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I'm seriously surprised they added those two new areas. The hard mode oriented purist in me thinks I'd never go for them, simply because they seem like training grounds as opposed to meaningful content, but I'm also curious on what else there is to them later on.
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Dec 13, 2021 06:46
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PurpleXVI posted:Can the fusion accidents ever work out to your benefit? Like getting access to a demon type that you'd normally have a pain in the rear end to get to? It can certainly work out for you. My first playthrough, I got Loki about eight levels before I was supposed to. Sometimes a demon can wind up with skills it's not supposed to, depending on the game. Unless you're trying for it though, it's rare you'll see more than two or three fusion accidents in a playthrough.
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Dec 13, 2021 12:43
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Shitenshi posted:I'm seriously surprised they added those two new areas. The hard mode oriented purist in me thinks I'd never go for them, simply because they seem like training grounds as opposed to meaningful content, but I'm also curious on what else there is to them later on. That’s because they are training grounds, they’re DLC you can buy if you wanna give yourself a place to grind up. 
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Dec 13, 2021 13:22
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 Ginza  Despite being a remix of an SMT1 track it a remix of Arcade and not Ginza. Not complaining though.   Ginza's not that big a place, surprisingly. We'll still be spending a decent chunk of time here, though. Gonna start by chatting to Eligor, hanging out by the fountain here.   Make sure you don't make any trouble here.Pretty easy to do, but let's see... Oh, right! We've had a few stock shakeups so let's look through the gang.  Lilim (Shikigami + Jack Frost) is quite a good magical attacker. Sexy Gaze is a useful skill to keep in her backpocket and she's deceptively debuff heavy. She doesn't get Sukunda, but Tarunda is her penultimate skill.  Apsaras (Kodama + Hua Po) starts at level 8 but I got her a couple extra just in case I want to do something with Anti-Mind (nah). It's not a bad skill, since it halves Mind elemental damage and reduces ailment rates too.  Choronzon is completely unchanged from his base form right now. He is very tanky but that's really it. He does learn Stone Gaze for his final skill at least.  Preta gained all his skills. Want that Fog Breath! It's 2 Sukunda at once. Why would you not want it?  I stopped Zhen at War Cry for now. His last skill is immunity to Nerve, which is quite good. Not something we need right now though.   They have different exits, too.We'll check out the west side first. The door for it is directly opposite the Fountain of Life.  This doesn't branch, per se, though it looks it. We'll talk to the soul of course.  ...Hold on now, don't expect ME to become a sacrifice!We'll definitely look into that when we find the Cathedral, but for now there's a door just by the soul here.  In there, we can find this item. Where Riberama increases the encounter rate, this duplicates the spell Estoma and reduces it. Kind of. The encounter rate doesn't really change, but when a fight would be triggered it compares the party's average level to the enemy's average level. If ours is higher by frankly too high an amount to be worthwhile, the encounter doesn't trigger and things carry on like it wasn't ever going to happen. I think it's like 10 levels or so.  There's also a soul in here. Do you know about Rag's Jewelry, the shop that will trade gems for items? The merchandise changes every time I go in there. It's so hard to choose! Round the other side of the wall, there's a door up here too. Pretty close to directly opposite the other one.   That's why the Assembly of Nihilo is using terminals to suck Magatsuhi straight from the Amala Network. The Commander sure is a clever one...Queen Mab giving us a low-key important bit of information right there. We've been told a lot that Magatsuhi is important, but never really been given any ideas as to how or why... until now.  Further along, we can find another Eligor just hanging out.  Those guys hanging around in Nyx's Lounge are a bunch of good-for-nothings. "Full of information" my rear end!Hmm, interesting. Nyx's Lounge is meant to be full of information, huh... We'll go there eventually I'm sure, but for now there's the door over by Eligor.  There's a door leading to the back room of Nyx's Lounge.We don't even know where the front door is yet, so we'll worry about that later.  Heading back out, there's one last door south of this Eligor. Alright then!  It leads to the first floor, and there's only one way to go from here.  Outside, no less. That prompt doesn't mean the street though.  No, this is one of the two ways to head out into the Vortex World proper. Not going there yet. Normal Battle -Streets- While we head back down and to the north side of Ginza, let's see what demons are hanging out here. Enemy Apsaras is a joke. I couldn't care less about this, frankly.  Chatterskull hanging out here is a bit more serious. He's exceptionally takeable, even without a Light or Curse skill. It helps that he only has 6 Strength and no way to use his 12 Magic. Hell Thrust is a bit more dangerous than we're used to, though. Single target physical attack that costs 12% HP, has 47 power and like Lunge has an increased crit rate in return for reduced accuracy.  Angels are our first Divine (Neutral-Law) and if we recruit one she would come with those skills she has here. Hama is the first Light elemental spell we've seen and it's just straight up instant death. 40% chance to kill the target instantly. This sounds like a problem. What if she uses it on the Demi-Fiend and I'm sensible and don't have Ankh equipped? Well, don't worry it's not that bad. See, the game never tells you this but the Demi-Fiend is functionally resistant to Light and Dark. He takes less damage and reduced chance to be instantly killed than every other demon no matter what. Him being weak is equivalent to neutral, his neutral is equivalent to resist and his resist would be like a double-resist though off the top of my head, all relevant magatama just skip straight to null anyway making that moot. Oh and if we talk to Angel with some specific demons we get unique conversations! The problem? The earliest one is level 73. Someone remind me to show that when we hit New Game+, thanks.  Jack Frost's hanging out here too. He sure likes ice spells. Also he can summon reinforcements. Okay.  Enemy Lilim's showing off her debuff skills and that she gets Mazio. She's not really threatening despite herself, though. Ginza North side of Ginza immediately shows this door with a new symbol on it. Let's take loo-- Rag's Jewelry --ook...?   So, Rag's is a shop. Kind of. We don't spend Macca here though. We trade for things.  Specifically, we trade gems for things. Rag's is a series classic though it's been reconfigured a bit since the old SNES days. Instead of it being 1 gem for 1 item, or 3 gems for 1 Elemental demon, prices are based on the specific thing you want.  We could also get some fairly decent items early here if only we were able to afford them.  That one NPC told us about his stock changing everytime we enter and that applies to the demons he sells. He sells all four Elements and all four Mitama.  For all of them, he sells the regular boring baseline version. Though you may have noticed there was 2 Aeros and 2 Erthys available here.  Couldn't afford either of them, but how about this new Aquans. It's a level higher than the baseline and dropped Mabufu out for Null: Ice. Aquans itself doesn't need that, but if we were to fuse it with something else we can transfer immunity to Ice to someone else.  Though even being able to afford it doesn't mean much when its level is higher than the Demi-Fiend's. That rule very much still applies. Ginza Not getting anything from Rag's just yet. The Cathedral of Shadows is next door, but we'll wait for a bit before entering. There's a door opposite the Cathedral we'll go through next.  People say that Loki owns a bunch of different things. He's at Nyx's Lounge.We're getting pointed to Nyx's Lounge a lot around here, huh?  We'll go looking for that shortly, but first there's another Eligor down here.  If the time arises, we are willing to sacrifice our lives for them!The more we hear about Nihilo, the more it feels like working with Hijiri is the right way to go.  The door by Eligor also conveniently has this soul who even nicely tells us where to find their base. We're not quite done with Ginza, though, so we'll put a pin in this for a second. Cathedral of Shadows -Gleaming Sky-  Once Kagutsuchi is at its brightest, we'll head into the Cathedral for a second.  ...I don't think I mentioned it before but the Minister here is voiced by David Lodge. His notable roles include Kenpachi Zaraki in Bleach, Jiraiya in Naruto, Jeralt in Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Igor in Persona 5.  Besides the two demons that are fused, an additional demon is sacrificed in the process. The strength of the resulting demon will reflect the level of the demon that was sacrificed. Also, in some cases, you may end up with a completely different demon than you expected. I recommend that you experiment with various combinations. However, be forewarned that this type of fusion harnesses the chaotic power of Kagutsuchi. Therefore, it can only be performed when it shines at its brightest. Why don't you give it a try next time? That sounds like a good idea! Let's give it a shot!  So, the way this works if very simple. We're just gonna combine Lilim and Apsaras to make an Angel.  We'll put whatever random poo poo on her, it doesn't matter. Since Kagutsuchi is currently Full, we can take this a step further.  We'll sacrifice High Pixie here to make her level 12. Normal level rules apply here; if the end result is over Demi-Fiend's level after sacrifice then it cannot be made. Also depending on what you make originally, adding a sacrifice can change it to a completely different demon. This is the only way to get some demons in fact.  Once we add a sacrifice, the number of inheritable skills increase (presuming it wasn't full already) and we can draw skills from all three. Now the one thing here is that, yes, Angel will be level 12. She learns Detain (a passive that stops demons ending a negotiation by taking your poo poo and running) at level 12. She does not get Detain here. Level up skills are only obtained at an actual level up, so when it happens she will get both Detain and whatever she would normally learn at level 13.  Goodbye High Pixie, I didn't really use you this time anyway. Probably won't be missed! Ginza Angel acquired, we're done with fusion for now. For later purposes, I'm gonna pick up a new fresh Lilim and Jack Frost. They won't be used for anything until we reach at least level 14 though. Anyway, another Eligor! So many of them here.  A painless world because emotions do not control it. ...It is far different from the state of chaos that Tokyo is in right now.Now this is interesting. This absolutely sounds like something we're going to learn a lot more about later. There's the conspicuous red door next to Eligor here, but there's another normal one opposite it. We'll do the regular one first.   He may be human, but he is very intelligent and dependable.Just a bit more about Nihilo and totally-not-Hikawa. Nothing crucial, but there's a lot of little bits of flavor here and there.  That just leaves Nyx's Lounge. There's bound to be something useful in here.  A couple souls and a couple of demons! Also, unlike Club Inferno, there's no random encounters in the Lounge. Nyx keeps a tight ship. And since she's level 70 and way stronger than everything else in the area, no one's gonna try otherwise.  But if it weren't for that, every demon here would be at each other's throats.It's pretty clear that Ginza is very much a Nihilo run town, but that doesn't mean everyone here is singing from Hikawa's hymn sheet. For want of a better phrase.  She and the Commander are the ones holding Nihilo together. But that's not saying much.Just really reinforcing that, yes, the ones in charge of the Assembly are Hikawa and Ms. Takao. We really need to go Shiodome to meet back up with her, I guess.   