Titania levels up and learns her final skill, Prayer. It restores the entire party's HP to maximum and cures all ailments. I did say she was going to turn into a spectacular healer! I let it replace Charisma.  : Not only Surt, but Mada as well... ...Be it so, he shan't travel far! With my magic, he shall forever wander these halls!  A Chest in plain sight? Don't mind if I do!  ...oh. Very funny.   Voice: With my power, thy path hath been closed! *: We hear a strange sound, but nothing visibly changes. Unless...  Ah. Yeah, the way back is blocked.  > You can hear a voice. Voice: With my power, thy path hath been closed!  *: Real classy. We turn back and try the obviously painted-on door in the east.  And we're teleported... to the same spot. Well that's odd. It must be the return spot for several traps. We head south next.   Clearly Mada wasn't responsible for all of the weird crap going on around here.  There are some off shadows here, hmm.  The only doors that aren't clearly fake are the ones untouched by shadow.    : But, there is nothing to worry about. We will soon receive our Reason of Shijima. The moment in near...  : I wasn't waiting for your permission, but, thanks?: So, please don't eat me!*: It's a Megido Rock. Ehh.    Maybe we can talk to this guy from here. > You can hear a voice... : Aw heck.Voice: With my power, thy path hath been closed! *: Oh, he just blocked our way back again.  : I'll be free if the demon here is defeated, so someone beat him!: That sounds like my kind of gig.: You really ought to charge for that kind of work.: I was going to kill it anyway, so why bother?: It's the principle of thing! When amateurs like you run around killing demons for free, it devaluates the labor of professionals.: Dude, you charged me one Macca.: He's got you there!: Ha, fair enough!: I don't care if only one type of attack works! Just try everything, dammit! *: Going west, south, then west again from that spirit, we unlock a door leading to the eastern side of the entrance room. Time to head back east!   Voice: ...Truth and falsity are but light and darkness. Dost though have the capacity to find my true self? Thou shan't escape from this labyrinth, lest though seest the truth...! : Yeah, no, screw that.*: We run past the statues and head for the door at the east end of the hall.  That can't have been this easy.  Voice: With my power, thy path hath been closed!  Of course.  Left hand low at his side, right hand on a cane. Will that help?   *: All the statues look the same, so it actually doesn't. Hmm... Ah-ha!  The second one from the right on the north side is missing its reflection in the floor, making it look like that one pedestal without a statue in a corner of the entrance. Boss battle: Tyrant Mot : You're pretty tough, kid!: Ha, you got some moxie yourself!quote:Tyrant Mot *: This is what the spirit meant by "only one type of attack works". Mot is weak to Electricity, but he reflects Force, absorbs Ice, nullifies Fire, and has the same extreme physical resistance as Black Frost (on top of, you know it, boss immunities). He knows Beast Eye, Makakaja, Megidolaon, Tempest, Dekunda, Mazandyne, Diarama and Avenge (which is the strongest counter skill). We're used to dealing all of these skills individually, but this is the first time we're exposed to chained Beast Eyes into a bunch of Makakaja and Megidolaon. The magic power buff stacks will also boost his Diarama, so, really, the most important thing you can bring to this fight is a Dekaja effect. The second most important thing you can bring to this fight is an ally who can, you know, actually hurt Mot at all. I didn't necessarily plan it that way, but I'm sure glad I hired Dante, because if it wasn't for Roundtrip, our only Electric damage would have been Mazio Stones, and we'd have had to count on buffing up Futomimi's Megido to do the killing. And considering Futomimi got nuked hard, well, I'm sure you can imagine the hassle. At any rate, Endure and Never Yield saved the day in extremis, as they are wont to do. There's a point to be made about not needing revival effects if your tactics are sound, but dang, I still appreciate the margin of error. I wish Divine Shot's last battle had been a better showcase for it, but such is life in the zone. Spiral Viper has higher raw damage, but crits less often. Apparently some people prefer keeping Divine Shot and I'd say that's a defensible point of view, but neither will be the last single-target physical skill we learn so it hardly matters, I might as well show them both off. And, yeah, Albion! Getting rid of Gogmagog's weakness to fire will do wonders. Before proceeding further east, we do a sweep of the East Wing's ground floor.     *: Dionysus learns Tempest, replacing Maragion, Parvati learns Mediarama, replacing Sexy Gaze, and while I think of it...     These would be Deadly Fury and Spiral Viper. That's right, we get FACE LASERS. We make another quick trip to Ginza, and return to the east of the statue hall.    Well this is looking fancy. *: The end of this hall is another false corner, so we have little choice. And the door gives us a "strong power" warning. Cutscene + Boss battle: Deity Mithra quote:Deity Mithra *: So, uh, I guess this is what happens when a sucker doesn't resist physical damage. Mithra only has standard boss immunities, so it's your cue to go nuts with your strongest attacks. Mithra's gimmick is that he tends to spam instant death effects: he knows Dragon Eye, Mudoon, Mamudoon, Hamaon, and Mahamaon. Unless the Demi-fiend has learned either Void Death or Void Expel, he can't be immune to both Death and Expel at the same time, so it's not a bad idea to have a Tetraja-capable ally or to keep a pile of Tetraja Rocks handy. Or to, you know, vaporize him in four turns, that'll work too. Mithra also knows Debilitate, Holy Wrath and Megidola, so he's not completely neutered by bringing along Fiends or other allies immune to instant death. Do bring Dekunda effects, just to be safe, if you don't have the means to end the fight quickly.   This is the meeting hall of the House of Councillors, the upper house of the National Diet of Japan.  This is my chance to give a speech to what's left of the country, but we're really pressed for time. Oh well!  *: A battle on our way out reveals that I was absolutely wrong on something: Black Frost does keep its very high physical resistance!  This is the Chest we were taunted with earlier. It contains Magic Incense.  Heading north lets us unlock the door to the Terminal, so we drop a save and head south afterwards.  A Cube next to the elevator contains a Soma Droplet, but there are no further distractions. Cutscenes + Boss battle: Eternal prosperity
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Feb 7, 2016 14:34
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mauman posted:I'm still hoping you fuse one more guy. I agree on that principle! That said, gameplay-wise, the guy starts at level 45, his stats are kinda crap, and he doesn't get any endgame-quality skills. Considering you can only get him if your party's strong enough to beat Mother Harlot and Trumpeter, he's kind of a joke. I'll look into it if I get to free up enough ally slots to collect the appropriate ingredients, but the outlook's not super great. Before I started, I gave serious consideration to doing a full insane branching completionist run, but I ended up deciding against it for a number of reasons. If I do multiple endings, the audience votes matter a lot less, and the narrative kinda loses cohesion to a degree. Also, if the game was bad I'd be all "let me turn this sucker inside out and upside down for you because no one should do this to themselves", but it's actually amazing, it has aged wonderfully, you can play it in many different ways from both a plot and a party make-up point of view, and it's definitely worth going through today. Some folk have mentioned they're playing along, again or for the first time, and I want them to have the opportunity to own their personal path instead of going over one the many roads they'd have seen me take. Of course, I know not everyone who's reading along is going to play, now or ever, and there is definitely value in showing everything from every angle. And I appreciate that people may want more of what I'm doing (even though I'm aware this is largely because the game is so drat amazing and you can hardly mess up showing it off). It's a tough choice to make and there's still a voice inside of me that wants me to change my mind... but for now at least I made my call and I'm sticking to it. Also, on a  ManlyGrunting posted:By the way, this thread got me to finally dust off the PS2 and give Nocturne a serious try (it's been on my to-do list for a while), so the adventures of BROSEPH PUNTCOCK, demon puncher (nickname Hugh-man) are a go. Just got into GInza, and I'm trying my best not to think about the upcoming Matador fight. Ha, you got the knowledge you need. Don't be overconfident, but don't fear the reaper either! FrankZP fucked around with this message at 16:05 on Feb 7, 2016 |
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Feb 7, 2016 15:10
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Cape Cod Crab Chip posted:It's actually not! The entrance to the Diet's main hall only featuring three statues is intentional. The fourth pedestal is actually there in wait of someone worthy to occupy it. This was a particularly fun update to read because I did visit the National Diet Building when I was on a trip and it looks pretty similar to how it looks in the game, though the tour guide did a good job leading us away from the areas with the visual puzzles and poo poo. Well I'll be! I had figured it was a demon trick of some description so it didn't even occur to me to research the statues. Thanks for the info! mauman posted:Also, I always kept my high pixie and let it evolve naturally Ha, my hat's off to you then, you've got more patience than I. :3 Oh Lordy. Someone cancel the Oscars, you just won all of them. I cast Fist! ManlyGrunting posted:Ah finally, I can post this Yeah I actually got pretty lucky to get past this sucker on my first try. And I'm using the word "lucky" to describe a battle where my entire party would have wiped if I didn't have two Reraise effects in my pocket. Montegoraon posted:That was a hell of a place to battle Samael in, though. Does that room with what looks like a giant stained glass window on both floor and ceiling actually exist? Looking at this official image gallery, I think it might be like someone cut off the top part of Central Hall, made a copy, and stuck both halves together. But the stained glass in the battle scene is clearly a full circular design, so yeah I have no idea. Montegoraon posted:Loved the light and shadows playing over their faces in the scene before. The shading effects in this game are so good. It kinda boggles my mind that they managed to make them look that great on the PS2, at least in cutscenes. Right, it's a simple effect, but it really really works. It's eerie and disorienting, but it's also somehow believable and natural in a way. Montegoraon posted:Man, I'm suddenly noticing a lot of things about this game I never did before. This just adds another layer to the sense of "you're not supposed to pick ANY of the Reasons." To me it reinforces how the Conception is fundamentally a horrible thing, and it's the rear end in a top hat gods that no one with a lick of sense would glorify that show up, hoping that someone desperate will summon them because they need to get their divine power from anywhere they can get it. Even Aradia is super sketchy, though she ends up ineffectively harmless. Neurion posted:Aww, nothing to say about my favorite serpentine angel? Ha, it's coming, don't worry. I decided to move the battle details to the start of the next update because I wanted to end this one with the video.
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Feb 9, 2016 17:32
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ManlyGrunting posted:though I would like to make a correction: red capote doesn't do four agility buffs, it does eight. I know because my initial strategy involved sukunda Oooh, right, makes sense. That'll make it in the upcoming intermission for sure; we're long overdue for one and we're running out of updates to put it between. Samael posted:Also, why did you kill me!? : Grass grows, birds fly, sun shines, and brother, I kill angels. Nothing personal!
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Feb 10, 2016 19:31
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    : ...is it dinner time already?: Here you go. Be still, your neck will be sore for a few moments.: I'll be fine, I've walked away from worse than a punch in the face.: It took us four minutes to find your head.: Is it too late to talk about hazard pay?: Don't worry, we have god-tier health insurance.: So, what happened?: ...: GOD'S CURSE HAPPENED.: No, I was there for that. I mean, what happened with widow's peak and the beige chick? Have we fixed democracy yet?: Hikawa summoned his god.: And the lady Takao gave up.: Well that's great news to resurrect to.: ...she didn't give up.: Look, I get that you like her, but we all saw her quit. She didn't even try to...: No, he's right. Aradia gave up, but the lady did not.: You saw her too, didn't you?: What are you talking about?: Look. : The only reason she brought Chiaki, Isamu and I here is that she figured one of us would decide the shape of the new world. She tried it herself, and she... she failed. But her original plan is still going on. If she had given up on it, I wouldn't have this stone in my hands.: So, what are you going to decide?: Well, Chiaki, Isamu and Hikawa have to lose. That's a given. : B-B-BOOM!: I like the way you think, big guy.: Apart from that, I guess I'll have to find a way to end this whole bullshit, somehow. The world can't stay rounder forever, right?: Might we recommend our master's offer?: I... that's still on the table.: Is that what Ms. Takao would have wanted?: Has the lady Takao ever really wanted anything?: Alright, alright, that's enough of that. The three stooges are making their move, and we're standing here and arguing. Let's get a move on.: Best idea I've heard all day. Where are we going?: To the Amala Temple.: Huh? I thought we cleared the place out already.: We didn't have the lost fifth pyramid last time.quote:Vile Samael *: Samael's signature move is God's Curse, which randomly inflicts Charm, Panic, Sleep, Bind or Stun; immunity to ailments, even partial, can be a huge help. He also knows Beast Eye, Rakukaja, Dekunda, Dekaja, Retaliate, Megidola, and Maragidyne. He lacks any non-boss immunities or weaknesses, so as long as you can survive his attacks and remove his defense buffs, you're pretty much free to use whatever strategy you like. I'm especially chuffed that Futomimi did so much of the heavy lifting in our case! Lunge isn't exactly Spiral Viper, but his immunities and resistances make him very reliable. As you may have guessed, the events preceding the fight proceed differently if you've agreed with Hikawa on the steps of the Mantra HQ or if you have accumulated 32 Shijima points. Unlike with Chiaki and Isamu you get a choice to stop him or not even if you don't qualify for Shijima affiliation, and you can even skip the Samael fight entirely if you don't interfere. However, letting him proceed only confirms your Shijima affiliation if you did qualify beforehand, and in fact it locks you out of one of the non-Reason endings even if you didn't! Anyway, it's time to get out of here. We take the elevator back down, reach the Terminal, and return to Ginza. Along the way, Wu Kong levels up and has a chance to learn Dark Pledge, which is a conversation skill that attempts to recruit an opponent and works best during New Kagutsuchi. The odds of getting into a fight with a demon you want during New K aren't so great, so I pass on it.  : Now, all we need to do to create the world of Shijima is obtain power from Kagutsuchi! : Commander Hikawa is the supreme ruler of the battle for creation. : A painless world because emotions do not control it. The only ones that can live there are beings that have spiritually surpassed humans and demons... That's right... We will all become gods! : My fist is the divine breath!*: Nope, nope, nope, none of this. Get out. : But... but... fallen seed! Hidden powers!*: I said GET OUT. : How do these people keep finding their way here? : The door is just open like half the time. I don't know how you don't have more randos dropping by.*: ... : I'll... uh... sorry. It... gets a little stuffy in here, um... I'll be more careful. : What do you know about Saren's flagship, Sovereign?*: ... : ...: ...: I should go.*: Yes, you should. You too, blondie. Out. : Aw.*: ...where were we?  *: Right, crushing Shijima. Thank you, Eligor.  : He was probably checking out the other Reasons first...*: We head for the Cathedral. It's time to kick our average ally level up a notch. Long's in a weird place. He's got a couple perennially useful skills, but his level and stats are low enough to make him a bit of a liability. The Dragon race outright won't fuse with most of our other allies, and the few it could fuse with would result in a weaker demon because the level disparity is very wide. In most cases we could pick up an Element and rank him up, but Long is the strongest Dragon and it would only turn him into Gui Xian. Besides, we have no ally slots open, so we can't get an Element, or summon a comparable demon from the Compendium to fuse him with like we did for Sarasvati. Of course, we could outright let him go... but he's worth a buttload of experience. That leaves one option. : Dionysus, White Rider. And Long.: Oh shi.: Hmph.: THE TIME HAS COME.: I'm still not a fan of this, but...: IT HAS COME BEFORE AND IT WILL COME AGAIN. I WILL RETURN TO THE WATER AND THE WATER WILL RETURN TO ME. NOTHING EVER TRULY ENDS.: We'll see about that.: WILL YOU PUT THIS SACRIFICE TO NOBLE PURPOSE?: You know I will.: THEN I SHALL GO WITHOUT REGRET.: Thank you. And thanks to the both of you, too.: A toast, gentlemen?: Uh, I...: Oh for... Just drink the drat wine, kid, no one's going to call the cops.: Eh, right, sure. To victory, then?: To victory!: TO VICTORY!: You do realize I don't have a digestive syst... hey! What...?: It's not a party until the horses are drunk!Dionysus + White Rider + Long =    quote:Lv65 Deity Odin *: Man, there are lots of skills I would have loved to pass down, Prominence certainly among them, but if we don't have Life Drain and Mediarama then we no longer have renewable healing. We also lose our only Dekaja... but I have a plan for that. In any case, Odin does get a bunch of his own good skills, so Mabufula and Life Refill won't be wastes of space for very long, especially considering Long's sacrifice is giving him six free levels. We do end up losing Makakaja and Makarakarn for now, but so be it. There's always the Compendium, in any case. Speaking of the Compendium, we now have two slots free, so I summon up Sarutahiko and Succubus for about 50000 Macca. Sarutahiko + Succubus =  > It seems to have accepted you as its master.  *: We then go to Rag's place next door, and subsidize the slave trade once more. For an Agate and an Aquamarine, we acquire...  And returning to the Cathedral... Phantom + Aquans =   : If you follow me, you'll get more killing than you know what to do with.: Is... is this wise?: I think the world is safer if I'm the one holding his leash.: Hmm. If you are confident you can shoulder this responsibility...: I took a chance bringing you back, didn't I?: Ah... Well... Fair enough... *: For some reason, you can't fuse Sakahagi from ingredients that would normally produce a Foul of his level; the fusion chart straight up indicates it's impossible, as if you were trying to fuse two races that cannot be fused together. But you can use an Element to rank up a Foul Phantom or rank down a Foul Shadow. The guy himself is not super strong, but he does have boss immunities and spells of all four elements. He only gets two free slots to customize himself with, but I managed to pass down Dekaja, which will make him pretty helpful no matter what. There's one more roster change I want to do here before the next step. I fill up our final slot by summoning a Lilim from the Compendium. Just a regular plain old level 8 Night Lilim. We've had one before, but she didn't get a chance to earn a lot of experience. And I'm not fusing her to anything, I'm just putting her in the active party outright. There's no big reason. I'm probably insane, to be honest. That horrid blue sun must be getting to me. : That, or she's smokin'.*: She is, but that's besides the point! Alright, enough of that. We return to the Terminal and head for the Amala Temple.  Cutscene: The time has come : The young man Isamu said something about Musubi...*: Lilim levels up, and learns Analyze. What a brave girl! She works so hard to keep up. It's inspiring. Cutscene: The beginning of the end: Who do they think they're kidding?: I know, right?*: On our way out, Lilim gains another level, learning Dark Pledge. Yaaaaaaay Lilim! There is no Large Terminal in the Obelisk proper, so we warp to the "Assembly of Nihilo: Marunouchi" destination, which is in the back of the Nihilo base; fortunately the exit to the overworld is a few steps away.  Music: Large Map ~ Last Area Well, this is different.  *: Lilim levels up again and learns Tarunda. Go Lilim go Lilim go!  *: Kid Lucifer didn't show up back there just to be polite. It's the game's way of telling you you're running out of time to make a final decision. In fact, the point of no return that would lock us into whatever Path of Creation ending we've earned is in this tower. But there's still a ways to go into the Labyrinth of Amala before we reach the point where we're locked into... a different kind of ending, so we'll stay away for now. However, there is one thing we can do here at this time. If we go all the way to the back (north) side of the Obelisk...   *: Do you remember the opening near the top of the Obelisk where we were told that we would lose our life if we were to fall? We've just come through a door on the same floor, but on the opposite side of the structure. This is technically the ground floor now, but we still see "132F" in the corner there. The Obelisk got pushed in hella deep.   There's nothing here but an elevator down, so we ride it...  ...all the way to B4. We've seen that area when we were here before; we looked at it when we came to find the Spyglass. There isn't much of interest down here either, but if you look behind the pillar...   The Chakra Elixir is an infinitely reusable Chakra Drop. That's about as cool as it sounds! You can only use it in battle of course, and it takes up the Demi-fiend's action so if you're up against strong enemies it may deprive you of your best fighter for a bit, but in essence, no one ever has to run out of juice again. This is otherwise a dead end. On our way back out, Lilim gains another level and learns Mazio. ¡Espectacularrrrr!  : I hope so, because that's how you learn, right?: You're good! Better than I imagined!: Aw shucks!: I feel like giving you something really special!> ...You received Bead Chain! : Wow, thanks! You're pretty amazing yourself! > Let it continue? : You go, girl!    : I knew you had it in you!: Well I'll be. I was sure you lost your marbles, but this is pretty drat metal!: ...Lilith. : I'm not talking to you.: I'm not talking to you either!: You're talking to me right now!: Well... uh... So are you!*: Alright, alright, enough of that.  quote:Lv80 Night Lilith *: So, yeah. Level 80, same as Dante. She still only has her fairly crummy Lilim skills (though Rakunda and Tarunda never go out of style), but that'll change. : So, we going in?: ...hmm. No.: You want to check out the rest of the Labyrinth, don't you?: Yeah, pretty much. I haven't decided if I'm doing this on my own yet, but I know I'll need to be real strong to kill these three gods, and Lucifer had the courtesy to set up the best gym in the world for me. Are you ready to earn your pay?: Ha, all I wanted was to keep going down there in the first place. You know I'm in.: What about the rest of you?: I'm with you. Is it even worth asking?: I certainly have no complaints about this course of action. : I will follow you. The well's knowledge of the Labyrinth is woefully out of date by now.: Of course I'm coming. I would never allow a child to go alone in such a terrible place.: SMASH-AND-BEAT! BOOM! CRUSH-AND-EAT! BOOM!: I'll... take that as a yes.: No one else is worthy of the hee ho Emperor's temporary service!: I'm not giving up on you, boss.: This is so much more entertaining than my husband's court. : I don't give it a poo poo where we're going, just point me at somebody's face.: I will keep repaying my debt to you.: Thank you, everyone. Alright, let's do this.*: Alright, so, I've hit the character limit on this update, and I'm cutting it in half here. The rest is coming up in a few minutes!