What'd ya think you'd find here? A tall drink and a welcoming party? Sorry, kid, but I don't think they serve milk or juice boxes. Hah! Loki is just straight up rude. ...Something about this door though. Hmm.   I haven't seen you around before. Did you come to check out the Assembly of Nihilo? Yes.It's technically true. Hijiri did ask us to do that, so it's at least a subgoal. ...I knew it. You probably have something for that Maiden, right? ...Nihilo's base of operations is right outside of Ginza. If it doesn't work out, come talk to me again.This stretch of the game is perhaps the one that ostensibly has the least direction. If nothing else, it's the one that I've seen the most people unable to figure out where to go or how they're meant to know what to do next. Like, this is entirely because people just don't talk to NPCs. You can usually get away with not doing that, but that last line from Nyx here is very much worth remembering.  We're off to Shiodome in a second. First, there's three glowing red entry points in Ginza. Two are exits, but this one?  This one puts us in a new area.   Dirty punks like you go over there! We can't get into Loki's room from back here. This Troll can't be fought or anything to get in either. Fine, let's go to Shiodome. Large Map That's the Assembly of Nihilo.It's so close to Ginza, we can literally still see it from here. Silence  I cannot let anyone see our commander or the Maiden. Leave these grounds immediately!So, right here. How do we progress? Well, I know where to go to get past this. But how do you learn the first time? Ginza You just go talk to Nyx again. She said to come back even, though that is somewhat easy to miss. Still though, this shows that if you don't remember Ms Takao saying to find her in the Vortex World? This can feel really aimless and like we don't really have much reason for this. We've technically been able to put together enough for Hijiri already after all. Ha! I didn't think you'd actually be crazy enough to try and go there! ...Is there a reason why you need to infiltrate the Assembly of Nihilo? Yes. ...Really? Then let me tell you something. Go see Gozu-Tennoh. He's no friend of the Nihilo, so he might help you out. You can get to Ikebukuro from the Great Underpass of Ginza, just across the bridge from here. Good luck... You're gonna need it. Large Map The Great Underpass isn't that far away. We just need to cross this bridge here...  And, uh, ignore this highway. We can head over there but I'm gonna hold off on it.  It's not very far away at all.  Like, literally steps away. I think we can still see Ginza from here, even. Harumi Warehouse  The warehouse is a pretty small interstitial area. It's kinda weird, though it's not the only one of its kind.  Not easy to see from here, but there's a couple cubes here. One of which is ever-so-slightly visible behind these wooden boxes.  Both items are new, but Muscle Drink is terrible. It's a HP restorative, an MP restorative and it give you a random ailment. Pass. Makajam Rock is a curse elemental attack item. It inflict Mute which could come in handy sometimes.  The shutter here the door to get further in. That's not really all that clear if you don't check your map.  Left is progress, so we'll go right.  That brings us just to an S-Terminal, but this works well!  Large terminals let you warp around to any other Large terminal, but S-Terminals don't. They give you a one-way trip to a predetermined Large terminal. This is usually, but not always, the one that's closest. Large Map Before we go to the Underpass, let's see what's on the other side of the highway. We were warned this will be dangerous, so of course I want to do it. ...First though, let's double back and follow those bridges around to the lower area. Normal Battle -Large Map- New demon in the area and it's the second Night (Neutral-Chaos). Mostly just the same old stuff we've seen before, and not much of a threat really. Lullaby's newish I guess. It's the single target Sleep spell. Ho hum. Large Map Supposedly, demons with the Lucky Find skill can pick up items just by walking around outside. I've been trying to emulate that. I mean, I could use the treasure! But it's not really working...I have absolutely never used Lucky Find. It is awkward, it takes a skill slot but also it only works if the demon with it is in the active party. All combinations of a hard pass. Maybe with something casting Estoma repeately it might be worth it, but meh. That sounds boring.  All that's down here is a Soma Droplet. This restores a decent chunk of both HP and MP to a single target. Probably just sell this if I need the money, but it's nowhere near worth as much macca as a Soma.  So, the other side of the highway? Normal Battle -Large Map- It has some pretty tough demons just kinda hanging out.  Maybe not so much Archangel. But also yeah kinda Archangel. Diarama makes it annoying at minimum, since that heals a decent chunk of HP. Mighty Gust is one of those increased crit/reduce accuracy skills. Costs 14% HP and has 53 power.  But, uh, weak to Ice so we can shut them down easily enough.  Power is... well, powerful. Hamaon has a 60% chane to just wipe someone instantly. Guillotine is on-paper worse than Mighty Gust, since it costs 17% HP and only has a power of 47. However what makes it better is that it deals more damage the more HP the user has.  Also Power has 16 Strength (Archangel has 11). This is probably an instant game ove--  ...Oh. Uh. Well then.  Guess we win this one. Almost 300 EXP is pretty good this early, though somewhat underwhelming given the level difference.  Principality is hanging out out here too. Heat Wave is okay but not great. It cost 16% HP, deals multi-target Physical damage, has an increased crit rate (no accuracy penalty!) but only 19 power.  Badb Catha's not an angel. Weird that she's here. Nothing we haven't seen before, but she's hardy and can deal decent damage. Really, pretty sure the reason you can just wander into here early is for intimidation and/or grinding. It is very much not needed. Large Map That's why security here is super tight. Can tell we're gonna be back here at some point. Gonna get in here eventually, I'm sure.  Oh and there's a cube here. Let's pop it ope-- Forced Battle It's a monster-in-a-box!  Succubus loves her some Mind ailments, so Iyomante it is then.  ...So, uh,hey. Dormina inflicts multi-target Sleep. Eternal Rest is Mind elemental instant death that never misses. The catch? It only works on folks that are asleep.  Despite just being a regular ol' demon, we can't talk at all during fight like this.  Also that Light weakness is not just for show. Later, Succubus!  For this early, this is good exp and money. The Ruby is nice too. By the time we're expected to be here, this is underwhelming. Harumi Warehouse Not important though. Just gonna load back to the warehouse and carry on from there.  This shutter isn't a normal door, but there is this conveniently placed button.  Honestly, what even is the point? Great Underpass of Ginza  The underpass is a sewer dungeon. Kinda. It's not that bad, though.  Left is an immediate dead-end, but there's a soul there so left it is!  ...It's a loooooong tunnel full of poisonous demons!Kinda? It doesn't really come up much though, weirdly enough.  Progress forward leads us to this skittish lad, who's gone immediately.  We'll follow him soon, but first we're gonna ignore the turn.  There's a ladder down that leads us to a couple Maragi Rocks. These could still be pretty useful at some point. Normal Battle -Large Map- Sudama's not great but not completely ignorable either. Makakaja lets it buff everything else and Kamikaze is a more focused Last Resort; it still kills the user, deals Physical-Almighty damage but it is single target and has a power of 78. It can crit, even, but it can also miss.  Blob are hardy and have some nasty skills. Toxic Sting is a single target Physical skill that costs 7% HP, has 31 power and a 40% chance to inflict Poison. Zanma is just Stronger Zan. 6 MP, 55 power. Blob has 6 Magic so it doesn't get it very far at least.  Slime's here too. Sure, he can join I guess. He learns War Cry at level 9, by the way. Great Underpass of Ginza This guy didn't get that far despite his headstart, huh?  Two doors here, the first one can be skipped entirely.  It just leads to the other side of this grating. There's nothing at all over there.  (Left) A demon...? Is he a Mantra demon?(Right) You... You really think he's with them!? Oh no... Oh shoot... Oh poo poo! We gotta report this to everyone! The way they were standing by the turn here tells us that's progress. Let's ignore that for a second and run on ahead.  Around about now, we hit level 14 and finally the Demi-Fiend gets a 9th skill! We only have 8 skill slots, so Berserk can pound sand. Haven't used it, won't ever use it and Fire Boost makes our Fire skills do straight up 50% more damage. We can crack triple digits effortlessly with Fire Breath (and a weakness). Pretty sure I've forgot to mention the Breath skills we have. They both cost 9 MP, Fire Breath has 30 Power but Ice Breath only has 25. They hit random enemies so not the best skills for if we want to only hit certain targets.  Up ahead, we come to a kind of branch but not really. There's grating blocking the right path, so we go left.  A couple free Mahama Rocks isn't bad. Could use those at some point. Just gonna double back, follow the folks from before... Manikin     .png) ...It's over... ...It's all over... ......Huh? ...... Hey, he ain't a Mantra! Never seen a demon of the likes of him among 'em! ...Pshaw, worried for nothing. ...... ...What? Are we that peculiar to you? Yes. You can likely surmise a lot about us folk simply by seein' where we live. ...Now, go home! The lot of ya, do the same. .png) I guess he's not a Mantra demon after all....png) ...Way to give us a right scare. Looks like we've found something resembling a vague township. In the sewers. These Manikins have it pretty rough, huh... This seems like a good spot to take a break, so we'll look around and finish up the real dungeon half of the Underpass next time. Lotus Aura fucked around with this message at 20:21 on Dec 16, 2021 |
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Dec 15, 2021 04:23
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I knew about the Demi-Fiend having an innate resistance to light and dark but I didn't know it worked like that.  Site I looked at made it seem like it was just a hidden resistance on the magatama, so a weakness was still a weakness and explicitly listing a resistance to light/dark was redundant because you're already naturally resisting them
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Dec 15, 2021 07:04
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So with regards to conditions, how useful are they actually on the player side of things? Most jRPG's(and, frankly, most wRPG's, too...) I can think of have anything you would want to stick on a big boss enemy, something that almost every boss enemy is by default immune to.
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Dec 15, 2021 08:27
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They're really handy in general. You're not wrong that major bosses tend to be immune, but mini-bosses are often fair game and judicious use of ailments can really swing the tide of battle in your favor.
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Dec 15, 2021 14:48
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i grabbed Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga 1 around the same time and they both blew my mind wtih regards to how useful status effects and buffs amd debuffs were. i hadnt played a ton of jrpgs at that ppint but grinding levels and spamming my strongest attacks/spells had always worked until i played an SMT game.
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Dec 15, 2021 17:07
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Status effects like poison, stun, etc. are more useful on random encounters and minibosses/forced encounters, but buffs and debuffs are mandatory for basically every boss fight. And it's always possible to get lucky with an ice or lightning skill and get a stun, at which point, the boss is about to have a very bad day.
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Dec 15, 2021 18:08
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I think that Nyx is the nicest demon in this game besides Pixie. All the others treat Naoki on purely conditional terms.
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Dec 16, 2021 04:37
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Great Underpass of Ginza So, first off, to really highlight how safe we are there are no random encounters here. Sorta. Two doors immediately ahead, the first one...  Leads to a proper full Terminal! We could leave to fuse new stuff, heal, etc. but nah no need to. Next door...  We were made to look like them, for some reason or another. Are we truly that peculiar to you? Yes. ...We're Manikins. Our destiny is to be slaves to the demons. ...But we can also feel pain, as you must ken. That's why we live in hiding in this underpass. ...Get it? So, please leave us be.We're just passing through, anyway. We need to get to Ikebukuro and this is unavoidably on the way. We're not here to trouble no one.  To get anywhere else, we need to enter the icky sewer water. There's no random encounters in the town area, but when we're in the water we can get fights still. ...Hey I think I see a symbol on that door!  Oh, it's a Junk Shop! We'll check it out in a second. Gonna go the regular door to the west first.  Oh, so the Mantra are a group of demons based in Ikebukuro. Dunno if you knew... Junk Shop .png) For a moment, I thought you were one of the scary ones. But boy am I glad to be wrong! In fact, I'd say such a handsome demon deserves a handsome discount! How's that for being generous? Anyway, don't be a stranger, okay? Junk shop down here sells two new Magatama! And a couple other new things. Divining Water is literally pointless; you use it on a demon and learn whether or not it can evolve. Boring. Sacred Water is a full party cure for Sleep/Bind/Panic. We got one way back in the prologue from the subway vending machine even. Float Ball grants immunity to damage floors (whenever they finally appear) until New Kagutsuchi. It is a very common level up gift item so buying it is perhaps unnecessary.  Just bought Hifumi to get a Lucky Ticket. Every time from now on whenever we spend 1000 Macca or more before leaving, we get 1 ticket. If we spend 1000 or 10,000 it's still just the one ticket though.  Hifumi is, frankly, a very good magatama for a simple reason. Its first skill, Tornado, is akin to Fire and Ice Breath in that it does random targetting Force damage. It is unlike them in that it costs 25 MP and has a base power of 65. The Demi-Fiend does not a first tier/weak Force spell (because that is Wing Buffet, you see) and thus only has a third tier/heavy one instead. He gets this at level 17. The single-target heavy Force spell is unavailable until level 44. Yeah. Oh and its second skill is Force Boost at level 22. Get Hifumi.  Hifumi is just the written kanji for one-two-three in order. Here it specifically comes from a basic Shinto prayer, the hifumi norito. As a norito, it sounds very wonderfully rythmic and honestly is kinda calming. It consists solely of Japanese syllables, rather than words, and has no specific direct translatable meaning. It's more about the intent, as a prayer, than the words being spoken.  Kamudo, meanwhile, makes a bad first impression. Becoming Weak to ailments is pretty worrying in itself but Heat Wave's a bad opener that kinda buries the lede. Its second skill is basically irreplacable for a Strength build, and its capstone skill is a wonderful passive for one too. Kamudo is named for the sword wieldest by Japanese gods. Most famous of which being Take-Mikazuchi, the god of thunder.  Oh if you get 10 Lucky Tickets, you immediately get this choice. Each box has a variety of things they can give you but White is the best. Like, objectively.  It can give free Incense! Incense are very, very good items really. Great Underpass of Ginza They're a Bead and also give a free stat point. Added bonus: they can be used on demons as well as the Demi-Fiend! This is perhaps a bit overkill but it does mean you could technically use whatever you want if you're willing to put in the work to make them viable. Since you get the prompt the instant you get the 10th ticket, by the way, the best way to reroll is to save at 9 and then buy 10 Medicine. Or 2 Chakra Drops. I prefer the latter, but they're slightly more expensive.  Oh, nice, Kodama got his final skill! Anti-Force does nothing for him but is very useful soon to put onto something else.  Continuing past more of the sewer water, we've got a few more doors to look in.  First up, we'll snag a Poison Arrow. It does a tiny amount of Curse damage and attempts to, well, poison every enemy. I'unno, maybe it'll be useful at some point. Not counting on it though.  ...... Oops... Wrong demon.This dude is hanging out in the same room as the Poison Arrow. And he implies that other demons are also kinda just hanging out here, which they sort of are but as a gameplay conceit not as characters. Weird.  This guy is next door. From what we've seen so far, the Underpass is honestly very straight forward. It's not great at that when it's stuff coming from Ginza.  Only thing left down here is this ladder. Nowhere else to go...  So up it is. The path here is fairly linear overall, up until that door.  No. You blow. Gozu-Tennoh's the leader of the Mantra. Everyone knows that.This kid is the only one in the room beyond it, though. And he's so rude.  Heading back on the path and carrying on west, we have a lot of choice of where to go next. This ladder leading down, two doors on the north wall, a path south and another conspicuous door straight ahead. The ladder is, like, right here so...  ...It leads to this weird mish-mash of stuff. A barber's pole, a bunch of speakers, some office drawers... Joker  Uh... why do I feel like I walked into a literal junk shop?  The Collector Manikin is voiced in this scene. He's voiced by Robbie Daymond, even. .png) You must be that demon everybody's fussing about. I'm a collector of anything and everything a human would use--if you haven't noticed already. So, I'll leave the underpass every so often, convincing the gatekeeper to let me through. ...Perhaps you could help me with my collection.Well, that was... weird. We're just booted out of the room and trying to go back in is a waste of time. We'll head on back up the ladder and check the first door we come to from there. Great Underpass of Ginza They have very different ideas of how Tokyo should be run, you see.If I know anything about SMT games, and I have the bona fides to say that I do, then it sure sounds to me like the Mantra and Assembly are our eventual Chaos and Law alignment paths...  Next door to that guy, is this woman who tell us about our friendly downstairs trash collector. Yes. You did? He's an odd one, isn't he?...Oh, that's it? Well, alright then.  Before we get to the last door, there's a conspicuous ladder to the south of here!  It lets us get to a Mystical Chest we can easily get a Full Kagutsuchi for. No danger running around in circles here, and an easy Bead Chain never goes amiss. Back up, and just one door left...  .png) This path leads to Ikebukuro, the base of the Mantra. It'd be real bad if the Mantra came sniffing around at our doorstep, so I can't open the gate.I think if they knew you were here, the gate being closed would not prevent them from coming to the general area. But, whatever. We do need to find some way through, though. Luckily we just met the perfect eccentric to help us out! He even said as much, twice, when we met. Joker The gatekeeper's not letting you pass through to Ikebukuro, is he? Would you, perhaps, like me to persuade him to let you through? Yes. Then let's make a deal. I'll persuade the gatekeeper to let you carry on with your travels. In return, you have to find something I'm looking for. It's small, yet detailed, and it uses watermarking technology that changes patterns... It had value at one time, I think. I heard that some humans valued it more than their lives! Much as I'd like to find one, I have no clue as to where one might be. Though, I heard they were found in abundance where people were crowded together. A city, perhaps? Ooh, very likely. I'm sure you'll come across one in no time. You're a demon, after all. So with that... I entrust you with finding a bill.Oh, we should have a good idea where to look for this already. It is easy to overlook, though, leading to having to scour both Shibuya and Ginza... Ginza Remember this soul from Ginza? She's our one clue for where best to look. She's also opposite the Cathedral of Shadows and I want to make two things...  First up, Inugami from Zhen and Slime. Things with Mouth inheritace (the requirement for War Cry) are oddly rare, especially early on, so having something with it is handy. Inugami himself is fine. He's not terrible, and he even learns Fog Breath at level 16! Oh and he also evolves, too.  We'll worry about that some other time though. For now, Inugami is an intermediary and will be fused instantly with the Kodama we got to learn Anti-Force. ...I.. I don't know why I picked Dia here. I don't need a demon to act as a healer for anything coming up and he CAN inherit War Cry. I clearly intended for that to happen and then just didn't. I sure hope someone got fired for that blunder.  A bill, as in human money? Maybe, maybe not... Heh heh heh... You want a bill? Yes. You wanna cut a deal? Whaddya think? Will you pay me 20 million Macca? No. Heh heh heh... Well, of course. Then there's nothing to talk about. Go home.Unsurprisingly, Loki is an rear end. But...  Would he have set the bar so high if he didn't have one? I'unno, probably. But let's go see anyway.  Oh, the Troll isn't here. How convenient!  Three mystical chests? Y'know, while we're here...  Buncha gems for spending at Rag's is great. I do kinda wish there was some Coral here, but this is fine.  Right, also, there's a cube that has what we want. Yoink!  Can't just waltz back out into the Lounge, as funny as that would be. Gotta go around... Boss Appearance What were you doing while I was gone!? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm! It's time for you to die! Forced Battle Aww, the game considers Troll to be a miniboss. That's adorable!  He's pretty strong, sure.  Berserk is weak as piss, but is augmented by his 18 Strength. His basic attack does well over 100 damage a pop without resistance. But, see, here's the thing?  He's weak to Mind. You can just Charmlock him.  Then proceeds to spend evey turn doing jackshit, and there's nothing he can do about it.  Oh, also his only resistance is draining Ice. Instant death spells work just fine. He has 850 HP if you want to cut through it the slow way. Not really worth bothering, but it's there I guess.  Not even worth good EXP or Macca. The idea that Troll is a miniboss is, in itself, a troll. Bead Chain is good though. Ginza Loki knows his room's been ransacked but doesn't straight up accuse us of doing it. He totally knows though. How could he not?  Before we leave, wanna do something else. Lilim served her use by seducing Troll with her eyes. She can combine with Jack Frost to make Nozuchi. He's not great, but he's just coming along to help with some upcoming fights. Toxic Cloud is alright, I suppose. It hits all enemies with Curse elemental damage (that gives it a useful niche already), only costs 8MP but has a mere 25 power. It does, however, have a chance to poison which... is a thing it can do.  Went back the hospital, got a new Kodama and Shikigami. Combined Shikigami and Preta to make a new Slime, fused that Slime with the Kodama to make a Datsue-Ba.  Datsue-Ba then fused with Hua Po to make a Bicorn. Whew, that was a lot of running and working but it serves a dual purpose. Bicorn is not super great, but at level 17 he gets Bright Might earlier than anyone else. Guaranteed crits in Full Kagutsuchi is his big contribution. ...Charm Bite is good too. Physical damage, single target, costs 18% HP and has a power of 41. Improved crit chance, but reduced accuracy and has a 40% chance to Charm. Pretty good!  And finally dropping by Rag's for a sec. Gonna buy a Dekaja Rock, just for safety. I'd like another but they cost 1 Garnet and 1 Coral each. We have 5 Garnets which is Well, no matter. That should do. Let's see, where were we... Joker We had a deal, right? Well, hand it over!> You handed over the 1000 Yen Bill. Okay then, a deal's a deal. Hold on a sec. See you later... Hope you get to Ikebukuro safely.Eh, it'll be fine I'm sure. Now that we've got this, it should be smooth sailing. Great Underpass of Ginza ...... ......?> You gave the gatekeeper the Manikin's letter. ...Hm? A letter from him? ...... ......? ...! ...... ...I got it. If that's the case, don't let me stand in your way. ...Go ahead and pass. Awesome, let's go! We'll start by heading to the ri--  --Left. We'll go left.  The door over there is completely innocuous. It also stands between us and infamy.   The Menorah is warning us. Something is here.  There's also a Manikin here, and something to the right.  Couple of basic healing items, huh. We'll be fine.  Up ahead! Up ahead!The... Grim Reaper? Between this and the menorah, I think it is safe to say we're being warned about something. Something big.  Meh, that's silly. There's no warnings here at all. Let's go left again and...  The First Menorah Wielder I know not who you are... But if you have a menorah, it is our destiny to fight. Let us duel to the death within my realm, where none can interrupt us! Wait, whoa, what? TALK  ...Where are we?  A stormy battlefield... a domain. The victor shall claim the loser's menorah, and return in triumph. You hold a menorah... Then, like me, you must be seeking supreme power.  Only the greatest warrior is worthy of such authority. It is meant for a master swordsman... One who, amidst blood and applause, has put an end to countless lives. Um, you taking auditions for a Picador? Matador, by the by, is voiced by Keith Silverstein. An exceptional voice actor better known for voicing Johan in Monster, Hisoka in Hunter x Hunter, REO Speedwagon in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (both Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency), Mikoto Suoh in K and, of course, Vector the Crocodile in many Sonic the Hedgehog games (and the Sonic Boom cartoon) from 2010 onwards. I'm sorry to say, but you seem rather weak to be in possession of a menorah. You should hand it to one more deserving, such as I. But since it's unlikely that you'll heed my advice... We shall determine which of us is truly worthy of the menorah. He said it! He said the line! Now, let the battle begin!Olé!  Fiend Matador Fiend Battle  Matador opens up doing a thing we should just kinda get used to, really. Like Specter, he steals the first turn.  Like Specter, he uses it to setup his gimmick. Unlike Specter, this is not a one-and-done. Matador has 2 press turns!  