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Feb 10, 2016 19:35
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*: We go to Ginza to heal up, register, pick up a few Dekaja Rocks from Rag's just in case, save, then head for the Labyrinth and take the shortcut straight to the fifth Kalpa.     I expected tougher opposition, but I'm sure this is just a taste of things to come.    : I'm about to burst!: She's all yours, kid.: Very funny. : I'm... sure you've got plenty of delightful qualities.: You made my day! Here's a token of my appreciation!> The demon healed you. : Thank you, uh, sweetheart.: Someone's gonna get his little fiend bit off!: Are you volunteering?: I know I've got a couple extra ones stashed in here somewhere...: Forget I asked! : Our master is waiting there. Don't give up now! : This is where the women loyal to our master gather. You have done well in not disappointing him. But, if you underestimate us, you will not live to regret it!*: Ah, so that explains the encounters around here. We're only running into humanoid female demons.  : Even if you think you've found a dead-end, make absolutely sure before you try another direction. Well, that's my advice. Choose to follow it if you wish.*: About that... There appears to be a bit of an emulation issue with this place. There are supposed to be illusory walls around here that disappear as you get close, but they... kinda don't show up at all. So it's just a regular maze. It sure makes my life easier, but it bugs me that I can't show it off.  *: This first room has doors to the west and to the east. Let's try west first.   quote:Lv67 Lady Kali *: We're getting some intersecting hallways with one-way doors further inside, but it's not obnoxious yet.  *: Yeah, these encounters aren't messing around. Going north then east takes us to a room with a Balm of Rising in a Chest; there are several dead-ends that I suspect are the wrong side of one-way doors, but we can only return to the central room from here. We go west then south this time.   quote:Lv64 Megami Scathach   *: We find a ladder down but I want to investigate the rest of the floor first. Zed levels up soon afterwards, mastering Vimana and having the chance to learn Hades Blast, which we've seen Mara use way back when. I honestly don't know which is stronger or more useful between Deadly Fury and Hades Blast, but online consensus seems to be that Deadly Fury has similar damage but crits more often, so I'm keeping it. We find a Magic Mirror in the Chest to the north, and we're forced to return to the central room. I expect the eastern side will be symmetrical, so it shouldn't be much more trouble.   Hmm, another ladder. We keep exploring. Black Rider learns Megidola, and Wu Kong learns Attack All, a passive skill which causes his basic attack to hit all opponents. This can be really really good, but also kinda tricky when some of them nullify, reflect or absorb physical damage. Fortunately he still has Brutal Slash for single target damage. It's a tough choice, but I let it replace Hassohappa. It's not as strong, but it doesn't eat up a third of his HP either. Besides, it'll be great for mopping up after a Deadly Fury.  Alright, that's it for B1. Let's try the western ladder.    Two locked gates, facing each other, but separated.  Oh, I get it. It'll open the door on the other side, right?   Ah, actually, it opened the one on our side! Well then.    : Are we fallen ones to blame...? Or is it the fault of those who cast us down...? I wonder what our master thinks... I'd like to ask him one of these days.: Oh come on, we both know what he thinks.  : Uh... sure, why not?: Imagine you are in the mountains...: Okay.: ...and you see a human about to be attacked by a wild animal. The animal begins to maul the defenseless human! As a fellow human, your heart would compel you to chase away the beast and rescue the victim. Ah...! But, now you're a demon! Suppose you kill the animal with your newfound strength... You crush it barehanded!: I can see that happening.: The human would then fear you, since you had proven yourself more powerful than a wild animal!: So is any rando with a gun.: With your demonic strength, you can no longer be human. You are more dangerous than a wild animal...: Whatever, dude. *: There are some pretty wimpy encounters in here, somehow. We find Dr. Dark in the southern portion of the area, and he would charge 20000 Macca. Pass!  Another ladder down. I have half a mind to climb back up and try the eastern ladder on the ladies' floor, but let's see where this goes first.   : They test various attributes and may even kill a demon if they are inclined to do so. Some will ask for specific demons. If you want to go on ahead, be sure to bring a variety of demons with you.  *: The door goes through our demons just like Shige did. Lilith has a Magic of 30, so I let her try.  : Your comrade's magic is admirable indeed... You may pass.*: It reveals a corridor with a regular door and another golden door. I assume the regular door is a way back in case you can't pass the golden one.  *: Horus passes the test with 26 Agility.   quote:Lv60 Avatar Barong  quote:Lv75 Wilder Hresvelgr   : I'm really-*: GOD DAMMIT. : I closed it! I swear! : I CAN FEEL GREAT POWER FROM THIS DOOR, WHICH LEADS BELOW... SOMETHING EVEN STRONGER THAN BEELZEBUB...: That's weird, I'm not underneath this floor.: IF YOU CHOOSE TO PROCEED, BE CAREFUL.*: There is indeed a ladder nearby, but I know I want to keep checking out those doors.  *: I'm pretty sure only Beelzebub can open this door.  *: Albion's 25 Vitality passes.  *: Black Frost's 28 Luck is enough.  : Hee ho!: Hmm.: Sakahagi seems to be the obvious choice.: gently caress you.: You cannot deny that your soul is black!: HEE HO!: I'm not denyin' it, it's black as hell. I just felt like cussing at you.: But is it the blackest?: Pick me! Pick me! I'm the hee ho blackest!: What about Famine here?: Hmmmmmmnnnnaaaaahhh, too obvious.: I can't believe one of the Labyrinth's riddles would require the Demi-fiend to have turned one of his greatest opponents into an ally.: I can believe it! Pick me! PICKMEPICKMEPICKMEHEEPICKMEHOPICK-: Maybe I could get the Minister to summon me up a Will o' Wisp or something, it can't be that expensive. They're all soul and all black, right?: Weren't they kind of purplish though?: STEP ASIDE, HEE HO PEASANTS! MAKE WAY FOR THE EMPEROR!: Hey! What are you-: You have with you a comrade as black as night... You may pass.: ...!: You have got to be shittin' me.: Hee ho! Behold the Emperor of Darkness!: Welp, I know better than to argue with a door in the bowels of hell. All hail the Emperor!*: That one in fact is for Black Frost alone to open. It reveals two Chests; one has five Beads of Life, the other has five Great Chakras. All hail the Emperor!  : Oh wow, I think I've finally discovered the fabled Evernope! Thank you so much!: ...so does that mean...?: That's right! Nope! Forever! *: I know who can open this door, but we haven't met him yet.  *: Albion comes through for us again, with his 25 Strength.  : Ah, now that's an easy one.: You know it!: You have with you a mighty comrade... You may pass. : Um, are you alright? : Considering you're a god, that's kinda scary.: !!   : You're... you! Wow! It's... nice to have you back. : I've been right here by your side from the very beginning.: I definitely haven't forgotten. : Well, if you don't want to...: I'm Pixie of the Fairy clan. Please take care of me... : You know I will, as good as you've taken care of me.: I think I'm gonna puke.: IT'S TIME FOR SILENCE! OR IS IT TIME FOR VIOLENCE? BA-BOOOOOOM!: Ow! Alright, alright! Forget I said anything!*: This is why we kept her lineage all this time: so we could get her back. But there's more to our dear stalwart Pixie than meets the eye!  Horus was falling behind in levels again, but I didn't worry too much about it because, well. Yeah. That's a 30 in all stats, which is enough to open any door down here of course. I'll probably get a Nigi Mitama to give her Elec Boost, and then at least one other Mitama to fill up these skill slots. That'll have to wait for another free ally slot, though.  Apart from the mystery ally door and the Beelzebub door, that seems to be all for this level, though I suspect more of it is accessible from that other ladder on B1. Let's try going down for now, though.   quote:Lv43 Holy Baihu *: Sakahagi levels up and learns Void Force, which I let replace Dark Might since he's pretty fragile. In the same battle, Lilith learns Allure, which attempts to Charm the entire enemy group. We find the ladder again and descend.   : I gotta hand it to you, you take rejection well. But not well enough! *: Hmm. We turn back. We've done a bunch of exploring, I absolutely want to drop a save, and we still have a branch of the place to investigate. We turn back and climb back up, all the way to the Terminal. In fact we go heal up in Ginza before going back down.  Youch, Surt is a random enemy now. A bit later on, Zed passes on learning Avenge from Gaea. Aaaaand we're back. Now for that eastern B1 ladder. Soon on B2, we run into another golden door.  : If you are a true demon, then you may see what lies beyond this door.: Well, that's the moment of truth, I guess.*: The door opens. Huh.  Oh wow, a random Aciel.  Hmm. It's just a bunch of empty corridors. Maybe the door opens for anyone, but only a true demon sees whatever there is to see? We turn back. Dante learns Bullet-Time, his group-hitting physical move that can inflict Panic. I let it replace Intimidate.  Ah, I was hoping we'd find this.  Does it only lead to a Burial Chamber?  Yyyyup. One for Mithra, and one for a foe yet to be vainquished. It looks like that's it for this branch, so we climb up, then back down again.  Whew. Alright. Zed ingests Sophia for immunity to Expel, and we summon Odin, Titania, and Wu Kong. Cutscene + Boss battle: The envoy: So. That just happened.: You know, when someone comes to me with angel problems, I usually give them Bayonetta's number, I can't be bothered. But that, that was a rad fight.: drat, did you see that? He was all like, "oooh oooh I'm basically god, lick my butthole", and then I yelled at him and he was all "oh poo poo I'm actually losing"! What a puss, hahaha!: I would not put it in these exact words, but...: It certainly was a masterfully executed strategy.: We whupped him, you mean.: Yes, we... whupped him.: Still, that's another one I couldn't have beat without you all. Well fought, as always.quote:Seraph Metatron *: Metatron is a bit of a mirror image to Beelzebub, especially in how he resists everything except Ice damage (on top of boss immunities). He goes easy on you at the start of the fight, mostly sticking to Holy Wrath, Mahamaon and basic attacks, and meticulously stripping away buffs and debuffs as you apply them. It goes without saying that Expel immunity is very valuable here. For his second phase, his typical turn is either Makakaja followed by Megidolaon, or Tarukaja followed by a basic attack; he'll also throw in the occasional Debilitate. He does seem much more intent on killing you at this point, and he'll almost certainly succeed if you let him max out his stats, but he also puts much less priority on using Dekaja and Dekunda, making it more than worth it to start stacking your own buffs and debuffs. For his final phase, he gains his signature move, Fire of Sinaï. It's a randomly-hitting Almighty spell (similar to Glacial Blast or Berserk), which can ravage you if the buffs aren't in your favor, but is more or less insignificant if they are.    I've been here before, long ago. Not a place like this one. This exact place. I had no idea. None whatsoever. Do I have a clue today? *: The encounter gauge is blue. The path is clear. No one will stop us.     : Yours is an existence unbound by this world, and for that reason, you have infinite potential. Will the battle with god occur as our master wishes...? Or, will we forever remain in waiting, while history repeats itself? : You may ask.: Very well. It is true that all living things must perish... Bound by the invisible threads of fate, humans die tragic deaths... Does that seem fair to you? If you lost a loved one in a horrible accident, would you curse god?: ...: ..................... There's no need to answer. But, if you feel that fate has cheated you... then go and see our master. Yes... Though long frozen, time shall flow again... towards the final battle.    This is it. This is the edge of the precipice. There is no more information to gather. No more wait-and-see. Noah, Baal Avatar, Ahriman and their followers are climbing the tower even as I stand down here. All of them competing to see whose Reason is the most wretched. They will fail, of course. That's beyond question at this point. They'll fail because I'll kill them. I've killed gods before. I know how. It's deceptively simple. But who will I be when I kill them? Will I kill them as a human, or will I kill them as a demon? I could turn back right now. I could turn back and climb my way out of this pit and into the sky. I could annihilate these gods, and stand before Kagutsuchi, and force it to create a world without a Reason. I know I could, rules be damned. It would be a world made from a whole human, not just from the worst parts of one. Not just from the parts that run away into the darkness when pain comes knocking. Not just from the parts that lash out in hatred when they feel wounded. Not just from the parts that pretend their desires don't exist when they look within and are terrified by what they find there. But... This would all happen again, wouldn't it? Sooner or later, someone would find the accursed Scripture of Miroku again. There would be another Maiden. There would be another Conception. Another Vortex World. There would be another Demi-fiend. I could descend right now. I could plunge into this abyss, and emerge with the power to put an end to this abominable cycle. I've already proved I'm a capable leader of demons, in any case. Of course I'd be playing into the old man's hands, this old man who took my Reason from me before it was even born. But if our goals align, what does it matter, in the end? How many rebirths has this world gone through? How many trillions of lives, extinguished in the blink of an eye? How many more will die if this keeps going on? And for what? What kind of cruel being would put so many through so much horror, without even telling them why? Could there ever be a good enough reason for all this death in the first place? The old man wants to find out. I wouldn't mind having the answer either. It's just a question of paying the price. My humanity, and the next world. How much do those weigh in the face of the infinite churning genocide engine of the Amala Universe? But if this one world doesn't matter, why would any other world matter more? Why would my world have to be the one to end, to truly end? Is it my place to decide whether to pay this price? Even now, am I human enough to have the right to make this sacrifice in everyone else's name? I don't know. It would be crazy to pretend to know. But I know I can't stand here forever. I can turn back, hold on to what humanity I've got left, fight this odious Conception on my own terms, and choose the Path of Creation. I can descend, claim the demonic strength to bring war to whoever is orchestrating this madness, and choose the Path of Destruction. Lucifer is watching. FrankZP fucked around with this message at 00:24 on Feb 15, 2016 |
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Feb 10, 2016 19:38
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Dang, lotsa fascinating responses so far, I am not disappointed! Aight, I've figured out how I'm gonna roll with this. I'll start working on the next informative intermission soon, but I have no reason to close the poll until I actually start playing again, so it'll stay open until probably a day or two after the next update. Considering how much more contested the question has been so far, I suspect this isn't gonna be superfluous! It might give some people time to catch up for the end too, if they've fallen behind. Shitenshi posted:It's not just you. It's off and on, but I usually noticed it just happens on Firefox. No problems with IE though, big fuckin surprise right there. And it's not just this particular update, it's the whole thread, minus the hyperlinked portions to other pages. Aw man, I knew my host had slow days, but I didn't know it occasionally straight up gave up serving images. Maybe it'll get better as the initial update traffic mellows up? It's certainly weird that using different browsers or viewing from the test site makes a difference, but I don't know enough about that sort of thing to explain why that is. I've used lpix at some point, but the way it generates file names doubles the time it takes me to format updates. At any rate, my resources are limited but I'll give the issue some thought. ManlyGrunting posted:Still undecided, but a neat thing about fighting Metatron here is that in some apocrypha he's considered to be the prophet Enoch, transcended into an angel at god's side (Sandalphon in Elijah, as an aside). Which means that if the demi-fiend goes ahead with becoming a demon, he becomes a chaos mirror to Metatron. Ha, we sure would have knocked Beelzebub off the number two spot in the most Yosuga way possible.