Oh and Red Capote is a special skill. See how it says it increased Evasion/Hit Rate by 4 stages? That's only technically true. What it does is applies 8 Sukukajas at once. This guarantees that it pushes him to +4 no matter what.  He always opens with Red Capote, but his second action can be either Mazan or a basic attack.  Mazan is one of the things about this fight that, despite all appearances, is a breather. All of his attacks are Physical except Mazan, so we can use this to rob him of his extra press turn. Hifumi alone does that job, but demons that null/drain are good too. Just avoid everyone being neutral and/or weak and you'll be fine. Also his Magic is tied with Luck for his worst stat. That helps too.  He could also just stab you. With his sword. It's not flashy, but it hurts more than Mazan. ...Does less than Troll's regular attack though!  The thing about him opening with Red Capote though? His opener is not going to miss and you are not going to hit.  That's what the Dekaja Rock is for. Now, he CAN apply Red Capote again anytime he feels like it. This might last a while, it might last literally until he gets a turn.  So, our first turn is pretty locked in really. Dekaja to nix the Red Capote, Makakaja to buff Demi-Fiend's damage output (Tarukaja is also acceptable as an alternative; arguably better)...  Sukukaja to play catchup for when he inevitably Red Capotes again...  Bright/Dark Might to slip a guaranteed crit in and do ~10% of his HP in one go. And then have the Demi-Fiend heal whoever needs it. Probably himself, really.  Ah but Tarunda seems tempting, right?  It certainly does reduce his damage output, sure, making things more managable but Matador is clever.  When he's debuffed, he can cast Dekunda at any point.  All debuffs that were applied are now just gone. Doesn't matter if it's -1, -4 or anywhere in between. Back to neutral and he'll add it to his repertoire from -1 onwards too.  I alone can discern it!He doesn't really have that much health, so its easy to blitz him down. That's when he gets serious.  What, you thought one unique skill was enough? Nah, here's his second. A very fitting name for Matador; despite bullfighting being considered traditionally Spanish, in general, it really originated exclusively within the southernmost region - Andalucia.  Here, it deals fairly weak Phys damage (power 32) but with a fun caveat. It hits everyone and it deals a random 1-4 hits to each target. On its own its not that bad but...  He has more. What if he adds Taunt to the mix?  Fog Breath is two Sukundas. War Cry is two Tarundas. Taunt is two Rakundas. However, unlike those two, there's an extra wrinkle it. Sure it drops every enemies defense two stages, but it also raises their attack by 2 as well. High risk, high reward. As a result of this, it is actually cheaper than 2 Rakundas normally since it costs 20 MP.  ..Oh also he has Focus. Focus costs 5 MP and does one thing.  Your next physical attack deals 2 and a half times its normal damage. That's it. That's all it does. Y'know, no big deal right? Kamudo gives the Demi-Fiend this skill at level 23. If you want it, you get it then and keep it forever.  So, Matador! An infamous fight if there ever was one. 1000 HP, 500 MP, 12 Strength, 9 Magic, 11 Vitality, 19 Agility and 9 Luck. No weaknesses, immunity to Force, Light, Dark, Mind, Nerve and Curse. Light/Dark/Mind/Nerve/Curse immunity is going to become very common for all boss fights very fast, unfortunately. 1200 EXP is a lot, drat. Silence Great Underpass of Ginza  Naoki, I have a favor to ask of you. There is no hurry, but could you bring your menorah to us? I will allow you access to the Labyrinth of Amala from the terminal. I will explain the details upon your arrival. Until then, please ensure that the menorah remains in your safekeeping.> You can no longer hear the Lady's voice. We could double back and do that right away, but that's silly. We'll carry on through the underpass and get to Ikebukuro first at the very least.  Like so. That done, we can just carry on and finally crawl this dungeon.  Going right at the next branch leads to a dead end, though with a cube for our troubles.  Smoke Balls are just a guaranteed escape from a fight (provided it can be escaped from). It's basically the only way to actually flee in Hard mode. There's also a spell that does the same thing of course, but I wouldn't bother with it. High Pixie (level 15) and Choronzon (level 14) are the two demons we've seen that learn it.  Either way, it's boring. I'll probably just sell it for the spare change. Following the path to the left, we gotta go around another grate to get further in.  We could see a door past the grate, which is where the left path leads. We'll skip it and go for the door we can see here.  Because that gets us yet another Bead Chain. Gotta double back to that branch and take the other path now, so right quicklike... Normal Battle -Large Map- Isora is a weird one. It only appears in the water, which means it is the only thing that can attack in the Manikin's miniature town area. That is, however, not the only water in the Underpass. Anyway, it's kinda... eh. Media is annoying but not a big deal. Ice Breath has the same issues ours has with consistency. Venom Bite is virtually identical to Charm Bite, but it has a 40% chance to Poison instead of Charm. This fact alone makes it worse. Both subjectively and actually objectively, the game itself considers Venom Bite to be "Charm Bite but Worse".  Nozuchi hangs out here too. Snake is Neutral-Neutral, so in theory you could just recruit one immediately before Matador if you want. That doesn't have Dark Might though, so it wasn't good enough for me.  Also, uh, got Tornado. Too risky to use here, whenever Nozuchi's around, but it'll stick around for... I dunno. Probably forever. Great Underpass of Ginza Back on the path, we've a couple of options for where to go. Door to left, and a ladder leading down. First, there's a soul though.  If you're going back to Ginza, head east. The door leads us to a Terminal. And another soul.  You can use it to return to the parent terminal.She just tells us something we could've found out by now. Still good to know and all.  Though, the S-Terminal does do one thing new. It's Underpass A. That means there is at least one more S-Terminal down here.  Back out and down the ladder, we're gonna need to enter the sewage water to get anywhere else. First, cube!  Still not even close to the point where these are worth using to heal, by the way. Only gonna use them for negotiations, but that's close to not being necessary...  Into the water we go. Only one way to go from there, at least.  The ladder down is the obvious way to progress here. It's a bit obfuscated here, but when down below you can see the path easier. Therefore, door.  Er, doors. Plural. It mightn't be clear, but you can hopefully see the indent for the further one. Closest one...  Double-dead end with not even a cube in sight. Wasted our time, so it did. Heading back, taking the further door then.  It leads to a cube that deals damage to our party. Rude!  The mystical chest is a bit closer to "whelming" at this point. Could come in handy if we need something from Rag again, though.  Heading back we go, and then down the ladder we skipped over. Pretty linear for a bit, even. There's no way to go that isn't that ladder in the corner.  After it, however, isn't quite as true. Door to the right, ladder down, path to the left... The path is closer, but we'll take the door first.  Don't really need this right now. Fights here, generally speaking, aren't all that dangerous. Since most things are weak to Fire or Electricity, we can just shut them down very fast.  Yes. Ikebukuro's right there after you get out of this hall. But there hasn't been a single being that's escaped the Mantra's clutches once they've been caught! ...Gozu-Tennoh is no pushover. You'd better be careful.Oh, we're totally gonna have to fight Gozu-Tennoh aren't we? It sure sounds like it. Hrm. Okay then. The thing about Ikebukuro is sort of true, I guess, but we're only like halfway through this hallway...  So, uh... the... the path to the south has two door on it. And we have the ladder to our west still. Running over there and taking the door on our left first.  This place'll be toast in no time. ...We couldn't see it before, but there's also a ladder over here as well. Swell. Checking the other door instead.   Well, demons with a gift for gab do have skills that calm opponents down when they get upset. With a smooth talker like that on your side, you'd be pretty popular with the ladies!Basically just telling us about negotiation skills some demons have. Meh.  The ladder outside Hua Po's room is just there to waste our time. There's nothing here.  So we'll go back and down the next ladder.  Gotta cross more sewer water, but there's two paths here. We'll take the left stairs.  Oh, hello there. This is only used for one item, but it is a very good item. Now to just double back, take the other stairs and...  ...Okay, I swear this is a different area. I know it doesn't look like it but it is.  For evidence, the left stairs here lead to the S-Terminal B! And nothing else. The right stairs have it again, then.  They lead us up to just by the door at the end of the hallway. But first, there's a cube over there. Gotta follow the path back east to get to it.  It's kinda worth doing. Soma Droplets are worth getting after all.  Past the door, we leave the longest hallway and... I think that's light shining down!  It is, we did it! We're outta here.  Harumi Warehouse was an interstitial area and it still got a full area title card and pan. Zoshigaya Cemetery doesn't even get the veneer of that.  All the Mantra demons are there. Go in peace...To be fair, this soul is the only other thing here. It is literally one screen and we can't examine anything either. Once we leave here, we're back on the overworld and are apparently a stone's throw from Ikebukuro. Well then! Let's go take a look.
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Dec 17, 2021 03:34
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I'm not sure what bothers me more, them changing Candelabraum to Menorah, or them changing Cathedral to Basillica. Drives me nuts
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Dec 17, 2021 03:38
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Gaius Marius posted:I'm not sure what bothers me more, them changing Candelabraum to Menorah, or them changing Cathedral to Basillica. Drives me nuts I don't know about the second one, but the change was from Menorah to Candelabrum in the first place, as it was always Menorah in Japanese (at least from what the wiki tells me).
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Dec 17, 2021 04:21
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Candelabrum sounds cooler
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Dec 17, 2021 04:26
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i don't think the cathedral is ever called a basilica? oh are u talkin about the final dungeon of smt1?
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Dec 17, 2021 05:57
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Booky posted:i don't think the cathedral is ever called a basilica? oh are u talkin about the final dungeon of smt1? Yeah, it fucks me up when people start calling it that
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Dec 17, 2021 05:58
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Gaius Marius posted:Yeah, it fucks me up when people start calling it that imo basilica sounds a bit cooler, than (great) cathedral apparently its just called "cathedral" in the jp text also
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Dec 17, 2021 07:09
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As much as Matador does serve as a good hurdle to help you learn the peculiar in's and out's of surviving in this game, it does bother me you don't really need to do the same level of prep with most other bosses. You need Hifumi and at least one Force resistant demon to stand a chance against this one. With the other bosses, it's mostly buff, debuff, hit their weaknesses, and heal as necessary,. Sure being immune to their elemental affinity helps, but it's not required like it is here, simply because of this fucker's emphasis on speed. There's some gimmicky bosses who aren't coming up in awhile that might require some retries due to really obscure patterns, but other than that? Game is pretty lenient after this one.
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Dec 17, 2021 10:12
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Matador feels different from the other bosses we've faced so far because he wasn't in the original game, the Menorah and all the associated bosses (as well as some other stuff we'll see later) were added in an expansion.
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Dec 17, 2021 12:17
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This update is where I got stuck for so very long. Not because of Matador. It's because the TV I played this on back in the day had a somewhat washed out display, so I couldn't see the small building you need to go into to get the 1000 yen bill. Wound up having to look at a guide for something that should've been obvious.
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Dec 17, 2021 14:42
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Fiend Battle slaps.Lotus Aura posted:If I know anything about SMT games, and I have the bona fides to say that I do, then it sure sounds to me like the Mantra and Assembly are our eventual Chaos and Law alignment paths...
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Dec 17, 2021 23:01
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I mean. They are, but I wouldn't say that makes them Law by themselves. They're not doing it out of a sense of moral obligation, they're doing it so they get what they want. And there's no other way to get what they want besides gathering a shitton of Magatsuhi and destroying anyone in theirway.
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Dec 17, 2021 23:51
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Before I forget (...again), no update for the next couple weeks, because of holiday reasons and stuff. Next one'll be first or maybe second week of 2022.
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Dec 19, 2021 01:33
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Lotus Aura posted:Before I forget (...again), no update for the next couple weeks, because of holiday reasons and stuff. Next one'll be first or maybe second week of 2022. Thanks for the heads up! I just want to say - I am really enjoying this LP. Especially since I have not played Nocturne since it came out originally on the PS2. I'll be waiting with bated breath for the first 2022 update!
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Dec 19, 2021 02:13
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Large Map Zoshigaya now behind us, we gotta head on up north to Ikebukuro. It's not really all that far, either. Can just about see it from here.  Some will beat you down just for talking to them!Seems like we're gonna need to keep our wits about us when in town... We could head into Ikebukuro right away, but first there's something very easy to miss.  There's a cube just off the side here. At first glance, how you get to it mightn't be super obvious. There's no way around the train tracks and no path leading up either  The tunnel here just barely marked out by the yellow/black paint is how it's done though. Maybe it's just me, but I find that oddly easy to overlook.  I'd say it's worth knowing about, at least.  Despite there being a path to the south, there's absoutely nothing down there. That just leaves Ikebukuro itself. Let's finally visit these Mantra folks! Ikebukuro  No area name card when we first enter here, either? Weird. Not even a mini one at the bottom the screen...   You come to Ikebukuro knowin' it's the home of the Mantra? You bet I did. ...Cocky little bastard, ain't we? Heh. Well you're in for a real rude awakening. I'll admit it takes guts steppin' up to us. But if it turns out you're too weak... we'll rip those guts right outta ya! Forced Battle As promised, this random Oni immediately picked a fight with us. Sure, we could have ignored him but that's no fun.  By this point, he's not really a threat either. Berserk isn't that dangerous and War Cry just makes it take longer. Also weak to Nerve means if he somehow survives the first round (he doesn't), it'd be hard for him to get usable turns anyway...  Really, just a random encounter against one enemy with special music. Yawn. Ikebukuro That Oni dead, we enter the town proper and there's the name card. Odd how it was delayed until we were back underground but whatever.  We're not as easy as the Nihilo, so you better watch your back!You say that, but I just totalled your friend out there in like 40 seconds.  Fountain of Life behind this cocky guy.  Terminal next door to that.  Cathedral of Shadows opposite the Terminal.  If you can't handle poo poo on your own, you're as good as dead. Am I right or what? You don't know poo poo. WHAT? You mockin' me or are you just braindead? Why, if you weren't a demon, I'd pop the Magatsuhi right outta ya!Yeah, yeah, I'd like to see you try. Kinda disappointed he didn't attack, honestly. Really thought he would. Cathedral of Shadows It contains information on all demons in existence, but only those that the reader has made a pact with can be viewed. I see that you have been recruiting many a demon. From now on, use this compendium to your advantage.> The Demon Compendium is now available for use. Finally!  So, we now can buy copies of demons we've made or recruited. Everything we've had has been automatically registered as it was when we first obtained it. Anything we recruited, even if we fused a copy later, is in its base form. Anything we fused is how it was the first time we made it. Can get up to Some poo poo with this later, but uhh... you might be able to tell that we're a little short on funds right now. Difficulty does not affect compendium prices either so that's not got anything to do with it. Ikebukuro North of the Cathedral is a Junk Shop! Compared to the past two, this one is mildly disappointing.  For, you see, there's no new Magatama to purchase! Instead, there's a bunch of status cures, attack items and some balls. We can get the latter regularly enough as level up gift items so I'm saving my money.  Opposite the Junk Shop is a regular ol' unmarked door. You might have expected a Rag's, but that's only in Ginza.  Take the former: a gang of bloodthirsty brutes that wouldn't know foresight if you gave them a third eye. Their boss is Gozu-Tennoh, and he lives at the top of their headquarters.Probably not a good idea to be so casually insulting towards them like that. This IS their town and all... I can get away with it, because I'll just put any of 'em in the ground that even tries to start something. Speaking of which...! Normal Battle -Streets- Few new demons in the area, and Bicorn is first up. This version of him really leans into being all about them ailments, huh? At least he doesn't have Sukukaja, which would be mildly annoying.  Oh, Nekomata's hanging out here all regular-like now. After a couple in Shibuya, she's finally back! Sadly, not in pog form. Draining Force stops us from using Tornado though.  Momunofu is honestly quite good. Weak to ailments means we can shut him down very easily, but this random demon having Focus and a decent phys skill is potentially dangerous. Also when we hit level 20 and can get him? He starts with Focus (and Lunge). Very easy to put Dark Might on him, too...  Remember Inugami? We briefly had one as fusion fodder not too long ago, but the base version is a bit underwhelming. Very easy to handle.  Finally, a requisite new Haunt hanging out. Tarunda and Diarama mean they could be annoying but low HP and also weak to Light just in case. Likely won't get to do much.  Also, um, one of them was like "yeah I'll join you" apropos of nothing. That's happened more in this playthrough already than I swear it does on average. Maybe that's just because I'm not instantly wiping thngs, since I need to take the turn to Analyze.  Pretty much done with Bicorn, now. Last few skills aren't bad, they're just... less useful.  Unusual skill change, that I'm not sure I want to keep in the compendium. Anti-Phys is still very, very good and all. I'll find a spot to store it for easy access...  Also Shiranui gives Taunt from level 19. Since this is just Rakunda But Better, we'll switch it in. Ikebukuro There's one door left here that we haven't gone through yet, but we'll ignore it for a minute. Let's see what's on the lower level.  Thanks to him, the Mantra finally look like an actual organization and not just a group of barbarians. This is a pretty small area, all told. There's absolutely nothing straight ahead, nor to the left here. Not much to the right either, but that's still more than "literally nothing".  Sounds like Isamu's here. Hard to imagine who else this could be.  Much easier to get this Bead than the one outside. Cathedral of Shadow -Gleaming Sky- Back upstairs, we'll dip into the Cathedral at full Kagutsuchi. Let's make some dumb stuff and some stuff that's useful! Zhen and Bicorn are both Wilders, so we'll fuse them together to make our first Element. Most fusion results are basically the result of combining races; the demon you get within that race is 1 + the average base level of the demons used. It compares that to the levels in the resulting Race and the nearest result that is the calculated level or higher is what you get. Except this. When you combine two demons of the same race, you get an Element. Normally. Sometimes you get nothing instead. Wilder + Wilder = Aeros. Doesn't matter what Wilders you use, you always get the same result. Also sacrificing Nozuchi so that Aeros inherits Anti-Phys. We could probably honestly just use this as is but nah.  We're all about exceptions this time, so let's fuse him away. When you combine an Element with almost any other race, you get a result from the same race as the non-Element demon. That sounds weird, but you can see it clearly here. Element + Jirae = Jirae; Element + Yoma = Yoma etc. The catch is that this also does not check levels. It simply moves up or down the demons in that race, skipping over any that cannot be made via fusion (a Fairy result would ignore High Pixie, for example, as she can only be obtained via evolution). With everything we have here, Aeros kicks them up to the next demon in line. ...Yes, that means there's no Jirae after Sudama until Sarutahiko at level 35. Yes, that is very silly when the first two are Kodama (3) and Hua Po (5).  This is often the easiest way to get a specific result you want quickly, and in some rare cases (usually for demons that are either very high or very low level) the only way to make some fusions. We could probably make a Koppa Tengu in a few ways if I cared enough, but this way we can more easily give them more buffs and also Anti-Phys. Analyze is just a useful temporary filler skill. Plus he's fast enough to usually go first. I want Koppa for two reasons. First off, Watchful is a good skill to pass onto low level demons with good level up move pools, since it gives them EXP even when not in the active party. Second, his last skill is one of three sources of Zanma. Oh and, he evolves... twice. Both times into demons that are Quite Good. Maybe that helps too.  Anyway here's Fomorian. Hi Fomorian! Sudama and Angel were used to make this boy who is all filler, no killer. He is not sticking around. His level up movelist sucks. His capstone is Berserk! Pathetic.  Taking that Fomorian and combining him with Isora to make Archangel. Can't use Koppa Tengu, because that gives Principality: (18 + 14)/2 + 1 = 17. Angel is 11, so she's too low. None are 17 exact, so it looks up to the next result which is Archangel at 18. (18 + 19)/2 + 1 = 19 (19.5 but truncate the decimal) which, unsurprisingly, does not have a result considering Archangel is 18. So it looks up to the next result, which is Principality at 28. Anyway, Archangel is fine. He's fine. His level up list leaves something to be desired, sure, but he's an okay source for Estoma and Diarama.  That filler Fomorian is putting in some extra work here. Combining him with Shikigami (yes, really) gets the result we want here. I considered trying to find a way to also put Bright Might on him, but he's honestly fairly temporary. Mostly just putting in work in the next two, maybe three, boss fights and probably not much else beyond that. ...Though he does learn both Dekaja and Focus, so he's definitely worth considering. Speaking of Dekaja, both him and Chatterskull learn it at level 21 which technically means Chatterskull gets it first. Nothing gets it earlier than either of them, by the way. Ikebukuro Koppa Tengu, Archangel and Take-Minakata gonna be our new crew for a bit. There are a few demons around this level I also want, but we'll get to those once money is something that we are able to have.   We'll enslave them for all eternity! Enjoy the law of nature, bitches! Hyahahahahaha!Up on the first floor, this Ikusa is hanging out in the one open area right by the only two doors. Kind of like an inverse of B2; there's nothing up here but a few NPCs to the left.  But get too close and you'll be arrested in the blink of an eye.  Woe is me! Life's too short... That's it. Those are all there are up there, so we'll head back down and go the one way left to go. Through this unmarked door opposite the Fountain of Life.  It leads to a nice, little outdoors area. I see there's another door directly opposite that leads to another interior area... But first, that Manikin.  Compelling as it seems, you shouldn't go anywhere near it.Near it... yeah, we're gonna climb these stairs. At least a little; there's another Manikin about halfway up.  ...To be honest, I'm a little jealous.Hmm. I see something blue poking out up the top of these stairs. Maybe if we go see what that is...   But I can't even make it past the torches, hee-ho... They'll melt my skin right off.Ho no! Poor Frosty  We are right outside the Mantra HQ door but uh...  We're going to the east-side first. There's not really that much over here, relatively, but better to clear it out now. We'll start by going... right!  Manikins are semi-rare random encounters over here. They cannot be recruited, or anything like that, though.  Since we took the right path, it leads to a dead-end. With nothing in it. Swell.  Back and to the left, we come to a series of doors that all lead into the same room.  You know, a lot of my friends are being held there...This Manikin is the only thing really past the first door. This IS the same room as the empty dead-end above, yes. If we go past this Manikin, we do come to another door leading out the other side, but there's another way there.  Can't wait to send those hoity-toity shitboys screamin'!The oni hanging out here are all pretty similar, huh? Seems like at least one other should've attacked us... Ah well. Next door!  Empty alcove. Again. Goddang it. At least we can see easily what's past the last door here.  The cube is first, and it's just an Estoma item again. Haven't used the one we got earlier, and probably won't for a while either.  How did you get got like that? The gatekeeper was very specific about not opening the gate exactly to prevent this! Did he just lie to us...?  But they got kicked out after pissing Thor off. I hear they've become thieves! Yeah, those four were real tough customers... Ever heard of them?Can't say I have. The way "four oni" is highlighted makes it clear it's not four random Oni like the ones hanging out here, though... Gonna make a mental note of this for later.  Last door leads around to this mostly empty area. The path ahead has nothing the turn to the right leads back to the big room we just passed through. This spot in particular will be relevant again later, but for now we're taking the non-functioning escalator up.  It's a fairly linear path. It looks like there should be a cube or something ahead, but there isn't. Just a bunch of nothing. Turning left it is then.  Yes. Ah. How's the junk collector doing?I'unno, fine I guess. Possibly better than fine, since he got that 1000-Yen bill. One last door to go.  It leads to the catwalk above the big room and lets us snag this single-target full MP restore from an easy Mystical Chest. We could "buy" these at Rag's, but Chakra Drops aren't much worse overall and are functionally cheaper too. This just leaves one area...  The Mantra Headquarters itself. Let's see what's going on here.  I did nothing wrong... ......> You can no longer hear the voice. A Warm Welcome Silence Oh, hey Isamu! Been a while since we crossed paths, huh?   I said I didn't do a drat thing! No way... Naoki, is that you!? Hey, uh, Isamu you might wanna...  ...Never mind.  Incidentally, this flows a bit badly in English (at least). Isamu's dialogue is NOT cut off when he's hit and sent into the torch. He keeps talking normally for a moment after that until the dialogue line ends. It's a tad jarring.  Tall demon buddy here with the conspicuous giant hammer just sorta places his hand on Isamu for a second and, uh...  Not impressed! I can do that too!   As we were told, it seems that Isamu's had all of his Magatsuhi straight up stolen. That could be a bit of a problem. Mostly for him, not us.  Thorman is voiced by Billy Kametz! Also a relatively new voice actor, so his major credits are slim so far. He does, however, have notable roles as Josuke Higashikata in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Diamond is Unbreakable, Naoto Kurogane in BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle, Takuto Maruki in Persona 5 Royal and... Raidou Kuzunoha XIV in... Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne HD Remaster. Huh.  Those who tread upon Mantra territory must face my judgment. Now lock this fool away! We don't even resist or anything. I bet if we tried, though, we could totally take a couple Nue at this point. End Mantra Army     Now, as you may realize, this is a trial by combat. If you claim to be innocent, then pound your enemy into the ground! Only when they're reduced to a quivering mass of flesh will you be set free. Hahahahaha!Whatever.  So, we're in jail for a hot second here.  Someone was kind enough to leave a cube in our cell. Free Bead!  