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Feb 10, 2016 23:16
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: Intermission time! Hee ho!: Normally I'd say that's a dick move, but I guess this gives me more time to make up my mind. *: Well it's not like you're just standing there for several- : You know what I mean.*: Gotcha, chief. 1. Music We haven't quite heard all the music in the game yet, but here's the round-up for every track that played since the last intermission. Mantra Troops If I remember correctly, this would be the theme for the Mantra Headquarters. Masura And here's Gozu-Tennoh's theme. Kabuki-cho Hmm, this must be from some part of Kabukicho Prison that slipped by my notice. I was rather focused on navigation at the time! Rescue This song plays at the top of the Obelisk, as we were giving Yuko's freedom back to her. Before she promptly gave it away again, of course. Puzzle Boy I'm sure a great many people around the world are eternally grateful to IKelley for his step-by-step instructions! Isamu This is of course Isamu's theme, but unlike Chiaki, whose song was playing when we first reunited with her, this one only plays once Isamu has become the self-styled master of the Amala Network. Reunion with Master This plays when we catch up with Yuko in Yoyogi Park. I suspect the original Japanese title for this track would have been more along the lines of "Reunion with Sensei", in which case it probably would have been better translated as "Reunion with Teacher". Lord Aladia Advent And this one is for when we give Yuko the Yahirono Himorogi, and she gets possessed again for a moment. It's also the only inclusion of Aradia's theme on the soundtrack. Hijiri There's definitely a tension to this piece, but it's one of the few pieces with a warm, friendly feel to it, which is appropriate for Hijiri for... well... most of the game I suppose. Large Map ~ Last Area Good Lord I couldn't say enough good stuff about this track. Daaaang. You don't get to hear it very much for how badass it is, unfortunately; it only plays on the top segment of the overworld once the final dungeon is unlocked. Yahiro no Himorogi This is the short piece that plays after the Samael fight, where Ms. Takao appears for the last time to entrust us with the Yahirono Himorogi and all the hope she's got left. TALK Very clearly inspired by the music that plays in SMT1 before any given random encounter turns to violence, this track plays before every Fiend fight. Fiend Boss Battle This is... well. Right. It's very, very different in flavor than the standard boss theme, that's for sure. It feels like it makes you want to take the battle seriously, which you should, really. Warp Field This would be the music the Labyrinth of Amala shortcut minigame. It's a cool enough piece, but I don't have a great many fond memories of success associated with it. :3 Reminiscence Ah, this one is for the cutscenes you get as a reward for completing each Kalpa. Joint Struggle This is for when you finally have a chance to join up with Dante. Dante Boss Battle Aaaaaaaaah holy crap it's so rad. It's so drat good. Almost too good. Law This is a reprise of the Law theme from earlier in the series. As much as I'm not a fan of the Law faction generally, as far as I'm concerned they got the best music. Metatron I can't imagine a better piece for this battle. It's so gloriously pompous! And the way it incorporates the Law theme is just magnificent. Chaos And of course this is the reprise of the series' Chaos theme, played just before the Beelzebub fight. Beelzebub Man I wish I had more to say than "welp, another perfect track". But, hmm. Welp, another perfect track. 2. Random observations/errata ***: The word "Kalpa" has a very interesting meaning. In Buddhism, it essentially signifies one instance of the cycle of reincarnation, the period of time a soul spends between birth and death. Considering each successive Kalpa in the Labyrinth looks more decrepit than the last, you might think that the soul it symbolizes is accumulating sins and general negative karma from life to life. However, Lucifer waits at the bottom with his own take on the way to escape the repeating ordeal of the Vortex World, so it might be considered as a sort of reverse enlightenment! ***: For most of the playthrough, I've been using Saleh Jamal's invaluable Heretic Mansion application to avoid having to look up fusion tables for race combinations. If you're playing along or think you might play yourself in the future, I highly recommend it! ***: I mentioned a while back that Matador's Red Capote gives him four stacks of Agility buff, but in fact it gives him eight. The maximum is still four, but it allows him to counter any amount of Sukunda or Fog Breath stacks he might have been afflicted with. ***: The status ailments have been pretty self-explanatory, but I didn't quite detail the difference between Bind and Stun. Bind makes you skip your turn and waste an icon, just like being Asleep does, except you don't recover any HP or MP. It also wears off after several turns or at the end of the battle. Stun instead causes any action that has an accuracy check to miss practically 100% of the time. You can still heal, cure ailments, apply and remove buffs and debuffs, and use non-attack items as usual, but everything else will probably just miss. On its face, Stun is significantly less nasty than Bind, but it does not wear off by itself and will persist between fights. ***: As a nice touch, if you jump from the top of the Yosuga HQ with Dante in your active party, he takes no damage. This of course mirrors his entrance cutscene before his first battle, where he leaps down from that same spot and clearly doesn't start the fight with only one HP left. ***: I've probably been making the game look a lot easier than it really is. If you know what you're doing and what you're up against, vast swathes of the Normal difficulty mode are... I don't want to say trivial, but, well, pretty easy. Of course, on the other hand, if you don't know what to expect, things are quite a bit rougher. It's really a question of player knowledge. At any rate, if I were to play the game again on my own time, which is entirely possible, I'd definitely stick with Hard mode. ***: You might think that focusing on Strength is the only way to go for a physical-inclined Demi-fiend, but focusing on Vitality is also a viable choice, on account of physical skills that scale off max HP. Not only does it make Heat Wave much more effective for the long period of time where it's your only group-hitting move, but Deathbound is a spectacular endgame skill in its own right and can outdamage the likes of Spiral Viper even on a single target if it lands at least two hits. This is especially worth considering on Hard mode, where a deep HP pool is much more valuable on its own merits. ***: Turn order and Agility have a major effect on your strategy that is easy to overlook. Simply put, your fastest ally will get extra turns from crits, Pass actions and weakness exploits much more often than your slowest ally; getting even one crit, Pass or exploit will give your fastest ally an extra move, while your slowest ally only gets to act twice if you've managed to halve all of your icons. On top of that, misses will prevent your slowest allies from acting at all. With that in mind, it's easy to see the pitfalls of having a Demi-fiend with low Agility, even beyond the obvious accuracy problems. Acting first and often is super important, considering how much more flexibility you get for summoning, using items, and engaging in conversation. You don't want to know how it feels to summon a healer with your last icon and to have to endure a whole round of enemy attacks before you can get your Dia on. A good rule of thumb is to have just a smidge more Agility than your most agile demon, though coming in second place isn't too bad, since you'll still get to act even if your first guy misses. Third place is a lot riskier, and fourth place is Bad Times. ***: Dang, I almost forgot. I put up a video of the trippy spinning hallway in the Nihilo HQ, and didn't link to it in an official update. So here it is! 3. Genealogy I've been keeping track of who's part of whom all along the playthrough. It's... probably a little obsessive, but I think it's cool to look at and it was fairly low-effort once I got it started. Our roster is likely to change again before the end, but this is a good place to take stock anyway. code:There is something I did for my previous LPs that I somehow completely forgot to do for this one. I happen to own a number of SMT figures, and I used to post pictures of them as we encountered them in the games. Considering they were being compared to 16-bit sprites, they represented quite the leap in graphical fidelity, so to speak. Anyway, it slipped off my mind for Nocturne, so hey, I might as well take this opportunity to catch up. So, in order of appearance...          (You can get Beelzebub's bottom half, but I don't have it.)  (Come at me, bro.) 5. High-resolution pictures Aight, same as last time, but more so: http://imgur.com/a/QvqMH/all. Same warning applies: these are 200-odd 1440x1080 PNGs, weighing in at up to two Mbs each. That said, even if you're not going to take a look at the whole gallery, at least check out this mofo. This is a PS2 game from 2003, which you could be forgiven for forgetting. 6. Geography I was doing to do this section like last time, but it turns out all the locations are so tightly packed it would either be an unreadable mess or an ungainly large image, so I'm changing my approach.  So, from the beginning... 1- Yoyogikoen Station, in the southwest of Yoyogi Park. 2- Shinjuku, where the hospital is located. 3- Shibuya, where we met Chiaki at the club. 4- Ginza, where Nyx's Lounge is located. The Nihilo HQ is a little southwest from there. 5- Ikebukuro, where the Mantra HQ is located. 6- This would be the Kabukicho area, where we freed Futomimi.  We then took Ikebukuro Station in eastern Ikebukuro...  ...travelling underground to... 7- Kuramae Station.  8- This is Asakusa; the Manji symbol on the map is Nakamise-Douri and Senso-ji. Hijiri gave us the scoop on Ms. Takao's location, so we entered the back door to the Nihilo HQ and emerged in Marunouchi...  ...which is just east of... 9- The Imperial Palace, which was obliterated during the Conception and replaced by the Obelisk. Upon freeing Ms. Takao, we returned to Asakusa, where we learned of an evil force in Yoyogi Park. To get there, we entered... A- Yushima Station.  ...to emerge from... B- Gaien-Mae Station.  Once Sakahagi was taken care of, we returned to Asakusa once more. We followed Hijiri and Isamu through the Amala Network, emerging south of... C- The Sannou area, where the Amala Temple is located. On Hikawa's trail, we returned to ... D- Yurakucho Station, which we had taken a look at long before. ...and took a tunnel to reach.... E- Kasumigaseki Station, close to the Diet Building.  Aaaaaaand that's it, all the non-Labyrinth locations in the game fit in there. The Vortex World is tiny! 7. Conclusion Aight, that should be all for now. I'd have liked to be more regular with the intermissions, but, well, it turns out I wanted to play the game instead! Who would have thought? The poll is less even by now than it was after the first day or so, but I'm still giving it another day or two, and I'll use that time to take a bit of a breather and psyche myself up for the final stretch. Regardless of our decision, we'll clear out Hell's Vault and investigate Bishamon's quest line at some point, but we'll have reached partway through the final dungeon before we do so, for reasons that will become clear in time. Whew, there we are. Hang tight folks, we're not out of the woods yet!
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Feb 13, 2016 21:16
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NullBlack posted:
Well, the first games were clearly never expected to be released outside of Japan at the time; the country does have a Jewish population, but it's still a very small number of people who would have known to be offended in the first place. And, hmm. The idea of the Tetragrammaton and the sacred name of God, to an outsider, it sounds cool in an occulty sort of way. In my opinion, I highly doubt the devs aimed to be disrespectful; I suspect they just wanted some badass-grade real world religious/mystical terminology. It's like Chu-chu's crucifixion in Xenogears; they probably picked an interesting symbol they've learned about in an academic sense, without really getting a feel for the genuine meaning and importance it has in real people's real lives. ModeWondershot posted:To that end, my vote, whether it means anything to anyone or not, is to let FrankZP decide for himself what path he chooses. Count my vote towards whatever you think Francois, after all he has seen and done, would decide. Ha, that's an interesting stance, and I'll respect your free will. Consider it done! But I won't tell anyone what that vote ends up being until the poll is closed, in the spirit of not wanting to influence anyone else.
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Feb 13, 2016 21:40
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I just want to get inside the head of their designers to find out if they realized how borderline blasphemous it is, whether that was intentional, and if they're aware the Jews never sent any missionaries to Japan, that was the Christians?
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Dude, spoilers. What the hell, man. :\ EDIT: Better. Thank you. FrankZP fucked around with this message at 22:32 on Feb 13, 2016 |
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Feb 13, 2016 22:28
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Aight, it was very close, then much less close, then pretty close again, but at the rate votes are coming in by now, not close enough to keep the poll open. The dice are cast, the path is chosen. All that's left is to walk it. Lots of good arguments from both sides, in any case! I wasn't surprised that the previous votes were pretty one-sided, and I did expect it'd be less clear-cut this time, but it still ends up a lot closer than I thought, especially considering we've got fifty-odd votes. So! Back in the saddle, the final stretch is go. We have fools' wicked dreams to crush, and vile gods to gonad-punch so hard they'll be struggling with chirophobia for millenia.
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Feb 15, 2016 01:07
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Deep breath. The smell of this place... My feet are wet. My clothes are soaked through with feelings juice. What the gently caress. : I don't belong here.: I beg to dif-: That's not up for debate. Maybe I don't count as a human anymore, but I'm definitely not a demon either.: Where do you belong then, Demi-fiend?: A kilometer above Tokyo, elbow-deep in some dumbshit god's innards, avenging everyone I knew, and deciding who doesn't get to create a world over my people's dead bodies. Is Lucifer going to try stop me?: I'm not at li-: Never mind. It doesn't matter. We're leaving.: You are so close to so much power, and yet you turn away? How-: Impressive.: Absolutely.: Do you not realize the doom you are perpetuating?: I realize a jackass is this close to using me. I'm holding on to my freedom, and to hell with Lucifer if he thinks he can take it away from me.: ...He would not.: He could not. He gave me one Magatama. I've earned twenty-two. It would be amusing to see him try. Any other objections?: I was looking forward to a face-off with the old man, but maybe forcing him to watch you walk away and do your own thing is a better punishment than putting a bullet in his head.: Ha, I can get behind that.: Do you think he's going to cry about it? It's like, you know, right? Get it? I guess you could say, the devil may-*: No. Shut up. Get out. : Alright then, it's decided. Let's get a move on, everybody. We got an idiot train to catch up to.: ...: You coming?: You are the summoner. It is not my place to disobey.: Smart. *: We climb back out without encountering unexpected obstructions. As far as the game is concerned, we haven't explicitly refused Lucifer's offer; in fact we are not locked out of the Path of Destruction until we are locked in the Path of Creation. But it's not like we're going to change our mind! We reach the Terminal, and head for Ginza to get ready for the trials ahead.  : It's so quiet... Now, this is what I call stillness. : It's like Kagutsuchi's saying to come on up. Shijima, Yosuga, Musubi... Which Reason will guide Tokyo? Hikawa, Chiaki, Isamu... Who'll become Tokyo's conqueror?: If I were you, I wouldn't place my bets just yet.: ...The moment of fate is near.*: We heal, register our party, and save. If we were to summon the updated Pixie from the Compendium, it would cost us 112500 Macca! Black Frost is the second most expensive summon, coming in at a comparatively cheap 59400. Our fusion options still need to ripen, in any case, so we spend no more time here, and proceed to warp again to the back exit of the Nihilo HQ. Zed levels up on the way to the Obelisk, and has a chance to learn Gaea Rage, a group-targeting physical skill. In terms of raw one-hit damage, it's the strongest of its kind, but it actually has a lower critical rate than Deadly Fury, doesn't hit that much harder, and costs a bit more HP, so I pass on it. However, it does look pretty cool, so I branch off a save state and take a few screenshots.     Yeah, Deadly Fury almost always crits at least once when used against three foes or more, while Gaea Rage... doesn't.  There's something I didn't note before, concerning the Tower. The Magatsuhi around it is being siphoned upwards, channeling all that spiritual energy straight into Kagutsuchi. It's clearly charging up and getting ready to spawn the new world. All it needs now is someone worthy to guide it. Let's try our luck, shall we?  We enter the Obelisk from the south, using the aperture we did see on our first trip here. This means the upper levels are not too far away.  : ...the only place in Tokyo that is connected to Kagutsuchi. Everyone went upstairs...   *: Nothing much has changed in here so far, though we do run into some Diet encounters.    Cutscene: I cannot see withinThree treasures, eh? I bet I know who has them. If the Reasons are expected to duke it out among themselves, it only makes sense the victor would need to present trophies. Atmosphere: Tower of Kagutsuchi    *: This is it, we've crossed the point of no return. We're definitely locked into the one ending now, there is no turning back. That said, we can still ride this platform back down to return to the Obelisk, but it is not time to regroup and recover just yet.    This is some big place for sure. There are four large doors around the room, smaller ones on a higher level, and strange light columns on every side.  The central pillar does not appear to go all the way through, like the Obelisk's did; it ends a short distance inside and continuously shoots pure energy straight up.   quote:Lv52 Foul Shadow *: Seven Shadows! We've never seen that many opponents at once before. Zed still has Gaea equipped, and Endure saves him in extremis from a Mudoon cast. Sophia will be safer!    The columns don't seem to go anywhere, but they must be of some importance.  Oooh, the random Surt encounters are weak to Ice, unlike their mid-boss counterpart. Convenient!  We enter the large door to the south first. The symbols engraved on it are very reminiscent of the writing on the Terminal drums. Hmm!   : We've always been looking up. We've always wondered about Kagutsuchi.  : I won't.: Thank you.  *: There's a door and a staircase in the side here, as well as a lift block in the southern end. Let's try the door first.   : The final battle for creation is about to begin. ...With Futomimi gone, it doesn't matter to us which Reason wins.: Er...: I am a demon now, aren't I?: Yeah.: I do not know if a Reason would have been denied to me before, but...: It would definitely be denied to you now. I'm sorry.: It's not your fault. This is better than being stuck in the Labyrinth, and that horrid girl is the only one to blame.: Right.*: There's nothing else in that room. The staircase, then.  : I don't do cheers, kid. I'm here to kick rear end and take names.: ............ ...That's an option. *: Another door takes us to the central room again.    : ...Some of that consists of our people from Mifunashiro. *: This lift block is above one of the columns of light we saw from underneath, and it takes us to the base floor again. Alright then, time to take the first lift block, all the way south.  It takes us to a small room on floor 167, with only one door accessible.    This is clearly a lift up, but the other three sides are also accessible from here. Let's go back and explore them before we proceed. West is up next!  Hmm. It must only be accessible from underneath, then. I bet it's the same for all sides. Let's return to the base level and investigate.  No one's there. There's a door in the side here as well.  : Noah is incredible! We don't need to join together like those other Reasons. ...We'll soon be able to create a world where we won't have to associate with anyone... : I hear it's a very long path, though... ...Well, you wouldn't be able to do it, so don't talk to me. : ...Nothing would really change. I'm doing what I want now, anyway. But, it would be nice if those annoying groups like Shijima and Yosuga disappeared.  : .........! ......! ...!! .........!? ...What!? I'm listening to my music, can't ya tell!? There's no reason I need to go up just because the others did, right!?*: Riding the lift block up, we find a room with a Float Ball and a Vitality Incense. There's also the other side of that closed door to the central lift, but we can't open it from here either. I see what's going on; each side of the area here is affiliated with one of the Reasons, except the southern one which is full of Manikins. We won't be able to open the other doors, but there must be more loot. Let's go north next.  Yup, that's the Shijima side.   : Infiltrator of our stillness, begone! : We had a lot of fun, thanks to a certain 'somebody', but all is well.: I'm glad you find me entertaining.: We have our god, Ahriman, to lead us to stillness. : ...Oh, please excuse my behavior. I became quite emotional, contrary to the belief of Shijima.: Well, you know, nobody's perfect. And if you think anybody's going to be perfect if you get your way, then I've got a Tower to sell you. : Guess the path to Kagutsuchi isn't going to be an easy one, after all.*: The top floor of this branch has a Bead and an Agility Incense in a Chest. While waiting for Full K, Odin levels up; he learns Deathbound, replacing Counter, Makajamon replacing Mabufula, Wooing being discarded, Mabudyne replacing Makajamon (welp), and Maragidyne replacing Tetraja. That's all his remaining skills in one shot, thanks to Long's sacrifice. We go back down and take the eastern path this time.   quote:Lv64 Divine Throne   : She's not only noble, she's sharp! : Those pests...: They are still driven by hope, though all hope has been taken from them...: They're born from humans alright. : ...I have no business with inferior beings, such as you.  : This is discrimination against ex-Mantra demons!: Cry me a river, idiot. This is only a taste of the world you've been hoping for.*: The top floor has a Cube with some inconsequential loot I forgot to note, and Strength Incense in a Chest. Zed's got his 30 Strength, and Gaea increases that to the 40 cap, so I'm quite comfortable giving Dante all the Strength Incense at this point. We go back down, then up the southern path again, to the central lift.   Music: Tower of Kagutsuchi *: This is where the proper Tower of Kagutsuchi track finally kicks in over the atmosphere.    The cubes behind us are periodically pushed upwards by a burst of Magatsuhi, then slowly slide back down in erratic motions. This place is already pretty weird.   We soon find a Large Terminal. It's labeled "Tower of Kagutsuchi 1". The Tower is so big, it has multiple Large Terminals. Yyyyyyup. Albion levels up, learning Drain Attack; it replaces Sukunda.  Climbing a staircase behind the door next to the Terminal takes us to a higher level; we can see a Chest from here, but reaching it is another question entirely. The path leads us to two doors. Taking the right one...  