If we just sit around waiting, we'll be here forever. Instead, we gotta go to the side walls and talk to our neighbours. The Mantra are insane! They know I can't fight. Somebody, anybody! Save me! You were probably thrown in here for a crime that you didn't commit, right? But reason won't work with those Mantra guys! If you want to get out of here, you'll have to impress them with your brute strength.Yeah, I think we can manage that.   Great, so now we've got the chance to walk around and prepare for our trial ahead. The   I don't wanna be locked up in here... I wanna fight, too! Yes... I want the blood of a young man! BLOOD!! Give it to me!!!Dang, Rangda is hardcore. Good thing she's in there, because we almost certainly would not be able to take her. Maybe. ...Well, no, probably could, actually. It'd just take a while.  Opposte her cell is an Oni blocking a door. Could ignore him, but that'd be silly.  Your entrance is on the other side. ...Or were you trying to bribe me for some info? That's the idea. WHAT!? I can't believe you! What the hell are you thinking!? ...Well, hurry up and pay before I spill the beans! C'mon, before anyone comes! Gimme 200 Macca... Ok. All right... Now, listen up! If you lose even once, you're dead. You better make sure you're prepared. ...What? You want me to tell you more? Then gimme another 200 Macca.What we just got was kinda useless on its own, so... Ok. Okay, then... I'll tell you some things about your opponents. First off... Hey, what're you doing!? You're not up to any shenanigans, are you? N-No, I'm not! This guy... Uh... This guy got lost, so I was tellin' his stupid rear end off! Hmmm... Is that so... Well, all right then... I didn't hear him sneak up, since he doesn't have feet. ...All right, let's continue. It was about your opponent, right? You know what Fire's weak against, right?...Controlled fires? That's how you fight fire with fire and all.  Maybe there'll be some electricity between you two! And lastly... Bad news about that guy is that he has no weaknesses. ...That's all the info I have. Hurry up and get ready. The door's over there... Hope he doesn't suspect me.So, a fire demon, a woman of force and... Thor. Well alright then. We can do something about two of those, but Thor might require some degree of cleverness. Nothing else left over here, so back we go and let's see who was in the other cell.  I'm innocent! Let me out of here!Don't think this unfortunate Manikin really "gets" trial by combat.  It's hard to see, but this last cell has a Mystical Chest in it. Guess we'll get in there at some point, but that day is not today. Alright, that's enough goofing around. To the trial!  I call upon the defendant, Demi-Fiend. Step into the arena.Again, we could just refuse to play along. We can DEFINITELY take a single Oni...  But we just play along anyway. Sure. On top of that, we have eyewitnesses who saw you in the Great Underpass. You may be a Nihilo spy... I further charge you for being a little sneak. This city belongs to the Mantra! Even if you are a newcomer, it's crime enough that you've shown us such flagrant disrespect! Our first opponent, a demon of fire...  ...Orthrus? Really?  CAPITAL PUNISHMENT! THERE IS NO OTHER CHOICE. THINK OF HOW YOU WANT TO DIE. I'LL GIVE YOU TIME. Really generously, between fights here we get a chance to switch our setup, heal etc. We don't need to just yet, though. I already have Shiranui equipped. Forced Battle Orthrus is... Orthrus is not very threatening, frankly. He starts off by using terrible attacks.  After a bit, he quips and kicks things up a notch.  In particular, he ditches his old moves and uses exclusively mid-tier stuff now. Agilao is the single-target one. 6 MP, 55 power.  Maragion is the multi-target. 15 MP, 45 power.  Bit more and he upgrades again.  This time, he adds a physical attack to the mix. 17% HP, 44 power, improved crit chance (no accuracy penalty) and 40% chance to Stun. Incidentally, I forgot to buy any Dis-Stuns. That'd be inconvenient.  Perhaps not as inconvenient as Agidyne, though. This is the third tier single target Fire spell. Costs 10 MP and has a power of 75. What he's doing with it is anyone's guess.  Weirdly, Orthrus has a dialogue line before dying. It's not entirely in place of the animation but it does come right before it.  Not worth a whole lot of anything either. 1000 HP, 200 MP, 8 Strength, 15 Magic, 10 Vitality, 1 Agility, 1 Luck. Weak to Ice, resists Curse, nulls Light, Dark, Nerve, Mind and drains Fire. Mantra Army  Your sentence is death... Ahh... I want to cut you up right now! But I'll give you some time. Make it fun for me.Perfect. Just gonna switch Shiranui out for Hifumi... Forced Battle Unlike Orthrus, Yaksini doesn't waste time with low powered garbage. At least not entirely. She does have Mazan but, like, whatever.  Honestly, Yaksini is similar to Orthrus in how she works. Very little deviation from there.  The major difference is she has nothing in place of Fire Breath (no wings will do that) or Stun Claw. The swords here are basically just for show.  Her Zandyne IS potentially more dangerous than his Agidyne though.  Third tier single target Force spell. Costs 10 MP and has a power of 75. ...I totally didn't copy/paste that from above and replace "Fire" with "Force" don't be silly.  Relatively decent amount of EXP, compared to him, at least. Random fights are worth more though. 1200 HP, 200 MP, 1 Strength, 30 Magic, 19 Vitality, 1 Agility, 1 Luck. How very min-maxed of her. Weak to Electricity, resists Curse, nulls Force, Light, Dark, Nerve, and Mind. Wow, very similar indeed. The Final Trial Boss Appearance  You have proven yourself in battle, a feat which is not easy. But... Do you truly think your power is enough to defeat me? My hammer shall judge your worth and decide your fate. I now offer you a moment's repose. Making preparations would be wise.We don't have anything that can resist electricity, so anything that is Not Wadatsumi should be good! We fight! Kishin Thor Boss Battle 'Bout time we got a real fight here. Thor is able to actually threa--  Uhh, Thor? Thor what are you doing?  Right, well, that's why you don't use Wadatsumi. Take-Minakata repelling Elec means that whether Thor has 2 press turns (which he does) or 2000 is kinda irrelevant. An attack being drained or repelled is an instant turn ender.  Gonna be playing on the edge here and using Taunt immediately! Don't have easy Dekaja, and can't be bothered wasting 40 MP Tarunda'ing it away so I'll just deal (for now).  Similar to Yaksini, he can use both Mazio and Zionga right away.  Similar to both, he has quips as he loses HP. Also he gains more moves after each as well.  Diarama isn't one of them, though. Not really. It's scripted to always happen after the first line. It's not a thing he can just casually do.  Mazionga, however, is just added to the rotation. 15 MP, 35 power but in return for being weaker than Maragion and Mazanma it can shock 13% of the time (Zionga is 25%).  He also doesn't have to wait until later for Ziodyne! 10 MP, 65 Power, 30% Shock chance. Oh, you might have noticed here that the Demi-Fiend is Stunned. Blame Hifumi for that. Getting the fights here to last long enough use everything took... too many runs through this event and this happened in one. Stun is quite annoying; it quite heavily reduces accuracy, evasion and also makes you take slightly increased damage. Just enough to be noticable but not enough to be a major danger in itself. Y'know, unless you're fighting something dangerous already. Thor does not qualify.  When on his last legs, he does get a couple of new things. He doesn't use them often, but...  He can get rid of any debuffs, which sure. Matador could do that too, so it makes enough sense.  But he can also get rid of any buffs we use! That's a bit ruder. First boss to Dekaja at all and the first boss to do both too!  Kind of underwhelmed by the EXP we get from this, personally. Anyway, Thor has 2000 HP, 3000 MP, 16 Strength, 30 Magic, 19 Vitality, 10 Agility and 10 Luck. No weaknesses, like the Oni said. Resists Curse (hmm...), voids Dark, Nerve and Mind. Elec and Light, meanwhile, are both repelled. Mantra Army I had not thought it at first, but you possess a strength other demons lack. ...This is for keeping me engaged. Use it well. Electric elemental magatama! 'Bout time we filled that gap. Narukami is an an alternative name for Raijin the Japanese god of thunder, lightning and storms. It's also the name of a Kabuki play first performed in 1742, In it, Raijin gets imprisoned in a pool of water which causes a drought. Narukami also exists in said play, as a separate character whom is a Buddhist saint. Go and see Gozu-Tennoh. He is our leader, and aims to build a utopia where only the strong may live. You have a power that could very well change the world. Always bear this in mind. Judge, Demi-Fiend is innocent. I say so. Release him. Huh!? Innocent? ...O-Okay!! By the order of Thor... No, out of respect for your power... I hereby declare Demi-Fiend innocent! A small thing I like is how quickly the Oni Judge says this line in the voice acting. Just doesn't want to acknowledge it and getting it over with as soon as possible. End Joker I seriously can't believe Thor approved your release. It's unheard of. Whatever, just get gone! And don't let me see your ugly mug again! Thor says since you've proven your strength... You're free to enter our headquarters anytime. ...drat, that pisses me off!Welp, guess we gotta go back to Mantra HQ and climb all the way to the top from here... Or, we could not. I think we should take a second to go do something we nearly forgot about. The Lady in Black wanted us to visit. Maybe we should take her up on that offer.
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Jan 17, 2022 03:35
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Wait, aren't all three of the demons you fight in the trial usually Strength-based? Why have they suddenly all decided to go for a Magic build?
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Jan 17, 2022 04:16
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 Ever since we beat Matador, the option to go to the Labyrinth of Amala has just been at here in the Terminals. Waiting for us to go pay a visit. We could have turned around, gone back to the Manikins and done it then. We could have done it as soon as we set foot in Ikebukuro instead of that silly trial thing. We could go and do it now. ...We are going to go and do it now. Depths of Amala This should look at least a little bit familiar. Because we've been here before.  This is the exact spot we appeared in when trying to enter Ginza the first time. The Purpose of the Menorah Master of Hell I knew that I could count on you, even if the world changed. I believed you would one day learn to wield yourself as a mighty weapon. It involves the menorah you acquired. For one, it was part of his prized collection. However, they were stolen by terrible Fiends. But that privilege is not intended for just anyone. This place is strictly forbidden to all but those whom my master has permitted entry. That is why we would like to ask of you a favor. And, upon doing so, would you return them here? That is my master's request... If you are willing to accept the task, then you will be allowed to enter the Labyrinth of Amala. I believe that it is a fair offer, but it is up to you to decide. Will you do it, for my master's sake? I'll consider it. ...I see. So, the menorah possess the nature of Gravity... As you spend time in contemplation... Your menorah will call out to the others, and to the Fiends that stole them. We will wait, in hope that you recover all the menorahs. I will reward you as you return them to their rightful places. If you hold your menorah to the spinning drum of Amala, the device referred to as a "terminal" in Tokyo... You will be able to enter and leave here freely. Please be careful. I wish you the best... Let us see if our chosen Fiend will emerge victorious... If he is the one we have been waiting for. End Depths of Amala That done, the weird vein-y/nerve-y door moves and we can go deeper. Let's take a look.  5 doors here, but we can't manually open them. Can only go into the one that's currently open.  It's... okay, it's a simple enough idea. A hole but like a door. Sure. Let' jump... Warp Field  ...So, this is a minigame that I am very bad at. You don't need to be good at it to get through, but I just flatout suck at this. Collect coins, avoid obstacles, punch some to get extra rewards. I just cannot do it well.   Get macca and sometimes other stuff at the end. The best way to earn a lot of macca easily and quickly (without the DLC area) is to do a later version of these perfectly. Over and over and over and over again. Not doing that. Depths of Amala Kalpa is a weird choice here. Amala is clearly meant to be closer to Judaism than the series normally leans (we're collectin menorah, each of which represents a part of the sefirot) but this doesn't fit. In both Hinduism and Buddhism, a kalpa is the length of time a world exists for before coming to an end. It fits Nocturne's cosmology real well, but it doesn't fit Amala. ...Except Amala itself is also from Hinduism. Specifically it's short for Amaravai which is both a place where Indra lives, and also the concept of nirvana itself.  The menorah we obtained from Matador's cold, undead hands belongs here.  This is what lets us advance further.  Into the first kalpa itself. Okay, so, this might get hard to follow at times maybe. I'll try to keep it clear though.  It is a world completely different from the Vortex World which you came from. It is divided into several regions called Kalpa, and at the very bottom resides our master, the ruler of chaos... If your wish is to pursue the path of creation as a human... then there is no reason for you to stay here long.That's interesting. It has implications but we'll worry about those later. I see a door ahead so let's go check that ou--   --t. Hm. That's a lot of doors. See, this? This is why this place is going to be a mess. We'll start second from the left. It'll make sense I swear!  The demons are all here for a certain reason, so I doubt they'll join you, either. Prepare yourself well if you don't want to die.Yeah, so, within the entire Labyrinth there's no terminals of any kind. The one at the very beginning as the way in/out is it. Can't negotiate at all either. Gotta put up or shut up. So be it. Okay NOW we'll take the left-most door.  Not much over here. Just a ladder leading down that we're taking. It'll make sense, I swear.  I see a door and a soul right in front of us, though we have to go around to get to them. Left or right is immaterial here.  I dunno about the vault on the other side, though. Welp, sure enough no getting through there. We won't be getting inside this for a long while, even.  All the cubes within, and also that one soul, will have to wait for another day. It's not super easy to see, but we can also look through the window on the other side...  ...And see a door! It's not super exciting though.  It's an immediate dead end (I see you there, ladder) but at least it has a Bead. A nice consolation prize. Let's head back up top and take the middle door next.  Another ladder leading down! You might think this is the one we just saw, even. Reasonable, but wrong.  Not much we can do here just yet, it turns out.  We can get yet another look into the vault from before. Not much else to see in there as yet.  Opposite that is, presumably, the other vault we were told about. The door looks normal enough...  And, of course, a nerve door blocking another ladder. I'm sure we'll find a way past this eventually. So heading back up and taking the next door along.   I wonder how it is for you, since you're both human and demon... You might be thinking that leaves the rightmost door as the only one left. You'd be wrong. Gonna turn left here and head behind the 3 rooms.  This gets us to another door that we'll be going to next instead.  Another fork in the road immediately. So many of these... Going left.  I see a cube shining on the other side of that window/blocker here. Going around to get to it...  Well. Get lots of these in this place, I suppose. No complaints here.  Back to the entrance, going to the east this time. Nothing other than the door this way.  It's a tiny bit more underwhelming. We can just buy this for 600 Macca of course. And another ladder we can see but not reach.  Back to the entrance and finally taking the far eastern door. Where we go from here doesn't matter that much, but we'll go right first.  Couple more doors over here, but one of them is more distinct than the other. Definitely looking into the gray door first.  It's a Burial Chamber, huh? Let's take a look, shall we?  Yep, this is clearly a place where the dead are buried.  They're inscribed as the demons killed by you-know-who...Uh, I don't actually. I don't know who.  Oh, it's uh... it's us.  The Burial Chamber tombstones are (mini)bosses we have killed. That's cool. It's a nice little reminder of things we've done. Normal Battle -Depths of Amala-  So, first off another door over yonder we'll check out in a moment. Second, there's a lot of demons here. Lots of them are new! Problem is there's no demons here that we cannot encounter elsewhere more frequently. Showing them here is doable, but since this place was added in a rerelease originally there's nothing unique to here. Showing demons here would mean that later dungeons have less - or possible even no - demons of note as a result. So I'm just gonna skip them here and mention it when they appear in their natural habitats later. For reference, demons we have already seen but can also appear here are Chatterskull, Nekomata, Momunofu, Oni and Badb Catha. Depths of Amala ...If you get stronger... ...I'll sell you something special.There's a couple of these guys throughout the Labyrinth. Like two are especially important for one reason or another. This is one of them, in my opinion, so we'll be back once we're level 28.  Ignoring the path around the Broker's room right now. Instead, we're off to the other door we saw by the Burial Chamber.  I'm a demon. Drop by anytime you like. I'll tell you all about the Fiends, if you're interested.This could be useful later. Some Fiends, unlike Matador, are not gonna ambush us. So coming to talk to Kamala is the easiest way to find them. Getting ahead of ourselves a bit, though. We'll worry about that if/when it comes up.  Heading up the corridor next to Kamala's room, we see a ladder going down and we're going to ignore it. We'll be down there later, I'm sure.  The room further north, however...  "It remains unchanging, like the still of the night." "We demons await the master's words, his proclamation of a new beginning..." That's what a demon I met earlier told me, but I have no idea what the hell he was talking about. Back outside, we've a door north that we're going through soon but not just yet.  There's another door directly opposite to duck into first.  Ah, the Surgeon from the weird Amala area we entered at the start of the game. Nice of him to come back. So... Did you come here to defy nature and be treated? Yes. ...I am a doctor, after all. I'll treat your wounds. But I'm gonna charge you 2000 Macca. All right? No.Bit too rich for my taste at the moment. Don't really need it that much either.  Another branch that looks real similar to a previous one. Again, I swear this is a different location. Going lef--  Right. Going right.  This looks like another branch, but we already do know where this is. To the right is the spot where we found the Chakra Drop cube, so...  To the left is the ladder! We'll absolutely go see where this leads.  Bit of a more open area here, which is a tad awkward. Let's see, this is a bit tough to figure out but we'll head a bit to the top-left here and  Fall through the floor. Well, that's inconvenient. There's a couple of doors this way too!  Obviously I picked that one on purpose here. It's the only one we could get to easily that drops us in a place of reasonable safety.  The only thing in this area is a single door. This does ultimately lead us back to...  ...the ladder we skipped past before, next to Kamala. Well, alright then.  So, instead of that, we're going directly right from the entrance in this open area. Not taking the next turn to the right, though. Instead, we're going to go straight and grab that cube.  Well, small savings are still nice. I'd prefer another Bead though. Not taking the same path back, but instead going in a straight line away from the cube and  Hitting another drop. This one is a tad meaner than the previous one...  Because it drops us in a room of almost nothing but damage floor. Gonna use a Float Ball here for convenient, and heading into that gap we can see to the east.  Yes. Yeah, I thought so. Same here. ...If you give me some Macca, I'll tell you what I know. How about it? Yes. Really!? I appreciate it.> You gave 2000 Macca. ...Next time you're on the floor above, pay attention to the ceiling.We'll definitely do just that. It's very possible to notice even before spending the 2k here of course. You may have been able to see it already, even.  Anyway, head back to the western way outta this room. Another soul this-a-way.  Would you like to rest for a while? Only 500 Macca! No. Oh... Well, please come again!We will at some point, but not today. It's not needed or useful right now. Doors to the north and south from here, so we'll go north first.  It leads back to the open room, but this is a good place to use a trick to ignore the drops. We're meant to fall down here but if we thread the needle between the two we can just walk past.  Either way, we get to this Chakra Pot easily enough. Threading the needle back is more convenient than strategically dropping back down at least.  That helps us get back to the downstairs hallway and run over to the south door. Back to the open area... again...  And here we can see a distinct difference between safe and drops. Lights are safe, but the missing ones are the drops.  Carefully navigate from there until we get to this door and beeline for it.  Ah, this is the other vault we saw earlier! Let's see what we got here...  Oooh, this is a useful item for sure. We'll see what it does later.  Chest is the least useful Incense, but it is another Bead. Not gonna spite that. Also for all my grumblings, Luck is functionally just Half an Agility so there's that.  Last thing in here is a switch, huh? Let's see what it does!  Nerve door opened in the cross area. Gonna have to head all the way back there, then.  It's pretty easy to do despite how it looks. Can just drop down the one directly opposite to get back quickly and easily. You can also see how easy it is to skip from the entrance here straight to the switch if you want to. Not useful as a speedrun strat, because that run would not be here at all, but it's something.  Back to the entrance, down the ladder, through the nerve door, down that ladder...  And we seem to have hit an area of respite! Let's peer into the new hole. About Kagutsuchi Master of Hell I am confident that you will recover the remaining ones, too. You must be cautious, though. The Fiends that stole the menorahs are unique and extraordinarily powerful. Now that I think about it... Thanks, Hikawa. The Conception... Because of it, the Vortex World was born. You, who once lived as a human, must be wandering this world without any understanding. To show you my appreciation for returning the menorah... I would like to share with you my knowledge of the Vortex World, starting with Kagutsuchi. Reminiscence  Creation is the act of bringing a new world into existence, made possible by the annihilation of the old world. Kagutsuchi will then allow a lifeform of its choosing to determine the course of the new world. The shape of the world to come depends on who is chosen...  Kagutsuchi rises, matures, and falls in countless other places. There are millions, billions of worlds that you are unaware of, and they all experience the cycle of death and rebirth. The Great Will is an interesting concept that comes up throughout the series time and again, but this is the first time it's really brought to the fore. We saw it mentioned in the game over screen too, even. With my master, I have watched how myriads of worlds came into being, how life prospered in those worlds... And how they were destroyed in the end... But now... And it is your actions which hold the key. Please retrieve the remaining menorahs as soon as possible, and then return to us. My master has high hopes for you. End Welp, that's progress available right there. Let's go!  Ah, another of these. Alright, fine...  Just leads on to the Second Kalpa already, huh?  Law  Do you know what cause you serve? Do you realize which path your actions are leading you down? You have been seduced by darkness... Demi-Fiend, the one with a demon's body and a human heart, heed my warning! End your dealings with the fallen angel, before your heart is consumed by darkness! Yes? As long as you do not assist him, his evil plans will surely fail. Now, return to your world. Here, the power of chaos will overwhelm you... Depths of Amala Well, that was weird.  We can't even do anything else here either. We DID need to come through enough to see that scene with Definitely Not Metatron though.  So, getting back out of the Labyrinth is a bit annoying. We can't get to the shortcut out from here. That means we need to take the hole we just did, do it again to return to the First Kalpa. Don't think about how that works.  Fortunately from there, getting back isn't too bad. It's a straight line from there to the entrance. Just gotta do the first hole again.  Briging us back to the room with multiple doors, though still just the one we can use. Mildly annoying, but whatever. We're done here! Let's take the Deathstone and find out what it does. Cathedral of Shadows Deathstones are cursed stones that call upon the forces of death. A stone such as this can cast a shadow on my arcane art... Under certain circumstances, death will appear and warp the laws of fusion. Though they are not good, they cannot be classified as evil, either. In the end, it is you who will decide their nature.It's pretty easy to tell in advance whether or not this is going to happen.  It appears on the fusion chart now! Kinda! Even with a Deathstone, it's not alway gonna be there. It depends on the phase of Kagutsuchi and what the regular fusion result would be.  Since we have only beaten Matador so far, he's the only one who can appear. The regular fusion would need to result in a Yoma and Kagutsuchi needs to be anywhere from New to Half. Anything involving Elements (or Mitama when we get one of those) does not give you a Fiend. They take priority over the Deathstone.  Anyway, speaking of, while we're here let's do some demon cleanup. We've gotten almost all of them so far, so let's grab a few more. There's plenty of ways to make Erthys, but Jirae + Jirae is the easiest and cheapest (Kodama and Hua Po in this case). He'd normally get Rakukaja at level 8 anyway, so inheriting it just skips that step.  I thought we'd already made a Shiisaa, even if it's just as an intermediary, but the compendium said otherwise. Isora and Jack Frost were used here. War Cry is probably his best level up skill, though Stone Bite at level 16 is a good contender (22% HP, 44 power, petrifies 40% of the time).  Aquans here came from 2 Yoma (Koppa Tengu and Apsaras). Watchful and Anti-Phys are the giveaaway there, I think. If I were to care enough to get him to level 19, then he'd learn Bufula. That would be good for passing along too.  Used that Aquans to rank up Mou-Ryou into Blob. Fouls and Haunts are a bit annoying in that this is generally the most convenient way to make them, though not the only way. If I were to bother levelling Blob up, it'd get Marin Karin at level 18 and Zanma at level 20.  Ame-no-Uzume (High Pixie + Shiisaa) is unfortunately timed here as the first Megami. You'll often see her listed as a demon recommended for Matador, but the big problem there is she's level 18. If you're level 18 before Matador, you don't need Uzume in the first place. Also, requisitely, none of her level up moves are good. Hama at 19, Seduce at 20, Petradi at 21 is the best by sheer default, Life Bonus at 22 ad Mana Refill at 23. Just awful.  Pyro Jack's been permanently renamed to Jack o' Lantern (Will o' Wisp + Archangel) because fun things aren't allowed any more, I guess. He'll always be Pyro Jack to me, though. He gets Agilao at 22. That's technically the earliest, though in practice not so much.  Nekomata (Bicorn + Blob) is kinda eh. She has the same Matador caveat as Ame-no-Uzume, even. She gets a semi-okay Phys skill in Feral Claw at level 20 but that's about it of note until she evolves.  Momunofu (Bicorn + Sudama) starts almost as good as he's getting. He does get a good Phys skill in Brutal Slash at level 22 (13% HP, 50 power, increased crit, reduced accuracy) and evolves t level 24.  Taraka (Erthys + Datsue-Ba for cheap convenience) is similar in that most of her level up skills suck. Starting with Taunt is okay, and she learns Zionga at 24 for... some reason. Her capstone is rude enough to be Heat Wave.  Chatterskull (Blob + Jack o' Lantern) has been waiting a while for his turn, huh? It's a shame his best stat is Magic, because he can never capitalise on it naturally. Dekaja at 21 is great, though, and Hell Thrust at 24 is quite good too.  Forneus (Nekomata + Koppa Tengu) seems like he's downgraded a bit from the hospital. In truth, it's the opposite. This version is stronger than the boss was. Might not seem it at first, but that Bufula he gets in a level says it all on its own really. On top of that, he gets Fog Breath, Anti-Elec and Mabufula all back-to-back from 23 onwards. All very good in their own way.  Next up, Flaemis! Now, Flaemis is... awkward. There are only two races that can make them. Of those two, one is unavailable until level 73! Holy is the other, and we do have Shiisaa! ...Flaemis is level 20. The second Holy is level 21. So we'll just buy one from Rag's instead. The baseline one needs Coral, but this levelled up version (no skills different to regular level up) switched the Coral for Onyx. I have spare Onyx so sure. Null Mind wuld be good for ailment prevention down the line and caps off with Agilao. Sure.  We'll then use that Flaemis and fuse him with Shiisaa to make Unicorn. They're okay, I suppose. Tetraja at 24 could come in handy and capping off with Diarama at 26 isn't too bad either.  That brings us up to an overall compendium completion of 21% already (well, actually more because some of these aren't counted, but shush). The only thing we don't have yet that we could do is the only level 22 demon: Inugami's evolved form. It would take a lot of grimoires to grind them out, though, and even longerer to do it normally. I'll save that for if/when it happens naturally or a more convenient point down the line. For now, we're done here and I am all outta macca. Don't recommend doing this right here, because it's real expensive real fast! My problem, though, so I'll deal with it. I think we've kept Gozu-Tennoh waiting long enough now. Let's finally go pay the leader of the Mantra a visit.