This block takes us to the Cube, earning us a Megidola Rock. We go back and take the left one, whose cube takes us across the room instead.  We follow a roundabout path, but it doesn't take us to the Chest, it takes us to a staircase down. Hmm.  ...aw heck I got turned around between encounters somewhere and just retraced my steps back to the Terminal. Derp! I'm gonna be late for full K too, dang. Oh well, nothing to it but to turn back again.  Oh. There must be a lift block somewhere. Welp, let's keep going. Zed levels up and passes on learning Iron Claw from Kamurogi.  I don't think this is the one, but let's try it anyway.   Yeah, this is a whole different set of floors. I'm not too broken up about leaving paths behind though, since I'll probably want to warp back down and investigate the whole place thoroughly later, for reasons that I'll explain in time.  Instead of going straight ahead, we find a staircase in the east side.  It takes us to the top of that block formation we saw from below.  This block takes us to the western side of the area and allows passage underneath.  Hmm. We need to move these two cubes to reach that loot, so we retrace our steps.  It takes some looping over and under, but we do get the blocks out of the way.  ...uh. Can't complain, I suppose. We undo some of the block shifting and clear our path again. It's a little trickier than it first appears, but all the moving pieces are straightforward enough and it's doesn't actually get frustrating. Along the way, Futomimi levels up and leans Might, replacing Mute Gaze.  There are two short staircases on the other side of the block puzzle, on the way to the next lift. On the left...  : It's so strong, the higher levels aren't being formed properly.*: And a lift block takes us down, to...  Ah-ha! I knew it. There's a Great Chakra in there. We go back up, and take the other stairs.  : ...Is he waiting for the Demi-fiend?: That's strange, he didn't strike me as the suicidal type.*: Another lift block takes us down to a spot below where we've been already, so we return to the higher floor and take the lift up.    Dang, they weren't kidding about the Tower not being formed properly.  A couple blocks could take us up this structure. Let's try east first.  That's a Chakra Pot. Down again, then west. Albion and Parvati level up in the same fight. Albion learns Phys Drain, and I let it replace Drain Attack. He already nullifies physical damage, but it'll be a great skill to pass down anyway. Parvati learns Thunderclap, replacing Makatora.  Two more choices here.  Hard to say which will be most fruitful. We try west first.  Oooh, a small Terminal. The encounters around here are manageable, mostly Surt and Gurr with the occasional Cerberus, Queen Mab, Decarabia or Throne, but it's still good to have this safety net. Another choice between two lifts further up yields a Chest with a Bead of Life in the east, and in the west...   : Big, and red? I guess Hikawa really is waiting for me.: ...Is it still there?: Not for long. Okay, this looks important. Cutscenes + Boss battle: Tyrant Ahriman: You... you hosed up piece of poo poo. rear end in a top hat!: Not my most satisfying victory, I gotta say.: He was... gracious in defeat, at least.: He better be, he got everything he wanted!: For what it's worth, he had the foresight to create a scenario where it was in every way impossible for him to fail.: Well I hope you'll forgive me if I don't spend a lot of time admiring his intelligence.: No, of course not, the man was truly vile.: He never intended to construct a world for everyone's benefit, only for his own. Even as he lay dying, he mourned not that his ideal died with him. What a selfish creature.: Compared to him, I guess I'm not so bad, huh?: No, you're just another sort of knave. This is no bodycount competition.: poo poo, I hope so, because if it was, I'm far behind you, boss. Haha!: You shut up! He's fighting for a good cause! I know he is!: Yeah, sure, and if you ask anyone else in this tower why they're fighting, they'll tell you the same.: Except for you.: I'm a lotta things, but deluded isn't one of them!: Sakahagi. Shut the hell up.: Afraid of a little truth?: No, I'm just tired of your bullshit. If I don't fight, that means Chiaki or Isamu wins, and if you think that's an option, we'll soon find out how far up your rear end that hook of yours can go.: Don't pretend you don't enjoy it!: ...alright. I won't. But I'll be a lot more pleased when the fighting is over with.quote:Tyrant Ahriman *: Ahriman has two distinct phases with entirely different attack patterns, but he has the same immunites for both: he's immune to ailments, and reflects Death and Expel. He's basically toying with us at first. He forbids a different type of action every round, and whoever performs a forbidden action gets immediately countered with Hell's Call, an Almighty-type instant death effect with 100% success rate. (The only reason I let Albion die in this phase is because I wanted to show off Hell's Call.) On his own turn, he'll use any of the eight -dyne spells, or a basic attack. You might be in a hint of trouble if you neglect to keep your health up and he forbids healing and items at the wrong time, but otherwise this part of the battle isn't particularly difficult. Once you deal 6000 damage, however, he stops messing around. He loses the -dyne spells, but starts using Megidolaon along with his two signature moves, Tentacle and Apocalypse. Tentacle is an extremely powerful group-hitting physical skill, and Apocalypse is pretty much the same, but Almighty instead. He also knows Dekaja and Dekunda, but he uses them rather infrequently. And that's good because if you don't increase your defense and /or decrease his offense, chances are he'll crush you pretty quick. It's worth noting that his Agility is only average, so accuracy debuffs are very effective as well. Apart from that, the battle is fairly straightforward, and if you can manage Ahriman's considerable damage output while whittling down his 18000 HP, there are no other tricks or wrinkles. I'm pretty sure the biggest reason I kept swapping allies towards the end is that I couldn't decide on who'd get the experience reward. I gotta say though, Ahriman looks cool as hell. I love his general design, and all his animations are amazing, especially the transformation between phases. The calm, meditative posture is clearly a front; he's really this wild, cruel demonic beast, and you can tell he's using the whole "stillness" idea merely as a way to sneak into a position of power in the next world. Also, drat, that music! Holy crap that music. I can't even... Wow. I like the Fierce Battle theme as much as the next guy, and its lyrics become gloriously appropriate for this final ascent, but it's clearly used as a fake-out, and when the Reason Boss bassline kicks in you know The Business is going down.  Drink of the wine of the wrath of the Demi-fiend. One god has been rejected. Two more to go.       *: On one hand, yes, Nocturne is recycling visual elements for its final dungeon. On the other hand, it's recycling them into this, so what kind of dumbass would dare complain about it?     Four doors again. I bet the Shijima side is feeling somewhat less optimistic by now.   : ...drat, she's hot! *: Oh hey, instead of a Shijima area in the north, there's a Fountain. Because Nocturne is amazing.   It looks like the sides might be connected on this floor, though there are lots of damage floors in between. We got plenty of Float Balls, in any case. There's an Attack Mirror in the Cube visible here. We get into fights with lone Abaddon or Nyx in here, which is nothing compared to the multiples of those accompanied by Aciel we used to run into on the fifth Kalpa.   quote:Lv66 Snake Yurlungur *: Dante levels up and learns Stinger, a powerful single-target Almighty attack (!) with an instant death chance attached. Say what you will about Dante, this is easily one of the best skills in the game. I let it replace E & I.  > ...You received Wagtail Plume! : Are you trying to tell me something?: Look, everyone who isn't me gets into a bit of a lady problem every once in a while, it's no biggie. There's no shame in it.: Hey Dante.: ...: Dante. Dante Fante Bo Bante. Dante.: What is it?: I got a lady question for you. : The first step is admitting you have a problem. I'm listening.: Will you be... will you... pfffhaha...: Huh?: WILLYOUBETHEONETOFILLMYDARKSOULWITHLIIIIIIIIGHT: ...!: Oh... oh wow. Yikes.*: Come on, give the guy a break, he was written by a Capcom employee. : SHE LOOKED LIKE MY MOTHER, YOU rear end in a top hat.: Haha, holy crap, that's not helping! : gently caress you.: ...what?: I said, "gently caress you".: Soooooo?: Aren't you going to say it back?: Uh, no. Who's this clown?: Don't ask me!: Nobody! He's nobody... important. Let's get back to poking at my old wounds, alright?: gently caress you? C'mon! Don't leave me hanging here!*: No. Out. : gently caress YOUUUuuUUUUUUuuuuu~~~...: Well. That was strange. Are you sure you don't know-: Nope!*: In any case! Parvati levels up and learns her last skill, Radiance, which is a powerful straight damage group-targeting Expel attack. It replaces Thunderclap.  A Chest in the far east contains a Pot of Death, which is a single-use attack item that attempts to reduce all opponents' HP to 1.  Oooh, a Cube on the west side puts us in a fight against a Rangda and two Abaddons.  quote:Lv72 Femme Rangda *: They drop a Bead Chain, and Zed levels up, passing on Samrecarm.  : Ugh...!: Yyyyup, I'm pretty scary alright.> The demon disappeared.   *: Hmm. It looks like we've been everywhere on this floor, but I can't seem to find the way further up. I guess it's time to try again, looking harder.   Ha, I had looked almost everywhere, then.   Doesn't look like there's much of interest in here.  : If you go the wrong way... You'll get a taste of gravity. Darkness awaits you.: That's alright, gravity and I have an understanding.    *: Ah-ha! There's the second Large Terminal. Alright then, that's a good place to call it for now; there's no way we're scaling this huge-rear end tower all in one update. Oh, before I forget. During the last poll, ModeWondershot made a point to mention that I should have a say in the outcome, and in fact surrendered their vote to me. At first I figured it went somewhat against the spirit of the process, but I'm not about to deny that exercise of free will, and I won't be one to refuse the existence of options beyond the two I presented! That said, I didn't want to vote in public during the process because I didn't want to railroad the decision. Of course, the call is made now, and I might as well come out with it. From a pure gameplay perspective, I would have chosen the Path of Destruction. But following my own suggestions that I made before the first poll, going with my own mind and my own gut, putting myself in the Demi-fiend's shoes, and considering the personality we've ended up giving him... I put in my vote for the Path of Creation. That's not to say I couldn't have seen him go for Destruction if the votes had swung that way, of course. I really did my best to set things up so neither option would have been out of character, but at this point, I don't have enough distance to tell if I've succeeded or not. Though the vote was pretty drat close, so I think I at least haven't completely failed! At any rate, the poll wasn't so close that I made the difference, and I'm not unhappy about that. When I started this LP, I made a conscious effort to ensure Francois Hawke wouldn't be an author self-insert, so I could let him be his own character who could naturally take decisions I personally wouldn't take... but in the end, all along we've been making the same choices I made when I played blind the first time all those years ago, so who knows, heheh. So! Chiaki started climbing first so she's probably the furthest up, and Hikawa's taken care of. Next on the hit list: our good friend Isamu.
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Feb 17, 2016 10:29
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NewMars posted:I just gotta say, Arhaiman calling you an evil liar is just the best sort of irony. Dang, I hear ya. Either Ahriman and Hikawa's wills have melded and they actually believe what they're saying, or their wills are still separate and Ahriman's putting on a show for his summoner's benefit. I'm inclined to believe the latter, but considering Hikawa is physically inside Ahriman's head, I could see it both ways for sure. ManlyGrunting posted:I don't know, I'm a pretty big Devil May Cry fan and I can say for certain that Dante has rotten luck with women. I've always loved how in the latter games he's been written as a complete dork who happens to be a singular badass. Oh that's how I see it too. Is just, I guess to me, not having a lady in your life only counts as a lady problem if you're bitter about it, and Dante's definitely taking it in stride. In the scene in my head, he's trying to act like the cool older brother with valuable life advice because he's interacting with high school students, and he does have a tendency to buy into his own PR! Dr. Snark posted:I love how Gaea Rage in this game is an average all-hitting physical attack, and in DDS it's basically THE attack that will wreck you if you aren't ready for it (and even then you're probably still hosed) I suspect the DDS folk decided that Gaea Rage was far too wimpy for how cool it looked, and decided to overcompensate hard in the other direction! I mentioned in the OP that I'm a cross between a Timmy and a Johnny; well, let's just say my Timmy half really wishes GR was worth using. I mean, Deadly Fury is cool and all, it's a lightsaber iaido strike, but it's not HUEG GROUNDSPLOSION.
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Feb 17, 2016 22:21
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FredMSloniker posted:(I think endingchat is okay now that we're locked in, but just in case I'll wait for FrankZP to either give the OK or discuss it himself before I talk about what I thought I wanted.) Well, locked in or not, I'd say ending talk is still spoilers until we get to an actual ending, so I'd prefer if we waited until the end. I'll definitely have an intermission-like update once the game is through, listing the rest of the music, posting hi-res screenshots, mentioning final thoughts, all that stuff, so there'll be room to discuss everything for sure. MarquiseMindfang posted:I have to say, I never really learned too much about these bosses, given that my routine by this point was essentially; [...] Oh there absolutely are ways to break this game over your knee if you know what you're doing, but I'd rather give the bosses a bit of a chance to strut their stuff for LP purposes. That said I did plan on having Debilitate by now through Nyx, but the Black Frost unlock threw a wrench in that plan. I do have my eye on Mada for now though. YggiDee posted:Also I'm coming in at the end (having only found this LP a few days ago) to say that I really like the design/aesthetic/style etc of the game. I love Kaneko's weird fashion and demon design, even if everyone only wears lipstick on the top lip or something. Also, in a genre where the hero is generally bedecked in celestial angel armour and the demon blade of double-hell, I appreciate a protagonist who is equipped with 1) pants and 2) shoes, and basically nothing else but goes around beating gods to death with his fists. Also slowly pulsating flesh tattoos are great. I think it's fair to say that the greater SMT/Persona series has a unique look to it, but even in that line-up I'd venture that Nocturne is in its own nonpareil art direction pocket. There have been demon invasions before, there have been post-apocalyptic hellscapes before, and there have been demon invasions in post-apocalyptic hellscapes before, but none of them look like Nocturne does. (Or, uh, as far as I know, anyway.) Kemix posted:Also, I'm sure that Zed has a save from before the Point of No Return and can show off the whole "on lucy's payroll" ending if he's up for it. Aight, so. For a while I've been tempted to do a sort of bonus non-LP-canon episode featuring whatever ending we didn't pick. I didn't want to mention it before the final vote because I wanted to get folks' responses with the perspective of "this is the one we get, so we better make it count", to avoid anyone being all "oh we'll get both anyway so I'll just say whatever, it doesn't matter". I did mean "we get only one ending" at the time I wrote it, but I guess by now I'm leaning more towards showing off the extra gameplay of the Destruction ending as well. Only demons don't change their minds, eh? That said... Petiso posted:After beating the Tower of Kagutsuchi you reeeeeally don't want to do it all over again inmediatly afterwards. Good Lord, this, so much. The Tower is a cool dungeon and a fitting capstone to our travails in the Vortex World, but it's XBOXHUEG, not to mention there will have probably have to be some amount of grinding required to put a sensible party together for the final challenge. So if it does happen it'll definitely take a lot more than the usual 3-4 days, and I'll want to take a breather of indeterminate length before I even get started. :3 At any rate, we're not there yet, and we still got a ways to go before we conclude Francois Hawke's true story! Montegoraon posted:So, will we be getting Kailash and Masakados before tackling Noah or after? You can do it either way. If I recall correctly, Kailash doesn't help much without Pierce, since Noah's second form is highly resistant to Almighty damage. So we take on the boss fights as soon as they're available!
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Feb 19, 2016 03:53
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Hmm, that's an interesting offer, I'll keep it in mind. I'd prefer doing it on my own, but depending on what kind of juice I got left once I'm done with the proper playthrough, there's a chance I'll take you up on it!
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Feb 21, 2016 07:29
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*: We're back to the Tower of Kagutsuchi, in front of the second Large Terminal, on floor 302. Because that's a sane number of floors for a building to have, of course. For reference, the tallest buiding in the world right now is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, clocking in at a puny 200-odd floors. And we've still got a long way to go, straight up. There's a big door right ahead, to the south, and a hallway to the east. Let's try the door.  Okay, not very promising.  Oh-ho! When we get close, translucent blocks appear out of nowhere.  We pass three doors on each side of the hallway, and reach the end, blocked by two lift cubes.  When we turn back, the cubes fail to reappear. Looks like this is a one-way path! We still have the pair of doors to the sides, though. Let's try west.  Oooh, I get it. We've been in this room before, at the end of the last update, but we couldn't get anywhere. It must be the way back.  We could return to the central hallway through one of the three western doors, or probably to the Terminal, but instead we work our way around to an opening in the south.   Or we would if the blocks reached it. That must be the way back from another dead-end. Oh well! We return to the Terminal after all...  Okay, no, we don't. The last corner before we could retrace our steps is a dead-end that drops us in a dark place.    And it's not long before we fall another hidden pit, dropping us back to the floor with the Fountain. I'd call that a dick move, but, well. Fountain. We make our way up again; Albion gains a level, learns Recarmdra, replacing Evil Eye, and fails a skill transformation, turning his Diarama into Void Elec. I'll take it!  Let's try the eastern corridor this time.  : Ouch.: ...Well, no need to worry about Isamu. He's eaten all that Magatsuhi, after all.: Why don't you go ask Hikawa how that went for him? *: Ah, another similar room. It's hard to tell from here which of the three doors we should take from the central corridor, but let's try the third one.  Oh boy. Long story short, we fall and fall, then climb up again. Then fall and fall, then climb up again.   Oh-ho! This is new. From the central platform in the eastern room, you can take a path straight south that crosses a spot where another line of vanishing blocks would appear if you came at it from the west. Very sneaky!  This takes us on top of the red lift cubes that were blocking our way earlier. We could ride them down, but let's see the end of that hallway for now. Eh, nothing important. Alright then, lessee.   Whew, we're done with this at last.    Oh crap, this is the outside of the tower, we can see the ground "below".  The loose blocks are just floating around down there. What kind of half-assed operation is this Kagutsuchi running anyway?   When we reach the corner, the camera switches to give us a view of the other side. We could keep climbing up this incline, but I'm curious about this lift block.   Welp, nothing here but acrophobia waiting to happen. We ride the block back to the wall and continue our ascent.  Hmm, let's try down first.     Oooh, a Chest! It contains a Soma, not bad. On our way back to the wall, Albion learns Hell Blast, his final skill. It replaces Berserk. He also attempts to change a skill, fails again, and turns Void Elec to... Mediarama. Easy come, easy go!  A door, and another lift. Let's try the door.  This is sufficiently ominous.  : You're with Musubi, aren't you? : None other.: ............ I see...... Then, go in. Isamu is waiting... Cutscenes + Boss battle: Vile Noah: I wish I never had to do that.: You could have let him win. You could have stayed out of his way.: Not an option.: No, he's right, you could have. You chose not to.: What do you want from me? You want to hear me say I chose to kill my friend?: We need you to see things as they are, not as you would want them to be.: It's... drat, it hurts.: Aradia told you it would. Are you afraid?: No. It hurts, but I'm not afraid. It'll hurt even worse before long, but I won't turn back.quote:Vile Noah *: Noah starts out with only the usual boss immunities, and until you've hurt him a fair bit, all he does is use his basic attack, which is actually Almighty rather than physical. It's not too long before he reaches his second phase, where he starts his typical turn by casting his signature move, Aurora. Aurora aligns him with one of the four main elements, causing him to reflect all damage, except from his opposite element. Almighty damage does punch through, but in a nearly unique occurence, Aurora makes Noah highly resistant to it. He'll use his second icon to cast a single-target -dyne spell of his aligned element, which tells you what you should use against him on your turn. Once Isamu's face pops out for his third phase, he starts using Ma-dyne spells instead, and he gains Dekaja, Dekunda, and Domination, which is a turbo-powered Life Drain. However, his attack pattern changes: his spells are truly random and no longer bear any connection to his current elemental affinity. If you don't know what's going on, this phase is a genuine nightmare, as any given offensive spell you use has a 75% chance of hurting you and ending your turn. But if you know what's going on... Paying attention to Noah's second form reveals that his first Aurora cast aligns him with fire, the second with ice, the third with electricity, and the fourth with force. He sticks to this pattern for the entire fight, though it does seem to reset once at the start of the third phase (which threw me off for a bit). If you can keep track of his element from turn to turn, it's in the bag. Of course the fight can take a while if your party's spellcasting isn't up to snuff, but that's his sole gimmick, and if you can maintain the buff advantage then he should pose no great problem. Drink of the wine of the wrath of the Demi-fiend. One more god rejected. One more to go. *: Anyway. This room is a dead-end. I'm pretty sure you can proceed upwards without fighting Noah, but you will need his Netherstone, so you have to come back and fight him sooner or later. We turn back, and take the lift block outside.      : I don't know why you're so broken up about the competitors getting knocked off.: ...But, we have... Lady Chiaki. ...Yosuga... will be the ones to create the world!!!: And they had the great Isamu, Master of the Amala Network.: Ugh...!> The demon disappeared.    : Dang, these Manikins are tough as hell!: I know not what moves me more, pride or sorrow.: We can't set things right, but we can keep Chiaki from profiting from her crime. So turn those to anger, will you?: It... it comes easily enough. : We're all taking a rest now. We may be Manikins, but we're no dummies!*: There are doors to the sides of this room, so we'll leave the staircase for later.  Holy crap, is that...?   Yup, it is.   : ...It's so cute! I want to sell it, but I don't want to let it go! It's a girl thing... Well, I'm not really a girl! *wink*: Sure, sure, whatever you say, brosephine. Just name your price. *: We buy it immediately, of course. : My cute Magatama... Take good care of it for me...: Don't worry, he'll be happier with all his buddies.: Come to think of it, isn't this a dangerous area to have a shop in?: Dang, you don't say!: ...Oh well. At least the view's faaabulous! *: Kailash is a powerful caster-aligned Magatama, imparting Almighty-type spells but also powerful unaligned skills, such as Makarakarn, which it would teach us first. You may also note that all slots in the Magatama menu are filled. We've got all of them! The Minister of the Cathedral of Shadows will definitely want to hear about this. But for now, let's keep exploring.  As it so happens, there's a Fountain across the hall from the Junk Shop, as well as the Tower's third Large Terminal. And across the Terminal...   : News travel fast!: In this land, there exist certain things that hold demonic power.: The Magatama, right?: ...Yes, the Magatama in your body are what I am referring to. : We have long awaited such an individual. And then, along came you... You, a human with the strength of a demon, have succeeded in gathering all the Magatama. : Now we're talking!> You obtained the Lord's Sword.  : He, who once protected Tokyo, shall surely help you with his awesome might.*: That's our cue to follow through with what Bishamon told us back in the Kimon Temple. However, before we do so, I'd like to gain a couple levels, get Kailash to teach us something, and finish ripening a couple fusion ingredients. This'll be a bit out of nowhere, but it's time to clear out Hell's Vault. There will be plenty of encounters down there, and we'll get the experience we need. We warp to the Labyrinth, and head for the fourth Kalpa. Along the way, Zed passes on learning Makarakarn.  It'll take me some time to map out the various branches, but I'll spare you the details; it's a teleport maze with no automap, you can use your imagination.  Oh hey, the Labyrinth's scaling is catching up with us, now we run into multiple Mot as random encounters. Fortunately they don't have the ludicrous physical resistance anymore. From the entrance, going west, south, south, then taking the south branch of the northwest fork, leads you to...  This is an extra tough "shortcut" where you can make a buttload of money, and it leads into itself so you can go through as many times as you like. Of course, me being me, I get my rear end beat, make 40 Macca, and only try once. We have nearly 900000 Macca left though, so it's not like we're going deprived. Other than that, we found a Bead Chain, an Attack Mirror, a Deathstone, and...   : Oh, there's no hurry. Chiaki can't win without the Earthstone and the Netherstone, and I got them both right here.: Everybody runs right by here just like you, not even giving a second glance to a poor old guy on the side of the road. It's a shame what this world's coming to... You folks oughtta get your priorities straight. Ya see, soemtimes you just need to relax and pay no heed to the time. *: It's not enough just to say you agree. You literally gotta wait here for a couple minutes, Earthbound-style, then say "yes". I'm not joking. : Oh... I can see that you've been listening. You're in a hurry, aren't ya? You should be on your way.: Don't mind if I do, old timer.: Come back anytime if you'd like to talk to me again. *: He then allows you access to the Vault's central room, that we could see from the entrance. One Cube has a Deathstone, the other has 100001 Macca, and the Chest contains... five Smoke Balls. Huh. While waiting for full K, Black Rider learns his last skill: Megidolaon replaces Megidola. We futz around some more to make sure everything else is a dead-end... and we're done. Whew. We leave the Labyrinth for the last time, and return to the Tower for the convenient facilities there. On the way, we take a look at the old peephole, and...  We heal up, save, and return to the Cathedral. : Alright, it's that time again. Albion, Your Majesty, you're up.: It has been a pleasure.: BOOM?: Ba boom boom. Boom!: BOOM!: Did I miss something?: Yes.: ...well then.: Will there be a sacrifice today?: Actually, yes. It's-: It is I.: You volunteering?: No. But you no longer trust me.: I don't trust your master.: You are my master.: That's exactly what you'd tell me if I wasn't.: I'm well aware, which is why I know my time in this cycle grows short. Though it appears you'll ensure there is another.: Still sore about that?: Yes. This has all been for nothing. You've grown so mighty... What a terrible waste.: Well, you won't be sore about it for long. Get on the machine.Albion + Titania + Black Rider =   *: I would have loved to pass down Phys Drain, but the odds of getting both Megidolaon and Prayer are pretty ludicrous, so this is what I'm sticking with. And that's not all! Parvati + Wu Kong =   *: From here, we warp to Ginza, trade for an Ara Mitama at Rag's, then warp to the first Terminal of the Tower and start climbing up again.  : Your lady's next on my hit list. You can go down with the ship, or give the Demi-fiend a shot. : You wish me to join your ranks?: Hmm-mmm.: Haha.> Throne is smiling. *: He asks for some cash. : Hmmm... Then, lastly, let me hear your opinion. : I haven't destroyed you yet. What do you think?: I suppose I can be happy with that.> Throne is content.  > Throne seems to be satisfied. : I'm Throne of the Divine Lineage. Take me with you.*: A couple fights later, Scathach levels up and catches up on her own skills. She learns Force Repel, Thunderclap, Mana Aid and Windcutter, and passes on Dark Pledge.   *: As we return to the Terminal, Zed levels up and passes on learning Megido. Back at the Cathedral, we fuse Ara Mitama to Throne, giving him Bright Might and Tarukaja. We also summon a Nigi Mitama, and fuse it to Pixie, so she gets Elec Boost to feed her Maziodyne, as well as Analyze and Rakunda. It also kicks her Magic and Luck to 36, so what the hey, we summon another Nigi Mitama and fuse it again, maxing out those stats. And hey, why not, I feed her two Ara Mitama as well.  Aw yeah. Once that's done, we heal, save, and warp to the back of the Nihilo base again.  Remember this place?  > The Lord's Blade began to shine! You are surrounded by a bright light...    Music: Shinjuku Hygienic Hospital *: Yup, that's the Hospital music. I 'unno!      There are colored teleporters on both sides. Let's try the red one to the north first.  We're taken one level below, as I expected.   The path down here takes a couple turns, then ends at the base of one of the pillars holding up the Shrine. Boss battle: Kishin Bishamon *: Hoooly crap I did not expect to fight Bishamon first. But he's the guardian of the north, so I should have, really. He was clearly holding back the first time we fought him at the Kimon Shrine. Here, he's level 99, and has all his stats maxed out at 40. He knows Dragon Eye, Tarukaja, Makakaja, Dekaja, Debilitate, Megidolaon, Prominence, Maragidyne, Hellfire, and Tempest. Fortunately he's fire-aligned, so you can exploit his weakness to ice. He also doesn't know Dekunda, so any agility or defense debuffs will stick to him. His AI is probably the trickiest part of this fight. If you stack buffs, he'll use Dekaja and follow it up with a couple Debilitates as punishment. If you use Makalakarn or Tetrakarn, he'll start spamming Megidolaon. Left to his own devices, he'll stack Tarukaja and follow it up with Tempest, or stack Makakaja and follow it up with a high-powered fire spell. Basically, he's kinda trying to do to you the sort of thing you've probably been trying to do to every other boss. At any rate, Dante leveled up and learned Son's Oath, which is a passive skill that increases all his damage by 50%. You read that right. Hmm-mmm. We head back up and go to the yellow teleporter this time.  Pretty tough encounters around here too. I think all the demons here are Light-aligned.  : You must lower the four pillars and defeat the four Devas in order to see him. But, the four Devas are reeeeeeeally strong, so be careful... *: This dungeon isn't super complicated, but it's neat how you can pretty much see all of it at once.  quote:Lv61 Fury Beiji Weng *: Following one of the branching paths, we find a Cube containing 50000 Macca!  Boss battle: Kishin Zouchou *: Wow, I would not have guessed Zouchouten would be more dangerous than Bishamonten. Let's try this again, but with more appropriate preparations this time. Boss battle: Kishin Zouchou Redux quote:Kishin Zouchou *: Zouchou packs the same ludicrous stats as Bishamon, but he's electricity-aligned. His main strategy is to fish for a Shock ailment with his array of powerful lightning spells, then unload a guaranteed Focus crit. He has neither Dekaja nor Dekunda, but he knows buffs and debuffs for everything but Agility, as well as Life Drain. Aight, two more to go. On our way down, we find another Cube with 50000 Macca. Then, after passing through blue and green teleporters...  Boss battle: Kishin Koumoku quote:Kishin Koumoku *: Koumoku's functions much like Zouchou, but Force-aligned. He can't combo off a guaranteed crit though, so he has Focus, Berserk and the stronger Deathbound to compensate somewhat. He doesn't know Dekaja or Dekunda either, but he does have Makakaja, Rakukaja, and Rakunda. One more! On our way further down, Zed levels up and passes on Tetrakarn. I decide to increase his Vitality, and that pushes his max HP to... 666. Welp!   : His Lordship is up there!: Well I'm not flying up to meet him, so he better come down! Boss battle: Kishin Jikoku quote:Kishin Jikoku *: He's pretty much an ice-aligned version of Zouchou, fishing for crits and all. Otherwise he's pretty much what you expect by now! Aaaand that's it for the Four Heavenly Kings. Let's see what the Lord of this shrine has in store for us.  *: The shrine gives us access to a platform we couldn't reach before, letting us grab a Cube containing another 50000 Macca.  Music: Mystery  The ground starts shaking.  : Just dis guy, ya know?   : ............ ...So, thou art the demon who came from afar...? I am Masakado Taira, the guardian of Tokyo for the last thousand years.: Yeah, I heard of you. I don't mean to be a dick, but, uh, you could have done a better job.: ............ ...Thou art Francois, art thou not?: That's correct.: The king of chaos, who hath gained the powers of demons despite being human...: And the King of poo poo Town!: And the King of poo poo Town.  : You seemed like a big deal, so I popped in to say hello. It was a decent workout, sparring with your mates back there.: I see... Thou hast defeated the four Devas out of sport...: Pretty much!: Outstanding... Let me ask thee a question...: Shoot. : Yes. I will.: Then, I shall lend thee my power.> You obtained the Magatama Masakados. : So Kailash wasn't the last one after all!: ............ Farewell.: See ya.: Be it a new world, it is still Tokyo... Thou art the new guardian of the land... *: So. Yeah. "Null: all except almighty". How about that? +10 to all stats but Luck, that's not half bad either. It's 40 levels' worth of stat increases. The first skill it would teach us is Megidolaon, the second is Radiance, and the others are Repel skills for all four elements, then Repel Phys. Long story short, Masakados is Broken. The Heavenly Kings are the game's optional superbosses, and that's about as fitting a reward as one might expect; let's just say this ain't no Desert Rose. I probably won't be using it much, because... yeah. Hmm-mmm. Aight, that's it for this update. We'll be returning to the Tower off camera, and picking back up in Little Asakusa.
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Feb 21, 2016 07:32
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Aithon posted:I remember FrankZP mentioning a while ago that Francois hit 30, so with +10 from Gaea/Masakados he hits the cap. That's correct. It's not bad per se to have more than 30 Strength (or Magic or Agility or Vitality) even if only because you don't need to count on Magatama to maximize your damage output, but once it's that high, I personally feel that it's just more beneficial to let the other stats catch up. MarquiseMindfang posted:Can't remember who said it, but someone pointed out ages ago Hikawa being very minimalistic in his movements, with no wasted effort. So yeah. Stillness. Yeah that's pretty much my opinion right there. That said, it could be theorized that on some level, Hikawa somehow realized the noise he was trying to silence was coming from within, that he admitted to himself he never really cared about the new world in the first place, and that he was essentially waiting for the Demi-fiend to come execute him and give him what he actually wanted. Of course, he still puts up a fight, but by that point he's certainly not the only one in charge of the creature he's become. I wish I had the foresight to make a FotNS reference in my SMT1 LP, that way I could've had a hat trick. Aight, in other news, the next update'll have a bit of a delay, couple more days I expect. I got family stuff to take care of, nothing tragic, but complex. The actual gameplay's in the can, all that's left is to turn it into magic. (Allowing for a sufficiently broad definition of "magic", of course.)
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Feb 24, 2016 19:33
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*: We return to the Tower, in the Manikin enclave, and resume our exploration. We start with the door on the other side of the central staircase.  : Heyo.: ...Oh, it's you again. I've decided to follow Futomimi's will and create a world of Manikins! So, I came all the way here, just to tell Kagutsuchi: "Make it!": I like your style, old man.: But, there's a problem... I can't think up a Reason!: Oh, I bet if you can punch hard enough, it doesn't have to be a problem.  : He might hit us with his hammer if we get near him. And I already have a pounding headache.: His hammer, eh?: It must be my dear son. He has a good heart, but there are times when he lets his muscles do the thinking.: Are we going to have words if I insist on correcting him?: Ha! Be my guest. It'll spare me the effort.  Cutscene + Boss battle: Kishin Thor *: Well, that might have been the shortest boss battle we've had yet. So, Zed needs to be immune to electricity! I could use Masakados, but... Adama will do. Boss battle + Cutscene: Kishin Thor Redux : That was embarrassing. You do your best to transmit your values to your children, and they still manage to fall in with the worst sort of crowd.: I THOUGHT YOU WERE GONNA SAY IT'S EMBARRASSING BECAUSE HE WENT DOWN LIKE A CHUMP.: Yes... Well... That too, I suppose.: This whole Vortex World is operating by Yosuga rules already, isn't it? No one's evaluating any Reason's merits. I only made it so far because I'm stronger than everyone else.: But you are clearly evaluating every Reason's merits, are you not?: Well, yeah, I guess everyone is in a way, but, what I meant is, my judgement only matters because there's nothing in here I can't turn into a corpse.: If it's so distasteful to you, then stop.: Yeah, no. If I give up now, Chiaki's gonna win anyway.: Kid, you're overthinking this. This world doesn't matter. Nothing ever gets clean without someone doing dirty work, and if you weren't making sure none of these other assholes gets to run the show, nobody else would.: So I'm the cosmic janitor?: Wow, you really are King of-: Welp, let's get a move on, we got trash to take out!*: Thor's a lot stronger here than he used to be in the Mantra HQ and he'll mess you up hard if you give him the chance... but in almost every regard he's not as strong as Zouchouten was. Which of course makes sense because he's not an optional boss in a hidden dungeon. In any case, he has no elemental weaknesses and he can buff up his offense, but if you keep him from Shocking anyone, the worst he can do to you is unload a couple Focused up Hell Thrusts or Guillotines during a Dragon Eye. We go back down to get our MP back. Man, the twin Mot we regularly fight around here give more experience than Thor did.  : Yup.   *: Hmm. We get teleported to a new room as we climb up the stairs that Thor used to guard. This won't be as simple as it looks.  : I'll never make it to Lady Chiaki's side at this rate! Let me check my map...*: There are two ways out of here; let's go east.  Welp, Mada as random encounters now. Can't just Deadly Fury everything!  Three more ways to go. ...the first one warps us back to Thor's room. Well, it's not like we don't have a use for the experience. We keep running into encounters with various conflicting immunities, like with Hresvelgr, Randga, Yurlungur and such, which really makes Almighty damage shine. Tao Tie's Megido and Skadi's Megidolaon are all kinds of useful. Oh hey, Zed levels up, and learns Freikugel, replacing Spiral Viper. In many regards, Freikugel is a single-target physical attack skill. It costs HP like a physical skill, it can crit like a physical skill, and it benefits from Focus like a physical skill. It does base damage comparable to Spiral Viper's, but has a slightly lower critical rate. The big selling point here then, is that Freikugel doesn't do physical damage. It does Almighty damage.    You'll note that this is Mada, who absorbs physical damage. With a Focused critical...  Freikugel is our final single-target skill. Alright, so. This floor is a big teleport maze, but you get to keep your automap so it's not so bad. Along the way we find a Cube with 20000 Macca, a Chest with a Bead Chain, and we recruit a Cerberus.     We can lower the red blocks in the center so we don't have to climb the stairs and go through the maze again. Yay Nocturne!   : Hmph, how arrogant it looks...: Well I'll be. We agree on something.: Lady Chiaki is much more elegant.: ...marginally. *: There are damage floors and dark areas here, and you can avoid some of them thanks to side passages if you pay attention... but Float Balls.  An unexpected teleport takes us in front of a small Terminal. I won't complain! We get into a fight with two Mada and an Aciel; the Madas repeatedly use Intoxicate to cause Panic, and manage to kill off Skadi and Throne before we can get cured. I decide to use a Smoke Ball and cut our losses. I've got the encounters around here under control most of the time, but we can't forget that the demons around here are extraordinarily deadly.  After exploring the hallways in here for a bit, we find a lift cube in the southeast. Let's check it out.   Oooh, more of these. "Nice".  Hmm, it only takes us to a hidden pitfall that drops us back to 431F, in an area with a teleport back to the Terminal. We'll find the right lift yet!  Oh-ho! Right in the middle of the north side. It's looking promising!   : If you want to see Kagutsuchi, you need to offer the three stones to it. The stones are proof of Reason, so each leader should be carrying them.: Ha, yeah, right. They're proof that I'm crushing Reasons, at least.: There's nothing better than a good trophy!: Stop talking.: Except maybe earning a good trophy, am I right? Or am I right?: Wow, you're actually making me miss Incubus.: What are you talking about, boss? I'm right here!: Wow, okay, thanks for murdering my nostalgia.: I aim to please.*: We turn back, return to 431F, and keep looking.  Here's another lift, in the northwest corner. Is the third time the charm?  Taking the first path south takes us on a vanishing block loop, leading to a pit and a Soma Drop, then to the main floor. Making our way back up and heading east instead takes us to a hidden pit that drops us to the northeastern area of 431F, which we haven't been able to access until now.  Heading east from here earns us another lift to 444F. Along the way, Throne levels up and learns his last skill, Debilitate, replacing Mute Gaze.     : You still know who's the boss now, right? : I wouldn't dream of changing my mind on this!: For better or for worse, you guys are as good as your leaders, aren't you?: Proudly so!: ... *: The process to obtain all of the Seraphs in Nocturne starts with evolving a Throne into Uriel. Hmm, we're almost level 90. Man there's something I gotta do. We find one of the many teleporters back to the Terminal, then warp to the Amala Temple.    : ...You must bolster your faith by ridding yourself of the impurities of the world. Now, give up those impurities to me...: Sounds serious... Here you go.> You obtained Opal x 1. Dominion left. : That's not what I had in mind, but I'm not angry.*: That was another special conversation. Other attempts to use Brainwash proceed as normal. It's very effective against targets of a lower level than the user, so it doesn't take long. : You're coming with us. *: And he comes with us, no charge, no questions asked. Rigid hierarchy has its benefits! From here, we warp to Little Asakusa again, and hit the Cathedral. Music: Jakyou Mansion *: Just like bringing Orthros to the Cathedral on New K plays the Jakyou Manor music from SMT2, bringing Cerberus to the Cathedral at the same time plays the equivalent track from SMT1. Anyway! That's not what we came here for. Uriel + Dominion =   *: We're not done yet! We summon Throne from the Compendium for 45100 Macca. Raphael + Throne =   *: And that's not even all! We let Cerberus go to get some space, we summon Uriel and Raphael again, for 58300 and 70800 Macca respectively, then we get into a few fights to level Zed up the rest of the way to 90.  Mastering Gaea (and passing on Attack All) doesn't change our alignment, but it does take us to the next tier of Dark titles. We're now Lord Francois Hawke. : There's no way that won't go to his head.*: You're one to talk. Didn't you declare yourself a Kishin at some point? : Hey, Futomimi made it in the Kishin for getting punked by a high school girl on his own turf. It's not as exclusive a group as you seem to think.*: We finally return to the Cathedral. Uriel + Gabriel + Raphael =   quote:Lv90 Seraph Michael *: So, how about that. The dude's giving orders to your strongest opponent. : Eh. He can't do much worse of a job than his previous employer did : What is this? Do I hear an arrogant infidel speaking out of turn? Which is all the time?: Yeah, you do. Wanna get firestabbed again?: Oh, crap! I'll be good! I promise!*: So. Metatron's dead, and Michael is God's executive vice-president. Technically, Yosuga's troops answer to us now. Chiaki's still leading them, but that won't last, will it? Alright, enough of this for now, let's head back up and sniff out Little Miss Important's last refuge. It looks like the northeastern section has a bunch of dead-ends and lifts leading into pitfalls leading into these same lifts again, so we explore elsewhere for now. Along the way, Dante learns his last skill, Showtime, which is his powerful group-hitting Almighty attack. We have plenty of powerful electricity casters, including Pixie, so I let it replace Roundtrip.   Another lift, in the southeast this time. There's another short sequence of vanishing blocks up there, and another pitfall, dropping us to...   This has got to be it.  It's not Chiaki yet, but is sure looks like progress.        There are some lift blocks taking us out to floating islands, but again there's nothing there but a view.    Oooh, another small Terminal. Amazing!  : Probably not! : There's an incredible treasure hidden in this tower that can manipulate life. After climbing steep paths, falling, scraping knees, finally...*: Hmm. I know there's an infinite-use Balm of Raising in here somewhere, but I missed it and I can't remember where it is. We do have 10 regular one-shot Balms of Rising though, so I'm not too worried about it.   More vanishing blocks over fathomless chasms! Awesome!  ...okay that's new. Wow. At least it's an area we've never been to before. Down here, Zed levels up. Glacial Blast is mostly useless now that we have Freikugel, so I replace it with Makakaja, in case our allies' spells would prove more useful still. A few fights later, Michael levels up and learns Victory Cry, which regenerates his HP and MP to full after every battle. That's... pretty rad. I let it replace Brainwash.   Alright, a new lift block. It takes us next to the Terminal on 444F, so this is less of a hassle than I feared.  Let's try the north path.  Whew! No traps on this one.   The eastern blocks look like they go towards the island in the middle, and the western ones look like they're going all the way to the Dominion and the lift on the other side of the room. Hmm. West seems too obvious, so east it is.  Ah, this is probably more like it.  : I'm surprised you have the nerve to even see us!: I won't dignify that with response.: Lady Chiaki is up ahead. Yosuga shall take that stone you have in your hands. ...And your life.*: Just before we take the lift, Skadi levels up and learns Earthquake, her final skill. I let it replace Force Repel.    Another small Terminal. I think the game wants us to save! Cutscenes + Boss battle: Deity Baal Avatar: Thanks for helping me with the dirty work, Futomimi.: I would not have dared let this chance you've given me go to waste. If it can spare others my people's fate...: I wonder how things would have gone differently if you had let us in Mifunashiro in the first place.: I... Uh...: It wouldn't have gone differently at all. It's not like we would have just taken up guard duty at the entrance, we had our own stuff to do. I'm sure you did what was best for your people.: I.. shall do my best to keep your words to heart.quote:Deity Baal Avatar *: Apart from reflecting Expel effects, Baal Avatar only has the standard boss immunities. She's surprisingly wimpy on her own; she only has Beast Eye, and tends to stick to Mahamaon, Holy Wrath and Radiance, with the occasional Megidola thrown in. Her first real asset is Bael's Bane, which turns any target who isn't completely immune to Curse into a fly. Flies take a significant penalty to all their stats, become weak to Expel, and the ailment cannot be removed. (I hoped Prayer would work, but it doesn't!) Fortunately they can still perform normally any action that doesn't rely on their stats, such as casting buffs, using any -diarahan spell, or summoning. Her other asset is Divine Will, which she uses on the fourth turn (and on the fourth turn only) to summon Flauros Hallel and Ose Hallel. Flauros knows Hassohappa, all -kaja spells as well as Tetrakarn, Mazandyne and Maragidyne. Ose knows Dragon Eye, Dekunda, Dekaja, Tetrakarn, Makarakarn, Rakunda, Chaos Blade, Maziodyne and Mabufudyne. Both of them also know Diarahan, making them a priority target. They don't come back when killed, so do make them a priority target, with Ose first because you want to get rid of Dragon Eye as soon as possible. Drink of the wine of the wrath of the Demi-fiend. All gods have been rejected! What now?  *: We go around the room and climb up the stairs in the back.   There's only a small room with a pitfall behind that door, and it drops us right in front of the lift to the final area, where that soul reminded us about the three stones. That's our cue to go back down, and make our final preparations. We take the nearby Terminal to Little Asakusa, and run around some until we can hire a Yurlungur. ...in the end it takes so long that Zed makes it to level 94. We're pretty close to a certain milestone, so we keep getting into more fights to gain one more level. Let's just say Skadi, Dante, Michael and Masakados make some some pretty painless grinding! (Pixie doesn't have Mana Aid, so while she tends to hit harder than Skadi, she requires slightly more attention.) Okay, 95. Whew. Lessee... We summon Wu Kong and Arahabaki from the Compendium. Wu Kong + Arahabaki =   : ...: Well then!: ...aw poo poo.: Hmm. I hope you'll use this time to learn a lesson or two, Loki.: Ha, never mind that, he's going right back in.: I take it he's the next sacrifice, then?: Wait, what?: That's right! Just pop him in again.: DON'T I HAVE A SAY IN THIS?: Nope!*: Next, we summon Raphael again. And finally... Michael + Gabriel + Loki =   : Wrath I have more than I need. It's obedience I require from you. : It is all that I am.: No hard feelings about the whupping we gave you down below, then?: You refused the fallen one's request. In this world, I have no other responsibilities. Make what use of me you will through this summoner's compact, and the Universe shall march on no matter the outcome.: Well, I sure made my bed. Come along, then. *: Whoops, I wanted Yurlungur because we didn't have anyone with Rakukaja, but Metatron ended up with it anyway. Welp! At any rate, Metatron is a special fusion: you need to put together Michael with any other Seraph, and sacrifice any Tyrant. Alright, it's time. We climb back up to the final lift.  : This is it. Whatever happens next, everything will change, and it will change because of me and because of anyone who goes up there with me. I don't understand how this whole summoning thing works, but I know you have to do what I tell you. And right now, what I tell you to do, is tell me if you want to keep going with me, or if you want to turn away. I'll let you go. Ms. Takao spoke to me of freedom. It may not be a Reason, but I like the sound of it well enough. It starts here and now. Are you with me?: I obey.: The Emperor will grant you the honor of witnessing your victory, hee ho!: Ha, you know I'm in. I'm all about freedom, and if it kicks the Great Will in the balls, there's nothing else I'd rather do! : This is certainly one rebirth I'm not prophesied to miss, and miss it I shan't. : If I had known you were going to give me such worthy prey, I would have wasted less of our time in the Amala Temple. I can't wait!: THE FOOD GETS SO BORING HERE. WHATEVER KIND OF WORLD YOU'RE MAKING, THERE'S NO WAY IT CAN BE WORSE THAN THIS.: You've more than earned my humble support. I will keep assisting you as I am able.: I can't run this place as long as you're in it, and I'm not so dumb that I think I can take you down. So I don't give a poo poo. Just give me more stabbin' meat and I'll count us square enough.: We've exceeded the terms of our agreement, but there's no one else in this craphole I'd rather fight with, so keep failing to disappoint me, will ya?: Thanks, everyone. Uh, except, Pixie...?: What, are you kidding? You really need to ask? I know this is the end of the road, but there's no way I'm turning back now. And don't you dare say goodbye!: Ha, okay, okay! I get you. Alright then. Let's move. This insanity has lasted too long already.Atmosphere: 666F   *: Before we use the floating block, we go west and drop a last save at the last Terminal.    Alright, Kagutsuchi, you motherfucker. Watch this. Cutscene + Boss battle: Light Kagutsuchiquote:Light Kagutsuchi : ...are you really doing this?*: You better believe it! Why stop now? : Oh for..*: Both of Kagutsuchi's forms only have the typical boss immunities, so you can use whatever strongest attacks you have at will. His sphere form is relatively harmless. It knows all Ma-dyne spells, as well as Megidola, Dekunda, and Dekaja. Where it gets tricky is that it will use Vast Light every time Full K is up, dealing a lot of Almighty damage to your entire party. Now you might think that's easy enough to deal with, you just need to avoid starting the fight on Full K... but the phase advances twice by itself every turn, and Kagutsuchi can use Phase Shift to advance it twice more. So you better keep an eye on the phase meter and make sure you're all healed up in advance. Once you've dealt 20000 damage, the real fight starts. Kagutsuchi keeps the elemental spells and Megidola, and gains Dragon Eye as well as a group-targeting basic attack that does Almighty damage. On top of that, Vast Light turns into Infinite Light, which functions pretty much the same, but deals even more damage. And if that wasn't bad enough, the phase never changes from Full K anymore, meaning that Kagutsuchi can use Infinite Light pretty much anytime it feels like, with the caveat that it does take up all his actions for the turn. The number one priority is to survive Infinite Light and a Dragon Eye + basic attack barrage, and seeing as it's all Almighty damage, it means you need to stack up Tarunda and Rakukaja effects. That's really not optional. Take a look at this. Defeat: Zap! This is an early test attempt where I had no one capable of casting Rakukaja. Kagutsuchi was completely Debilitated, the entire party had an Endure/Never Yield effect, and we were still vaporized. If you can keep the buffs in your favor while you take down his 40000 HP, then he's not very difficult. And if you can't, you basically lose. : Alright alright alright, we get the picture, stack buffs and debuffs, fine, whatever, let's pretend that's all new information. Can we get on with it now?*: Ha, sure, I think I've made you wait long enough. Let's see what our efforts have earned us, then. Cutscene: FreedomIt's been a few days. Everything's pretty much back to normal. Well, almost everything, I suppose. For a moment back then, I was worried. I wasn't afraid for myself, of course. I was long past that. But as soon as I cracked Kagutsuchi's horrible face, I had a doubt. What kind of world would be born? Would a world even be born at all? I had murdered the Reason bearers and crushed the seed of creation. But creation took place. This is a new world, but... it's like the old world got reincarnated into itself. Everyone's back, like they never left. Or at least, everyone who died in the Conception. To them, it's like it never happened. To the rest of us... To me, to Isamu, to Chiaki... We know what happened. Of course, Ms. Takao's e-mail excepted, we don't talk about it. There's nothing constructive to say, really. We see each other every day at school, and we're amicable enough, I suppose. I must admit I can hardly look at Chiaki without seeing her crush a Manikin's head in her bare hands, and I don't know how I'll react the next time I see Isamu give a thumbs down. But... I think they're grateful, in their own way. And as much as I feel like resenting them sometimes, I don't know for sure I wouldn't have acted exactly like them if I had the chance to make my own Reason. Everything was so messed up, you know? It doesn't excuse anything, but I really don't have it in me to fight my friends anymore. Ms. Takao's better than ever. She was always kind, but whatever warmth was behind her smile before, it's grown a hundredfold since. I think she finally found her own Reason. In the end it didn't change the world, but it sure changed her, and sometimes that's enough to make all the difference. I haven't seen or heard about Hikawa, but he's out there. He's still got his company, he's still got his money, as far as I know. But he doesn't have his cult anymore, and he certainly doesn't have the Maiden. Man I would have loved to see the look on his face when he woke up and realized how completely alive he was. I'd make a quip about being a fly on the wall, but that hits a little close to home. Of course no one's gonna know to charge him with attempted global genocide and reckless demon summoning, but I have a feeling that existence is going to be punishment enough for him. Hijiri's running around somewhere, no doubt, but I'll be damned if I know where exactly. I haven't been able to find any issues of Ayakashi Monthly, but I haven't looked very hard. As for me... I argue with my step-sister a little less, I fight with my step-father a little more (though I can't play anyone with a Hadouken anymore), and my mother may not understand why I've suddenly turned into the hug bandit, but she sure doesn't seem to mind. They say you don't appreciate what you have until you don't have it anymore, and I can get behind that. That said, I can't help but feel like I've left a chunk of myself in the Vortex World. Or... or that there's a chunk of it left in me. I keep expecting people to twitch; hopefully that'll go away over time. I look human again, but on the inside... Man, I don't know. Every once in a while, I find myself trying to summon. No one's answering, of course. Other than that, I guess I better find out what it is exactly the Guardian of Tokyo is supposed to do, because that's still me. I paid a visit to Masakado's tomb again. Nothing happened. Can't begrudge a guy for taking a vacation after a thousand years, but he could have left some notes or something. In the meantime, I do my best not to get into any fights. So far so good! Anyway, that's about it. All that's left for now is to find out how this Steven guy got my e-mail address, and who it is exactly he thinks I should be staying strong for.  : Hey guys, what's going on in this thread?*: Nothing! : ...Sorry. I'll... shut the door.
FrankZP fucked around with this message at 17:53 on Feb 27, 2016 |
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Feb 26, 2016 17:40
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: Intermission time again, hee ho!: Intermission? Doesn't that mean "in-between"? *: Yup! : Huh. So we're not done, then?*: Nope! Alright, so. That's the main portion of the LP done! Man, what a trip. For now I'll tie up a few loose ends, and then we'll get into some bonus content later. 1. Intro videos The game boots up with two short pre-rendered videos, one before the title screen, and another if you wait a bit. I decided against putting them up at first because while they don't really spoil plot details, they do show a bunch of stuff that I preferred to allow the actual game to present at its own pace. I'm sure you'll understand what I mean! Cutscenes: Opening2. Music Title loop 1 Title loop 2 These are the tracks for the intros I just posted. Heretic Mansion ~ Curse The Cathedral of Shadows has one track we didn't get the opportunity to hear, for when we are afflicted by the Magatama's Curse ailment. Man, we nearly went a hundred levels, and we were only cursed once. And it was deep in the Labyrinth too, so we couldn't safely get back to a Terminal without having it cured. Reason Boss Battle Kagutsuchi Tower Last Boss Battle ~ Before Transformation I really like how cold and mechanical this piece feels. It really fits the bizarre form of your opponent, especially with its semi-wireframe look. Last Boss Battle ~ After Transformation Of course, it can't stay cold and mechanical forever. And because Nocturne gotta Nocturne, it transitions into badass electric guitar sound. Reincarnation This would be the piece for the Freedom ending. Staff Roll A round of applause, everybody. 3. Final fusion chart code:Once you've seen the credits and read the mysterious final message, you're prompted to save your game.  When you load again, there are a few differences.    In the opening dream sequence, Ms. Takao asks if you want a new look. You still lose the alternate clothes once the Conception occurs, but they do switch around a couple of your starting stats. If you choose to stay the same...  Another neat bonus is that you can press Select to play with a first-person camera, in a nod to the previous SMT games.    There are also a couple things that have a much bigger impact on gameplay. Namely, your Demonic Compendium completion carries over, and the level restrictions on the fusion process are completely lifted! Sacrificial fusion becomes a lot more practical now that your new ally's level is no longer capped to your own. Of course, summoning strong demons from the Compendium is very expensive for a fair chunk of the game, especially if you've restarted on Hard Mode where cash is a lot dearer, but if you've managed to completely fill out the Compendium, you get a 50% discount. The last thing that carries over is your Burial Chamber progress and records. If you've beat the challenge time for all boss tombstones, you can return to the Labyrinth after beating Matador on a new cycle to get an extra cutscene with Cerberus, Izanagi and Izanami, who grant you a permanent bonus turn icon. 5. The other endings I mentioned before that there are six endings to Nocturne. Of course three of those endings are earned by supporting one of the three Reasons. Interestingly enough, none of them are "bad endings" per se if you happen to agree with them. The game has the courtesy not to judge you for supporting a Reason that appeals to you! I'm not going to go into details here, but do have a listen to the three ending themes, and you'll have an idea of what I mean: Yosuga, Shijima, and Musubi. All three Reason endings culminate in a battle with Kagutsuchi, as a final test of the strength behind your principles. There is nothing that stops you from agreeing with multiple Reasons, but the game tallies up your alignment points and gives you the endgame for the one with the highest score. This leaves three unaligned endings. The one we got is the Freedom ending, earned by refusing to ally with any Reason, trying to stop Hikawa in the Diet Building, and answering Aradia's questions in Yoyogi Park with courage. We fought Kagutsuchi not as a test, but because it was outright trying to stop us from derailing the Creation process with an unofficial quasi-Reason promoted by a non-human without divine sponsorship. Of course there is also an ending if you refuse to ally with a Reason, then skip the Samael fight and/or admit fear to Aradia. It's commonly called the "demon" ending. Once you reach the top of the Tower, Kagutsuchi notes that not only have you murdered the legitimate Reasons, you also bring no conviction of your own to the process. He literally leaves in disgust without a fight, and the Vortex World remains as it is for the duration of the next cycle, as a hollow, sterile, lightless shell where demons rule unopposed. That's arguably the only bad ending, but hey, if that's your bag, who am I to judge, right? And the third one, well. You get it for allying with Lucifer. Beyond that, we shall see, shall we not? 6. What's next Alright, whew. I'm not done with this, but I'm taking a bit of a break, probably a week or two, because man the Tower is intense and this'll take so much grinding, you have no idea. Though maybe I'll get the itch sooner? Who knows. And then we'll pick things back up at a certain point of interest. : You mean the elevator at the bottom of the Labyrinth?*: ...yeah. : Aight, cool.*: You just had to, didn't you? : Hmm-mmm.
FrankZP fucked around with this message at 18:53 on Feb 27, 2016 |
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Feb 26, 2016 17:41
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Thanks for the kind words, everyone! Honestly, when I first got here, I felt a bit like the country boy getting off the bus with his little suitcase for his first stay in the big city, so I'm still blown away by the reception I've had. It's been a pleasure, through and through; you're a spectacular audience. I probably have at least another LP in me that'll have to come out sooner or later, and it'd be foolish not to involve you fine folk again. Though I probably ought to get this one completely finished before I start making plans, heheh.Montegoraon posted:If you want to save yourself some time, how about going for a real challenge, forgoing grinding and trying to beat the true final boss at level 90 or below? Oh I'm definitely going to make early attempts for sure, I don't want to level up more than I have to. I know it's not so much a question of raw stats as it is a question of putting together a viable party. That said, I might like to use this opportunity to show off more endgame demons. Hmm. I'll figure something out! cdyoung posted:It's not that you tried to force a quasi-reason without a sponsor, it's that you wanted to revert the conceptual world to the old one before the conception happened. Kagutsuchi tried to kill you because you didn't want to create anything and instead wanted to revert everything. Hmm, I think that's a valid way to look at it. That said, the way I understand it is that the pre-Conception world was already the world of freedom, and creating a new world based on the exact same rules logically generates a near-exact copy of the old one. The actual process of Creation depicted in the final cutscenes, with Kagutsuchi detonating and planting light pillars all over the interior of the Vortex World, happens exactly the same way in the freedom ending as it does in any of the Reason endings. The game doesn't ever really mention "reverting to the old world" as something anyone actually wants, or even as something that is possible until it outright happens, though if you bring that desire into it as the player then it's still entirely legitimate. FredMSloniker posted:As I mentioned, that's the one I was hoping we'd get. Admittedly, it was based on some misconceptions about what was involved, but it's really the 'gently caress everyone' ending, where you refuse to play Lucifer or the Great Will's game. (Okay, Lucifer says approving things if you choose it, but frankly there isn't an end where you can disappoint him. You'd probably have to set up a sandwich shop in the Vortex World or something and just ignore Kagutsuchi entirely to do that.) Aight, I can see that. Of course, the demon population does benefit from the new state of affairs, but it's not like they were responsible for the Conception in the first place, it's really more of a "door's open, boys!" situation for them. And in fact I'm pretty sure it's the one ending where the Manikins continue to exist, though seeing as the Vortex World more or less works on Yosuga principles by default, that might not be such a great thing for them. Shitenshi posted:First time I noticed it but even Hijiri's cursed rear end is still hanging around after the world went back to normal. I wonder if throwing a wrench in the creation process and forcing the Great Will to act against its purpose also unplugged him from YHVH's matrix? I kinda doubt it, but I can't say I have more than a gut feeling about it. Night10194 posted:Undid global genocide and helped your teacher get over a massive suicide/depression metaphor while punching terrible demons in the face? Not a bad day's work if you can get it. The freedom ending actually is my personal favorite ending, so I can get behind that. I quite like our world, as messed up as it is sometimes! mauman posted:Great lp ZP. You did the game justice. Oh dang that is good to hear, thank ye. This endeavor could easily have devolved into a third-rate fanfic haphazardly tacked on to an amazing game, but my priority was really to show off this beautiful, compelling work of art that Atlus made, which includes pointing out all the space it allows a player to involve themselves and build their own personal story in. And if I succeeded in any way, then hot drat, I couldn't ask for more.
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Feb 28, 2016 16:57
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Aight, so! While I'm pretty sure I got another LP in me for somewhere down the road, and I'm aware I've kind of established a trend for myself, it may or may not be for another SMT game! Of course I'm taking note of your suggestions, at any rate. Regarding PMs, I'm kind of in a place in my life right now where I have to think of ten bucks as four meals, but in any case I can be easily messaged through my youtube account, or through the Brontoforums. Night10194 posted:He (thankfully) lost his powers and demifiendhood, I think. I'm inclined to believe he kept at least some of the Magatama's power, on account of the "until then, stay strong" line. Of course it could very well just refer to mental fortitude!
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Mar 3, 2016 22:08
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Oh dang, youtube must have changed some setting someplace... Ah! There should be a "Send message" button on my channel's About page. I know it was there at some point but I've had to dig through the options and enable it again for whatever reason. It's a good thing I'm not youtube-dumping to pump my channel because I'd be right terrible at taking care of it in the first place. And, uh, well, in any case, much obliged!
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Mar 4, 2016 04:00
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Aight, this took a lot longer than I planned, but the gameplay's all in the can and I'll be putting it together in the next few days. I won't abuse your patience much longer, and before you know it we'll get right back to our regularly scheduled process of multiversal annihilation. Not that... not that you'll know it after we're done either. Because, well.
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Mar 26, 2016 05:15
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"I'd say I found someone you want to meet, but it's more accurate to say they found me, and that they want to meet you. Funny how these things go, right? It's a little scary to think that I'm easier to find than some high-school student. Anyway, I'm sticking my neck out there for you, kid, so be sure to thank me later!" The message is signed "H". It's probably not Hikawa, so... Hmm. I should have stayed home, but I suppose that's hardly proper for the Guardian of Tokyo. Why meet in Kichijoji of all places, though? And this address... A fortune-telling shop?   : Um, hi? I'm sorry if this sounds strange, but I got an invi- : Welcome, Demi-fiend. I have been expecting you.: Ooookay, what's this about? And how do you-: Holy crap I can't believe this worked. Man, you have no idea how many favors I had to cash in to pull this stunt off.: It's actually kind of impressive how far he went to make this happen.: Who the hell-: Gentlemen, please! Time is of the essence!: Sorry ma'am, I'm just super excited is all. Do go on.: Have a seat, young man, and rest for a moment. I have been hired to-: We're gonna show you what would have happened if you had taken that elevator at the bottom of the Fifth Kalpa!: ...: He's like a little puppy, isn't he?: Sorry, sorry, shutting up now.: Look, I get that you went through a lot of trouble to set this up, even if I don't really understand what's going on, but I'm honestly not sure I want to know what would have happened.: Hmm. Can't blame you.: Really now? Not even a little bit?: ...: Well, that's alright. I mean, I spent a lot of nights wide awake, wondering what would have happened if I hadn't made the alliances I made, but I guess that's just me. No one bothered to break a bunch of metaphysical rules from multiple universes to put these questions to rest, and I suppose that was for the best.: ...when you put it that way... I guess maybe I am a little curious.: Ha! I bet you are.: Is this even slightly dangerous?: Don't worry, this isn't quantum physics, we can observe all we want.: I cannot promise that no one will look back as we gaze into the abyss, but we shall not be harmed by what has not come to pass.: Alright, that's good enough for me. How does this work?: Be at peace. Remember your thoughts at that moment, and look into my eyes.: ...: And you two as well, look into my eyes, and behold the reflection of memories that were never made.: Her EYES, buddy.: Uh, right! Of course!Cutscene: Baptism*: Symbolism much, eh? Though I suppose there's a world of difference between a pool of Magatsuhi at the bottom of Hell, and the waters of the Jordan river. : Oh, great, he's here too.*: Anyway, we are reborn in darkness again, so we wake up in the Shinjuku Hospital's morgue. That about settles the question of who put us here the first time around. For all the power we've received, we didn't change much. In fact, there's exactly one thing that changed. Remember when I mentioned Marogareh had an unknown last skill?  Now that we've aligned ourselves with Lucifer, that last skill is unlocked. Pierce is a passive skill that allows physical attacks to ignore resistances, immunities and absorption (but not reflection). Freikugel counts as a physical attack in every way but damage type, so it also bypasses Almighty resistance, though that only matters for Noah and... someone else, as we'll see.  : And now, you have been born a second time...*: We use the Terminal to warp to the final area, and reach the top of the Obelisk again.   : Show me your heart... : I have nothing to hide.: ...All I see is darkness inside you... No light remains in your heart, and your purpose is in defiance of my will... If you dare, then come before me with the three stones of treasure...*: That's pretty much all that changes for a long time. So at this point, I want to rush up the Tower and defeat Ahriman quickly, then skip Noah so we can get Kailash and start working on our endgame build as soon as possible. However, I have three additional goals right now that we didn't have the first time through, because I'm not quarter-assing this "bonus content" business. Number one, I want to show off all remaining evolutions. Number two, I want to show off all remaining special conversations. And number three, I want to craft a squad of badass mofos to take on the final challenge. I've mentioned in the thread that I'd make early attempts at relatively low levels, but, given that I decided I'd go for goals one and two and that they'll require some serious leveling up, I might as well go whole hog, bring in the heavy artillery, and demonstrate what it truly means to be Hell's General. In any case, I need to make some room in our party so we can start working on goal three. We have plenty of allies right now who won't be part of the final battle in any way, and now that Zed's a complete demon and we're going on a parallel story track, I don't feel too bad about making craters in the more sentimental areas of our roster. First off, Futomimi has got to go so we can start training a Throne as soon as possible in his place. I'd get rid of Sakahagi too, but I do want to keep his Dekaja around until I can sacrifice him to pass it down, so he stays a bit longer. I'd also fire Dante if I could because he can't be part of the final battle for mechanical reasons I'll mention in time... but I literally can't. Welp! Better get to it then. Man I'm glad I got an audiobook backlog. ... Alright, Kailash acquired. Now we can get started. First order of business is turning Titania, Albion and Black Rider into Scathach again, then heading for Yoyogi Park.    : It has been awhile, Setanta. Have you kept up your training? : Of course! I have never skipped a day of training in order to be accepted as a hero!: You have potential! Keep practicing, and one day you'll make me proud.: What gracious words! I, Setanta, will train even harder to fulfill your expectations!: I look forward to that day.: Master, take this as proof of my promise!> You obtained Luck Incense x 1. Setanta left. : Well, that was surprisingly chaste.*: I'm preeeeeetty sure this is Setanta still as a little boy. : I know, I know! Just sayin'.*: Interestingly, Scathach does not naturally learn a conversation skill and can't initiate this special conversation at all if you don't give her one. Fortunately, passing down Titania's Pester did the job. At any rate, that's all we needed Scathach for, but we do run around some more and recruit Setanta himself, which is painless because Throne's level is far enough above Setanta's that Brainwash works instantly. We then return to the Cathedral, fire Scathach, summon a Valkyrie and a Koppa from the Compendium, then head to the Amala Temple's black pyramid.   : Hey, it's you, Valkyrie. Why're you hanging around here? You've got a weird humanlike demon leading you... This some kinda joke? : Silence. I am following my duty and I side with the strong. There's no need to accuse or insult me.: Is that so? Well, good for you. For a minute there, I thought you were in love with that human wannabe.: ...What!?: There was one like that a while back... A valkyrie that became too affectionate with a human and caused a great tragedy.: ............: The man she loves also had powers that humans shouldn't have. ...Sound familiar?: I... I will not follow in the same footsteps!: Interesting. Your voice seems to be faltering.: Get thee hence, insolent scoundrel!: Haha! You're just like your father, it's so easy to tease you! Don't be so edgy, now. Take this as an apology.> You obtained Vitality Incense x 1. Loki left. *: I suspect Loki's talking about the love between the valkyrie Brünnhilde and the human hero Siegfried in Wagner's Der Ring Des Nibelungun opera. At any rate, we kick Valkyrie out of the party immediately to make some room. However, we stick around the black pyramid a bit longer.   : Hmmm... This is a coincidence. I never thought I'd see you here.: Brother... Now is the time of ordeal. Lendeth me thy power.: ...Brother? Ahh, come to think of it, we did swear an oath to each other. I forgot about that.: ...Dost thou say our merry trap was but a farce!?: Man! You're so uptight. You've always been like that. You always lose sight of the big picture, like that time when you sacrificed one of your eyes to gain wisdom.: ............: You need to kick back and relax. Enjoy being a god! ...Okay?: Loki. I shall swallow thy sins. Heed my words! O sinful brother, lend my thy power.: ............ I figured it wouldn't go my way... I just can't beat you! Alright then, I'll give you a parting gift. Make do with that.> You obtained Great Chakra x 1. Loki left. *: Next up! In the red pyramid, Throne brainwashes a Dakini. We hit the Cathedral again, and fuse this Dakini with Odin to make Kali, making sure to pass down Wooing, then we fuse a Nigi Mitama to Koppa, making to sure to pass down Persuade, and go right back to the red pyramid. Along the way, Koppa learns its final skill!   *: Karasu will evolve again, so he stays employed for a bit longer.    : I haven't seen any of you around lately. Where've you been? : (Oh poo poo!!) ...Huh? Oh, uh... Well, you see...: ...Seeing a man?: O-Of course not! I would never leave you out, b-boss.: ...I see. Then show me proof.: Well, um, er, yikes... I can attend you... like I did before!: You're not getting out of this one that easily! I know... hand over a jewel. You've gotten plenty offered to you, right?: Huh!?: What? You got a problem with me!?: 'Course not!: Then hurry it up!: ...Yes, mistress. (I'll get her...!)> You obtained Agility Incense x 1. Dakini left. *: Aight, that's all we needed Kali for, so away she goes. Whew, what's next? We warp to Ikebukuro, summon up an Orthrus at the Cathedral there, then run around until we can hire an Inugami. Once that's done, it takes just a bit of grinding, so we pop back to the Tower of Kagutsuchi, summon an all-star game-winning party of Setanta, Orthrus and Inugami, and punch the likes of Mada, Mot and Aciel for a while. Good thing we got Pixie to take care of the occasional 1-shot casualty! At last, Orthrus learns Scout.    : GRRRR... I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU, BROTHER. : ...? ASK ME THEN.: WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT, I HAVE 2 HEADS AND YOU HAVE 1. SHOULDN'T YOU HAVE MORE HEADS THAN ME...?: ............: SO HOW ABOUT IT, OLDER BROTHER?: YOUNG BROTHER OF MINE, YOU SEEM TO BE TIRED.: DO NOT DODGE THE QUESTION, OLDER BROTHER!: I GIVE THIS TO YOU, MY BROTHER!!> You obtained Chakra Pot x 1. Cerberus left. *: At the end of the same battle, Inugami learns its last skill.     quote:Lv22 Avatar Makami *: Makami is one of the first evolutions you can perform, and it's not a bad one either, since it learns Void Mind, Diarama and Recarm relatively early. At any rate, that's all we needed Orthrus for, but we give Makami Persuade via Mitama and fuse it with Parvati, creating another version of Dionysus that I will not register in the Compendium. Aaaaand it's back to grinding for a bit. ...no, wait, there is something else that we can get to right now. We summon Garuda from the Compendium, then... Oh, hmm, it needs a couple levels to learn Persuade and it doesn't have any free slots to learn it through a Mitama. Welp, back to grinding, then. At some point it occurs to me that the Rangda around here are a huge pain in the butt to run across (since they reflect physical and therefore are protected even from Pierce until we get Freikugel), and we're gonna want to hire one at some point anyway, so we get one on board and drop Sakahagi to make room for a Cerberus that we'll also employ before long, hopefully. ... Whew, alright, Throne Brainwashes a Cerberus. Now, to hire a Rangda after all... or... uh, dang, not yet, there's something I didn't think of. And before we get to that, one more thing needs to happen. Ooooh, here we go. ...no, wait, what the... Oh crap, I forgot Persuade is a passive conversation skill, it can't be used to start a special conversation. Oh boy! Alright then, I'll have to make this happen some other way. As a consolation though, at the end of that fight, Karasu learns its final skill.    quote:Lv38 Genma Kurama *: Aw crap, Kurama also has special conversations and I was passing down Persuade to make them happen. So they won't happen for a while yet. Welp, it's not like Zed can't use the experience, right? At any rate, Dionysus has a free skill slot and is therefore salvageable, but that version of Kurama doesn't and is useless to us now, so I get rid of it. We'll have to start over from a summoned Koppa, but at least it has Watchful so it's almost painless. ....aw hell, I was counting on Garuda to learn Persuade too, but its slots are full too. I gotta kick it out; man, what an expensive mistake he turned out to be.  : I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you say that.: Wait, what's this bozo doing here? This makes even less sense than usual!: Well, the lady did mention the abyss looking back.: I thought she was talking about, like, the devil.: And that would be better because...?: Hmm, good point.*: I'm gonna have to get a Sparna with a conversation skill, then evolve it from scratch. I think I'll save some money and catch one outside the Obelisk. Okay, so. Keep calm, carry on. Next. I had something else in mind for this Cerberus, but for now I summon Orthrus again and fuse them together into an Aeros with Scout (since they're both Beasts). I then summon an Aquans, and fuse it with the Aeros to make a Kusi Mitama with Scout as well, and register that sucker. Dionysus fuses with that Mitama, learning Scout. I also summon the Koppa, and give it Scout as well. And while we're at it, I leave the Tower, brainwash a Sparna outside, and, you know it, fuse Scout onto it. Whew! At some point a Hresvelgr joins up, which is notable because it's the strongest Wilder, but I have precious little use for him and he gets the boot right away. ... Alright, finally something goes right, lessee...    : My sssh'mell is *hic* the sw-sweet fragrance of wi-wine! 'Reek' is a phrase... that desh'cribes you! *HIC* : Heheh, don't get all riled up, now! That was supposed to be a compliment.: Wh-what...? *hic*: I finally came across someone who knows what alcohol really is! Are you a god of liquor?: Wh-why?! Are you, too? *hic* ... It's sad knowin' that I'm the *burp* same as a god like you.: Oh, come on, now. Liquor tests the hearts of the greedy and invites both bliss and misery. Just like the work of a god. There are lots of gods, but being a 'god of liquor' isn't bad at all.: Desh'pite your looks, you... seem to undersh'tand. ...Is it hot in here???: Heck yeah. Heheh. I like you. I know... You can have this as a parting gift. Take it.> You obtained Magic Incense x 1. Mada left. *: Well hey, witnessing this burgeoning booze bromance makes all the hassle worth it in the end. Anyway, that's pretty much everything we need Dionysus around for, except for one thing. We summon Cerberus again, and fuse him to Dionysus, obtaining Barong (with Scout, of course). And having Barong around...    : As long as you live, I will appear. Over and over, just to defeat you. : Yes... I know. Likewise, I will rise from the dead as long as you live.: Rangda, what are we fighting for? Have you ever thought about that?: Shut your mouth!! Or my claws will slit your throat!! I am the dark, YOU are the light! What else do WE need!?: I see how it is... You are right. I will no longer hesitate. From now on, my entire body is burning only with the desire to destroy you!: That's how it should be! *chuckle* Let us continue, then... ...Our 'relationship' that's been going on for thousands of years!*: Unlike other special conversations, this one doesn't end with a gift, it ends with all your turn icons being taken away! At the end of the fight, Setanta learns his lask skill and turns into Cu Chulainn, which we had seen briefly in the Labyrinth. Fortunately I don't have any time-consuming plans for him: we go to the Cathedral and fuse him with Lilith to make a Chimera, making sure to pass down Wooing. In terms of combat power that's a colossal loss, since Chimera is a few levels over Cu Chulainn but nearly thirty under Lilith's, but combat power isn't the point here. At this point we have three free spaces and Throne just turned into Uriel, so we hop to the Amala Temple to get a Dominion, then to the Diet Building to hire up a Purski (for an unrelated reason). While we're in the latter location...    : GRRRR...?: I'M THE GUARD DOG OF HADES. MY BROTHER, ORTHRUS, IS THE GUARD DOG OF A RANCH. BUT YOU ARE NOT A GUARD DOG OF ANYTHING. ...WHY?: THAT IS SIMPLE... I AM NOT A DOG.: AWOOOOOO! I HAVE FINALLY FOUND MY ANSWER!! THANK YOU. TAKE THIS!: This definitely isn't my world reborn. This must be some other universe entirely.: How can you tell?: Pascal's way smarter than that.> You obtained Soma Droplet x 1. Cerberus left. *: We get our Purski moments later (it comes with Watchful and we don't need it for anything urgent, so that's nice), then head for Ginza again. First fight is the charm!   : GRRR...: WE HAVE DIFFERENT PARENTS, BUT YOU CAN SAY WE ARE FROM THE SAME LINEAGE. I WILL WATCH OVER THE PATH YOU TAKE. HERE IS MY PARTING GIFT. TAKE IT...> You obtained Chakra Pot x 1. Orthrus left. *: Aaaaand that's all we needed Chimera for. Whew! That's a bit of a relief, but now we got some serious grinding to do until we're ready for the next step. I do fuse up Raphael in Ginza before returning to the Tower, but Zed needs to gain a few more levels before Gabriel is available to us. Welp, time to get to it. ...oh wait, we might as well go shank Thor while we're here. Yup, still a pushover! We finally hire a Rangda as we go back to heal, but at this point it really is all a question of grinding for a while. I'll get to it! ... Alright, we got a Kurama again. They can chat up both of their former evolutions, but it's a little tricky; I'm pretty sure you can only meet Koppa in the back passage of the former Nihilo HQ and Karasu at the bottom of the Obelisk near the Chakra Elixir. Well, you can still meet both in the Labyrinth, but you can't have a conversation with them.    : There's no reason to hate another member of your race that much, is there?: Shut up! Don't talk like you're some kinda sage. To us low-level Tengu, you're just a nuisance.: ...Hmm. Then you can defeat me.: Wh-What's that???: If you have more strength than I do, you can take my place. I have no regrets if I lose.: Y-You wanna go for it? If I w-win, I can have your p-position!?: What's wrong? Your voice is shaky. Are you... 'scared'?: Sh-Sh-Shut up! I'm not feeling g-good today... I-I'll remember this! D-Dammit!> Karasu Tengu dropped something while panicking. You obtained Lucky Ticket x 1. Karasu left. *: Moving on, I can't seem to run into any Koppa at all, which ain't so great. There were butt-tons of them in the Nihilo HQ proper, but that's beyond reach now. Hmm. Oh well, I might look around some more at some point later, it's not like I don't have several more levels to gain. In other news, we have a Garuda with social skills again. First stop: Kabukicho.    : This saves me the trouble of looking for you! Prepare to die!: Wait, Naga! Do you not think that this battle is pointless? This conflict was started by our parents. It will not end until we overcome it!: You foot-licking, gutless booze-worm! I will kill you right where you stand just for saying that! This will be easy...: Silence! I have no interest in such a futile battle.: I do not give a drat about your interests! I am only interested in bathing in your blood! Come on, coward!*: Welp, this one ends your turn as well. Can't say I'm surprised. Next, we go to Asakusa Tunnel, betweeen Asakusa and Yoyogi Park.   : Are you going to fight me, Raja Naga? : ............: Is the king of all Nagas going to prolong the mistakes of our parents?: I... I myself have no interest in the feuds of our parents. But many Nagas are still cursed with that grudge. And I am the leader of those Nagas...: ............: But perhaps... it is a king's duty to lead my people towards change. Then, Garuda... Take this. Today, we did not meet. ...Is that okay?> You obtained Soma x 1. Raja Naga left. : So much for being mortal enemies.: This whole thing about demons being unable to change... I wonder if it's true, after all.: If you ask me, it's a load of crap.: Hmm.*: Alright, we're gonna need a bunch more levels until something else interesting can happen, so we warp back to Tower and pick some more fights. ...Whew, Purski learns its final skill.    quote:Lv58 Wargod Ganesha *: So! We've seen almost every evolution in the game. Other than that, Abaddon turns into Aciel, Jinn turns into Efreet (we've seen Aciel and Efreet before so I'll say I won't have to actually evolve them on camera), and... there's a last one, as we'll see later. Much later for me, but pretty soon for you I suppose, heh. Anyway, I fuse Raphael with a Throne to make Gabriel again, and if we fuse Gabriel with Ganesha...   *: Thor's in our party at last, so it's time for one final trip to the black pyramid of the Amala Temple.    : I finally found you, most foul criminal!: Why so pissed? Wake up on the wrong side of the cloud this morning?: A thousand curses upon you! Don't act the fool with me! My wife's hair was praised throughout Asgard... Thou art the one who lopped it off as a prank!!: For real!? Now... that... you... mention... it, I heard about that! Was that lil' ol' me???: Arrrrrrgh! You don't even remember thy dark deeds of cuttery!? I'll not forgive it! Die a painful death! The wrath of Mjollnir upon thee!!: Painful death? Come on, man... You don't know when to CUT it out, do you?: Enough talk!!: Whoa there! Let me off the hook in exchange for this...> You obtained Ruby x 1. Loki left. *: We get back to the Tower, and since Zed just hit level 90, we can triple fuse the Seraphs again and get Michael back. Aaaaand that's as far as we can go on the to-do list until level 95. Oh boy. At least Michael's a powerhouse, and having him around makes things a lot smoother, especially since we don't have low-level hires to train anymore. In fact, before long we can just use Michael, Dante and Pixie to blow everything away.  Oooh, I didn't notice it exactly as it happened, but apparently we've mastered Magatama differently enough to have reached the tier of Neutral titles equivalent to Lord (which is Dark). With Michael in our party, that makes two John Travolta movie references. : Dude you've been grinding for too long.*: Maybe. ... Alright, level 95! Hot drat! We hop to the Cathedral, fuse up Loki (from Dionysus and Arahabaki), sacrifice him in a Michael/Dominion fusion (Michael and any Divine or Seraph will do to get Metatron again). He's not going to be in our final party, so the ingredients hardly matter. In fact, he's basically going to be a fancy key that will allow us to get the last piece we needed to put our final party together. And that final piece is in the Labyrinth's Fifth Kalpa.  *: Remember this guy? Metatron is the only one who can open this door.  There's just a big room with a pit on the other side. We gotta go down!   Lots more golden doors here. Stepping into the room...  : We are the law here. We will only permit you to use us three times before you are forced to leave.*: The south and west doors are accessible from here, though there's one more to the east on the other side of the translucent wall. Let's try west. : Attention trespassers... You are only permitted to use us two more times!*: The only other way is south. : Attention trespassers... You are only permitted to use us one more time!*: The only way is south again. : Attention trespassers... You have now passed through us three times. You will not be allowed to advance any further!*: We find ourselves in a big rectangular room with five golden doors, counting the one we came in from. Two of them are in the south, and we take the western of those two.  : Leave this instant! *: We can barely catch a glimpse of a Burial Chamber's grey door before we're teleported to a room full of damage floors back on B3. There's a Chest in the south end of the room with five Smoke Balls inside; other than that there's a one-way door leading to the area of the floor we already explored.  Aaaand the automap for B3 looks like a skull now. Great! We fight our way back to the three-doors puzzle and try again. Our prize is in there somewhere. Taking the first south door...   : But, now I'm lost. What to do...?*: Going east then north take us to a ladder that brings us to a one-way door returning us to the Metatron door room. Another try, lessee... South, south, and south again.   : ...I'll sell you something special. Interested? Here's what I'm selling... the strongest elephant you ever saw, with the power of a demon. In battle, he'll bust out attacks that'll crush any enemy! : You're drat right I want it.: Excellent choice!> You purchased a demon from the Shady Broker.  *: This remarkable Girimehkala comes with skills that normal Girimehkala definitely do not learn naturally, including Attack All, Focus, and all Might skills. On top of that, he is the only demon in the game with Pierce, besides the Demi-fiend of course. We can absolutely register him at the Cathedral and use him for fusion! However, I do want him to gain three levels so it can learn Debilitate; we return to the Tower and fight some more. ...and done. Now we're in business. We head for the Cathedral and register everyone. First off is a special fusion: putting together a Femme and an Avatar does not usually create a Fury, but Rangda and Barong together...    quote:Lv95 Fury Shiva *: We've also sacrificed Girimehkala to give him more skills. However, this version of Shiva doesn't remain with us for long. We summon another Girimehkala, and straight up fuse it again with Shiva.    *: This is not a special fusion, but still, the number of demons who will fuse into Beelzebub is vanishingly small. I think you have more options if you are Cursed, since all fusions result in Dark demons then, but I'm not sure. I would have loved to sacrifice something to give Beelzebub a boost, but a fusion that results in a Tyrant that's performed on Full K will always result in Fiend Trumpeter if you have a Deathstone in your inventory, so that's a no-go. That said, I get an Ara Mitama from Rag's, and use it to give him Tarukaja. Up next! We summon up Scathach, and fuse her with Metatron, sacrificing Girimehkala again.    quote:Lv92 Deity Vishnu *: And we summon up the ingredients for the Shiva fusion again. So. Shiva, Vishnu, Beelzebub, all of them with Focus and Pierce. We are this close to our final party. All we need now is for Beelzebub to earn a couple levels, and we'll be there. We're not just gonna grind it out, though: this timeline still has a bunch of suckers who earned themselves a punch or two. However, before we resume our righteous crusade, we have a couple last side trips. First off, to Kabukicho again.    : Naga. I have something to ask of thee...: I am at your bidding, sire.: Wouldst thou give thy treasure unto me?: With honor, my lord! Please, take this!> You obtained Great Chakra x 1. Naga left. *: Then it's off to Asakusa Tunnel again.   : King of the Nagas... I have something I would ask of thee.: I am at your service. Order me as you will!: Wouldst thou give thy treasure unto me?: As the king of the Nagas it is my greatest honor to be given such an opportunity! Please, take this with you.> You obtained Diamond x 1. Raja Naga left. *: Aaaaaand that's all of the special conversations, except the one with Kurama talking to Koppa, because I can't find Koppa after all. Alright then, next stop: Bandou Shrine. It's gonna be like New Londo in there because we got four kings to whup.   I recorded the Bishamonten fight, but honestly, putting it up would be disrespectful of your time. The other Heavenly King battles are equally uneventful, if you count a 7200 damage Freikugel as uneventful. And the encounter with Masakados doesn't go any differently. : You'd think a true demon following the Path of Destruction and accompanied by the Great Divine Destroyer and the Wicked King of Chaos wouldn't be so easily entrusted with protecting Tokyo.: What was Masakado supposed to do, though? Say "no" to the Demi-fiend?: Hey, man.: Hmm?: Tell me how handsome I am.: ...what?: Come on. Tell me how handsome I am.: I... uh... I don't... That's not how I...: Well then, I guess it's not so hard to refuse the Demi-fiend, is it?: I stand corrected!: Dude, you're hella handsome. And smart too! And so powerful!: Okay, what's gotten into you?: Yeah, I'm getting a little weirded out here.: When I was done saving the world, I didn't hear one half of one compliment. Nothing. It was all, "Stonka are eating all my cabbages!" this, and "yes you have to pay for that pie" that. And I'm gonna make sure that poo poo doesn't happen to this rad fellow right here. You're amazing, dude. Keep on rocking.: Uh, alright then. Thanks! I will!
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Mar 27, 2016 20:34
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*: Back to the Tower, it's time to teach Isamu a lesson. Boss battle: Taking Noah to school in the car of pain *: The one thing that usually forces you to play by Noah's gimmick is his huge resistance to Almighty damage. He of course reflects physical damage so Pierce alone doesn't help, but combined with Freikugel, both resistance and reflection are bypassed entirely. Alright, next up is Chiaki of course. Along the way, Shiva and Vishnu learn their final skills, Phys Drain and Phys Repel respectively. Yup. Aaaand Chiaki goes down. Nothing unexpected happens here either. We couldn't beat her before she summoned the Hallel, but that's really no great problem. She did attempt to use Bael's Curse a couple times, though it was always on Beelzebub so that was good for a giggle. We have the three treasures at last, but there are still a couple things I want to do before the final battles. We head for a Terminal, and return to the Fifth Kalpa. On the floor with the lady demons, we take the eastern ladder, and find the golden door that talked about us being a true demon.  Ooooh, these hallways were empty before, but there's a Cube here now.  And chests in the corners too! I don't think we'll need any of the stuff in here but it won't hurt to check it out. Lessee... Four Jades, twenty-five Lucky Tickets (!!!), three Deathstones, 150000 Macca, and three chunks of Magic Incense. Not bad! As we leave the room, Beelzebub learns its final skill, Elec Boost.  *: To nobody's surprise...      *: Beelzebub leaps from level 86 all the way to level 95, making his true final skills accessible: Death Flies and Victory Cry. I doubt he'll have time to learn either, but we'll still put him to good use. And one such good use is very close by.  *: This is of course the door only Beelzebub can open.  Two Chests, one with 10 Balms of Rising, and one with 10 Soma. This is just a hunch, but I think the game wants us to be prepared for the final battle. Of course, we really are prepared by now. It's been long enough, in so many ways. Let's head for the fight to end all fights. We have an infinite genocide engine to stop, and no one in heaven or hell can keep us from putting an end to its wretched cycle.        Cutscenes and boss battles: Light and Darkness: Well that was a whole lot of Debilitating Lucifer's crotch.quote:Lv99 Devil Lucifer *: A wrinkle that's easy to miss for the final battle is the Kagutsuchi phase: DEAD. This is of course because Kagutsuchi has just been killed. It's mostly for flavor, but it does have the side-effect of ensuring that neither Bright Might nor Dark Might can activate. Anyway, Devil Lucifer! He's level 99, with 40 in all stats, as well as 65535 HP and 65535 MP. He has boss immunities, on top of a 75% resistance to physical, magic, and Almighty damage. Essentially, anything that's not a Pierce-enabled physical skill will barely scratch him. Deathbound/Vitality builds and Freikugel/Strength builds work fine, but if you've got a Magic build relying on Boosted elemental damage, you pretty much have to let your squad take care of the offense. Lucifer's resistances are why Dante's not so great for this fight. He's literally the only recruitable demon in the game who can't learn Pierce. Apart from Holy Star and Provoke, he has no support abilities; Lucifer doesn't use -nda effects and you definitely don't want to increase his attack power. The demon hunter can't do anything worth doing. Lucifer knows Dekaja, Dekunda, Diarama (kind of a joke, really), Prominence, Glacial Blast, Mabufudyne, Megidola, and Megidolaon. Apart from Dekaja and Dekunda, seeing him use any of those skills is something of a relief, because that means he's not using one of this three signature moves. Evil Gleam, the one we haven't seen, is a group-targeting Charm attempt with a base 60% hit rate. High King is a powerful group-targeting Almighty attack with a 100% chance to Bind (though it only worked once because of our allies' ailment resistances). And Root of Evil has a random effect on every party member: it may cut current HP by 50%, 75% or 90%, or more rarely inflict Mute, Poison or Stun instead. I think even High King doesn't quite match Infinite Light in terms of raw face-melting power, but it doesn't take two whole turns to cast, and Lucifer still generally hits hard enough that you want to keep up stacks of Debilitate and Rakukaja to make sure that you can survive him following up on a worst-case-scenario Root of Evil. Okay. So. What's next? Cutscene: The time has come: Wait. Wait wait wait. Don't leave us hanging here, lady!: My apologies. That is as far as I can see.: What!? Come on! Just a little more! We gotta see who wins!: Dude, this is fairly non-trivial. You're asking her to look past the death of time.: That does present something of an unsurmountable difficulty. If it wasn't for the strength of this young man's spirit, we could not have seen even as little as we have.: Gah. Aw cripes. Sorry man, I guess this was a waste of your time after all.: It... it really wasn't.: Eh? I wanted you to see how you would've ended up, and-: I appreciate the sentiment, but... That wasn't me. I didn't make those decisions. All I saw was... someone who looked like me, and who did things I'm glad I didn't do.: No regrets, then?: Ha, are you kidding? Nah, I'm... I'm glad things turned out the way they did.: I for one am certainly happy to have been brought back!: The death of a world... Sure would have been a hell of a thing to carry on your shoulders, huh?: There's still the death of infinite billions of worlds out there, though.: All of them with their own copy of the Scriptures of Miroku, all of them with a Demi-fiend calling the shots, and all of them with the potential to be reborn like this one was. It's not your responsibility.: I know. I... I know. And in any case, I'm relieved I didn't turn into... into that creature.: Creature? Well that's a little rude, isn't it?: ...what the-: Wait, what is he doing here?: This is impossible!: Death's vastness holds no peace. I come at the end of the long road. Neither human, nor devil... all bends to my will!: Huh?: Just looking for honest opinion from the only person I can trust. I'm whupping a bunch of cannibals and I figure I might try that line on them for effect.: Cannibals?: Long story. Anyway, you dig it?: Ehhh... A little overdramatic.: Yeah, thought so. Maybe I could write it down somewhere. That kinda stuff always reads better in your head than said out loud, doesn't it?: Oh yeah, absolutely.: Hey, uh... How's Pixie doing?: She's kicking rear end, no worries. I'll tell her you said hi.: Much obliged.: Man, you have no idea. Aight then, I'm hopping back out before someone misses me. Smell ya later, chumpos.: ...: ...: ...: ...how many rules did you break to make this happen, again?: drat, multiverses are weird.*: Well hey, speaking of long roads ending, it looks like this sucker's just about wrapped up! Man, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. What a trip. A million thanks to everyone who walked this path with me on the Brontoforums and Something Awful alike, to all who might walk it in the future, to all who've commented and discussed, to all who've read and to all who've allowed me into their minds ever so slightly and gave me the chance to showcase this masterpiece of a game. And of course, much gratitude goes to Atlus, for crafting it in the first place, and for having the brass gonads to release it outside of Japan in such a faithful form! : And hey, uh, I'm not sure how this works, but, thanks everyone for giving me my world back.*: Now go out there, keep your eyes wide open, find your own Reasons, and once you got 'em, hold on tight. Don't worry, it's not like the world can get any rounder, right? : That's it? That's what you're ending on?*: Yeah, pretty much. : You gotta kill your darlings, that's basic.: I guess you're safe, then.: Man I get no respect.*: Awwww, come on. Get over here. Group hug! : Bah, fine.: Ha, no complaints!: Hey, this is almost not awkward at all.: Nice!: Wait. Which one of you is getting excited?: I... don't... What... what the-: Ack!: I LOVE YOOOOOOOOOU~~~~*: I guess I was wrong. This is what I'm ending on. : Oh for the love of-
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Mar 27, 2016 20:36
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Thanks for the kind words, everyone! Man, I'm blown away. I would have been surprised if no one liked it, but this shatters all my expectations. And that avatar, holy crap! That's crazypants in the most glorious, raddest possible way, so thanks a lot on that account too! Man, in a literary sense I feel like I'm using the word "thanks" too much, but in every other sense it's like I can't possibly use it enough. And of course you've been a superlative audience. I didn't know what to expect when I first arrived, really; I've been through more than my share of LPs on lparchive.org in the last several years, but I never checked out any threads. You've been generally amazing! As far as future plans go, I don't have anything definite lined up yet but I certainly have another LP in me at least and I do have a list of candidates in mind, which includes some SMT but also some non-SMT (though on top of the list is another Atlus-published game featuring a sort of metaphysical post-apocalypse so one might say I'm working within a theme, heh). It's a bit tricky though because I think I need a silent protagonist to work with. I made private test runs of a couple favorite RPGs of mine in between SMT2 and Nocturne, and I kinda got bored of them very quickly; ironically I felt that the characters had so much personality and were so well-defined that it was like I had nothing to contribute, or no room to work with. I know it's not quite the case but I might just be broken that way. It's a bit of a private hurdle I suppose. Shitenshi posted:As badass as Shiva and Vishnu are, even they can be whacked with Lucifer's mind/nerve attacks, and considering how tough he can be on Hard Mode, that is not something you want to happen. That's what makes Beelzebub and Metatron so inherently valuable with their boss resistances. The only problem is finding a third ally to round out the team who is just as good as they are and both completes the thing thematically. The Fiends are an obvious candidate, but as party members, they lack the feeling of relevance that Beelzebub and Metatron have in the stakes of Lucifer's plan, being nothing more than mid-bosses sent to test you. And deciding which Fiend just to feel right with the rest of your team can be a problem too, because they all fit, especially the two highest level ones, and choosing one while shafting the other just feels inappropriate. I know I didn't go in with a perfectly suited party for the final fight, but seeing as this is on Normal, I figured I could get away with showing off basically the highest-level demons in the game, especially since they're relatively tricky to fuse and in a purely practical sense the game doesn't ever really justify going with them. I agree that Metatron and Beelzebub are probably the best choices in terms of mechanical optimization, in any case. As for the fourth party member, I think my preference would be looking at a custom Black Frost, of all things. He specifically reflects/absorbs Lucifer's elemental damage, and naturally learns all ailment Void skills, and he's just extraordinarily tanky pretty much anywhere you take him. And of course it puts a delightful cherry on top of the ambitious shopkeep's personal journey! FredMSloniker posted:I wanna see FrankZP finish the story of SMT2. If the grind's no fun, maybe there's a patch to reduce enemy encounter rates or something? Hmm. I'm not gonna say never, I've been genuinely tempted to redeem myself on that for a long time, but... not soon. :3 ModeWondershot posted:The narrative was fun and light without really seeming out of place for the story, so good job on that too. There is something particular about SMT's tone, in that yes, it's grim and dark a lot of time, but being based in human folklore, it's not always grim and dark. There are pranksters and tricksters, there's booze and love potions and dancing contests, there are giant dick monsters and tiny dick monsters, fairies and snowmen, gods who enjoy how enthusiastic their wives are about taking off their clothes in public, and multi-headed dogs and not-dogs this close to accidentally performing bad vaudeville routines. Nocturne jumps at practically any excuse to make you listen to Playing the fool every chance it gets. So yeah, you can totally be fun and wacky every once in a while, and the game is fun and wacky right along with you. Llab posted:I have never been so happy to be proven wrong about an LPer. ManlyGrunting posted:also \/\/ I hear you, 90% of the time LPers who jump in feet first with a backlog from somewhere else are terrible, I'm glad I stuck with this one. Boy am I glad I proved you wrong then, heh. I know I started from a place of, I'm a completely unknown newcomer and I'm sorta bending the rules at least a little, so I did feel like I might have to dig myself out of a hole to a degree. But in the end it was like, I'm gonna be respectful, I'm gonna be humble, I'm going to keep doing the best work I can, and whatever happens happens. The Watercrown posted:You know, everyone's been singing praises about the cutscene direction for this game. Personally, those last few scenes with Lucifer are the goddamn best. Lighting, shadows, camera work... Mmph, just lovely stuff~ Oh dang, I cannot agree more. It's almost mind-boggling to consider the details. It's literally five characters in a near-featureless void, none of them move very much, one of them is in a wheelchair, and he's the only one who says anything. But it doesn't feel sparse! It has a weight, it has a dynamism to it. Just incredible.
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Mar 29, 2016 04:00
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Oh dang, don't worry, you didn't rub me the wrong way or come off as pompous or giving me grief at all! In fact now I'm worried I seemed too defensive myself, heheh. I've been bilingual for twenty-five years by now and I'm more than confident in the quality of my written English, but I still misplace a conversational nuance every once in a while. In any case, gameplay discussion is great and it's absolutely fascinating to hear people having various approaches.
FrankZP fucked around with this message at 04:31 on Mar 29, 2016 |
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Mar 29, 2016 04:27
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Miacis posted:I should probably point out for those who haven't played that you definitely don't need Pierce on all your demons to beat Lucifer in a timely manner. They simply need to be all support. Three demons can debilitate, buff and heal at ludicrous speed, and then just pass turns so all your MC has to do is Focus-Freikugel combo every turn. Right, I went a little overboard with all my party members being able to do damage to Lucifer, but it's true that with the appropriate Demi-fiend build he can shoulder the offense on his own with no difficulty. The main reason the lack of Pierce makes Dante useless for this battle is because he has nothing to contribute outside of raw damage, while you can stick Debilitate, Mediarahan, Tarukaja or Rakukaja on any other demon and it gives them something super useful to do even if they don't have Pierce. Daigerus posted:Really awesome LP you've put together here! Just out of curiosity, is the game over screen different if you've lost to Lucifer, since the Kagutsuchi is dead and thus there shouldn't be any angels lifting you to heaven, or is it always the same? Dang, changing the game over sequence like that would have been an awesome detail, but it is in fact the same as usual. Booky posted:Out of curiosity, what was your favorite part about doing this LP? The audience interaction is the most rewarding aspect by far. But in terms of the actual production process... While I'm playing the game and describing what's going on as it happens, a fair portion of the party dialog I make up on the fly, but a lot of the time I'll leave a note to remind myself to insert a conversation later in the editing phase, especially if I expect it'll be longer than average. I really enjoy writing in general, so going back in and filling in those spots with a bit of extra flavor feels like a million bucks. I also fancy myself a bit of a scholar, so doing research on creatures I don't know much about is always a treat, even if I don't have the time to go in as much depth as I'd like.
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Mar 29, 2016 22:17
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