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Jan 19, 2022 02:30
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I imagine that going down Amala leads to an ending? Considering the whole "if you follow the human path don't come here" or whatever,.
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Jan 19, 2022 03:12
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That Momonofu is ridiculously good. Though, seeing as you're doing something of an unconventional run with ditching Pixie at the outset and all, I'm guessing he's just gonna be fusion fodder. 
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Jan 19, 2022 03:56
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Blaze Dragon posted:I imagine that going down Amala leads to an ending? Considering the whole "if you follow the human path don't come here" or whatever,. Depending on how you plan on playing the game, it's arguably the most important part of the game. The Labyrinth and the Fiends were the primary additions to the expanded Maniax Edition, and even if you don't plan on going all the way with it, it's well-worth your time going through about 90% of it. Some of those Fiends you can summon with the Deathomen stones are stupidly powerful.
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Jan 19, 2022 09:16
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Ikebukuro So, we're gonna go to the Mantra HQ, but uh.....  I see something around here is gonna make that a bit difficult. Second Fiend is somewhere around here, huh? If the Matador fight is an indicator, the Manikins around here should know something.  Anyway, I heard it was a foreigner! Specifically, a demon named Demi-Fiend. You heard of him?Huh, that's... probably not good. Well, let's head to the HQ and deal with this later I guess. The Fourteenth Show Time!! (Chronicle Vers.)  As we approach the Mantra, everything seems fine at first...  ..But the Demi-fiend notices something.  M-Mokoi...? You're not supposed to be here...   Somewhat disappointingly, Mokoi is not voiced here.   Does that sound cool or what!?Yeah, honestly, kinda does.    Love how Raidou's mantle billows in the dramatic wind that literally exists only for him.    First order of business: let's see What he's really made of!  Raidou Kuzunoha XIV  Fighting Raidou earlier than you might expect, huh? Well, we'll mostly just hang back a bit and see what he can do. Famous last words, I'm sure.  Wouldn't want to bump him off on accident.On Raidou's first turn, Gouto tells him to hold back a bit. How generous.  So, Raidou (mostly) uses the demons in his kuda to fight here. Makes sense, really. Oh right, the "kuda" here are those tubes he has atacked to his clothing in place of breast pockets.  In the case of Raptor Guardian (10 MP), he summons Muu Shuwuu to cast Dekunda. He does not have a Dekaja equivalent. That's unfortunate.  Enter Yoshitsune should be rather self-explanatory if you know who Yoshitsune is.  9% HP, 36 power, single-target Phys, very high chnce to crit. Also it, uh, it cannot miss. Ever.  Other than attacking normally, this is Raidou's only skill that he does himself.  3 MP, 32 power, single-target Phys, hits one target 1d4 times.  Mokoi Boomerang (10 MP) is also, hopefully, a bit self-explanatory.  Multi-target Phys, 25 power, cannot miss and a 30% chance to inflict Panic.  Seems like our Demi-fiend's no pushover.After doing a decent chunk of damage to Raidou, Gouto tells Raidou to take it a bit more seriously now. This can happen on his first turn, so you get a fun bit where Gouto tells Raidou to not go all out, thinks about it for a second and basically goes "actually, never mind."  This just adds Provoke to his skillset. Provoke costs literally nothing.  It's Gouto using Taunt, for free. That alone makes it better, but then it also restores Raidou's MP. A lot of it. Technically, Raidou can run out of MP. In practice, he sure can't.  Despite how it sounds, Raidou isn't that tough really. He hits very hard if he gets going, but the lack of Dekaja means you can just turtle up early and be relatively safe. Sukukaja is kinda useless, though, considering his two best attacks always hit. 2500 HP, 3000 MP (even if Provoke wasn't free he'd never run dry jeez), 20 Strength, 18 Magic, 20 Vitality, 18 Agility and 10 Luck. No weaknesses, resists Physical, Fire, Ice, Force and Elec which sounds bad but, again, no Dekaja. Immune to Dark, Light, Curse, Nerve and Mind.  A guy who's not human, yet not quite demon... Yeah, I'd say the Demi-fiend moniker fits. Anyway, the one you just sparred with is Raidou. And I'm Gouto. We're simply a pair of detectives. And Raidou, you were right on the money. I think it's high time we dug a little deeper... Find out What the old man's playing at. Depending on how that goes, you two might get a rematch. Now wouldn't that be amusing? Until that happens, if it happens... Don't bite the big one. Ready to crank this investigation up a few notches?They just... leave. Well, okay then. End Running back to heal up and the Manikins say something new again. The manorah stops responding to this area too, so it was telling us about Raidou and Gouto... Then again, our kind don't have it any easier. You're just being a showoff, aren't you?...Maybe a little bit. Mantra Army This time around, we get to go beyond the entrance of the Mantra HQ. How nice.  Technically, this is an optional dungeon in the sense that we can just take a straight shot to where plot progress is. That's kinda boring, though, so we're going to explore it in depth.  No, I did not cut anything out here. This Oni has one line of dialogue and it is this. I dunno.  The only S-Terminal in the area is just behind them, and it's kinda weirdly placed as a result. You'd expect it later as a matter of course, but no. It's by the entrance.  Just past there, further north, we have two more doors. Might as well see what lies within.  ...Then go see Gozu-Tennoh. He's probably waiting for you on the top floor. Yes. You used physical attacks, huh? I mean, you can deal major damage if you get a critical hit. Well... if your attack hits, that is.Crit rate chance is based on your accuracy, so there's that. Of course, I didn't use physical attacks anyway so it's moot here. Just used magic to hit weaknesses instead, way more consistent. Except when weaknesses don't exist, but details.  Back to the cross where we met the Oni and taking the left (east) path from here.  At the T-intersection here, we'll take the right path first. I see that doorway here, so we'll check that out.  Y'know, we haven't met any demons that can use Mudo at all yet. I haven't glossed over it or anything, it just does not exist until we get to demons that have levels in the 30s.   Me no care about weaklings. Orthrus and Yaksini lost. They weak. Me no care for them!What about Thor? He's second-in-command but he still lost too...  Anyway, we'll leave the Nue be and take the remaining route here. Couple more doors, as a matter of course.  First one leads into an area similar to the entrance but called the Great Gate, huh? Couple Yomotsu-Ikusa here though.  (Left) You're not getting past this Great Gate.(R) The Mantra's most important facility is beyond this gate.(L) Yeah. We can't let you get to Kabukicho.Sounds like we're gonna have to put a pin in here for later. That's fine, I suppose.  Last door leads to stairs that go... up... dangit. Every time, I swear, I get this one wrong. Okay, fine, this is not what we want. Gotta double back to the entrance and take the last path. Normal Battle Not too many new demons in the Mantra HQ though. Of the few demons that do hang out here, most are regular Ikebukuro encounters, two are new and one is Oni. Anyway, Taraka sure exists. She's nothing new, nor is she threatening. Mabufu, Ice Breath, anything that deals good damage takes her out. All very ho hum.  Jack o' Lantern also likes to hang out here, though. He's technically less interesting but at least he knows what he likes and it is fire.  While we're here, Take-Minakata coughs up a Bead Chain as a level up gift. I think that's pretty cool, personally. This could come in handy I'm sure.  He also later swaps out Dark Might for the more general use Might. No longer has guaranteed crits at the right Kagutsuchi phase, but an increased crit rate across the board. Still only applies to the Attack command itself though.  Also, related to Taraka, take a moment at some point in the traversal here to fuse her with Momunofu to make a Badb Catha of our own. She's not amazing, but for the moment she's fine. She's fine. Mantra Army This way is the way we want for now. There's more to the right/north of here, but first there's a door that isn't glowing red. Also Oni.  Humans are a great source of Magatsuhi, but it's hard not to kill such a weakling. ...Check him out sometime.So, that's where Isamu is I guess. We'll definitely go pay him a visit.  The door here is for an elevator, which could be convenient but eh. Nah. We don't need to use it here.  We'll just go a bit more north and take the stairs instead. I mentally flipped the two staircases here and I'm not even sure how.  Door on the right here is the elevator, so we'll ignore that and go left instead. That should help us fine Isamu.  ...Oh. Well, then. Nue's on first.  Don't do anything funny! Gots that? Don't do anything funny!That didn't help at all. I suppose we'll try the left door first, then. Our left, not Nue's.  This is a pretty straightforward jail, all right. We'll just go down the line.  That latter option's a death sentence-it's that bad. Torture's putting it lightly.  Hmph! The Mantra simply have no taste for true beauty! I-I'll shoot!...That's impressive, considering guns aren't in the Vortex World. Wonder where they got one.  A demon just won his case and got set free. I hear he was young, but I'm sure he must be a monster.Oh, I'm sure that whoever he was, he was pretty cool and not really all that monstrous.  Other corridor has a few more folks to talk to, and another door at the end. That's different, at least.  I was caught again... Yes. I knew it! It's back to having Magatsuhi squeezed outta me... *sigh* It was such a short-lived happiness... Ah, here's Isamu! So, Naoki... You actually made it. Agh... Frickin' bastards... How long do they plan on keeping me locked up? I've managed to stay alive too... somehow. I don't think they'll kill me just yet. Soon as I get the chance, I'm outta here. Maybe once my back heals... You know how the Nihilo have some sort of Maiden on their side? That's Ms. Takao, man! Get it? We don't have any time to lose! And if they find her, she's as good as dead! Please, Naoki, you gotta go save her! You know drat well the Mantra don't mess around! With your power, I'm sure you can at least do something! Me, I'm just stuck here... Naoki, don't make me beg you to go.Getting to Ms. Takao IS still our primary objective, so it's definitely a good thing that we have a proper lead. Again. Maybe this one will pan out a bit better. Gotta go to the Assembly at some point in the near future, then. I think we should finish up here first though. Both the basement specifically and the Mantra HQ in general.   Hey, how 'bout I tell ya somethin' good! The Mantra keep something real valuable behind the door in the back.Well then! Let's go take a gander, shall we?  Though, there's a problem here. To get through this door we require a baseline natural Strength of 24. It is technically possible to have enough to get through already, but you'd need to be (at least) level 23 and have put every single stat point into Strength with no exception to get there. Not worth it.  We'll be back for that at... some point in the future. Who knows when. For now, let's head on up to the second floor via the staircase back on the first floor.  This isn't where we had our trial, but it sure looks like a locale where one is held. It might be, but it's not entirely accurate as far as we know...  And I clean up after them...Like so. Presumably Orthus and Yaksini just got dumped into here and then devoured. What is this, Digital Devil Saga?   (L) Me want... Me want eat... More losers... There's two doors out of that room, one north and one west. We'll head on over to the west, first, then. The elevator is over here, you see. Also there's stuff south of it.  Just because Thor pardoned you doesn't mean I have. I'll show you who's stronger!Like this Oni, who picks a fight with us. It's a single Oni, just like we met outside Ikebukuro before. Two doors here, it looks like. Let's see what we find, eh?  Please don't eat us. I'm not Gozu-Tennoh, you know!Oh, well, I never would have guessed. They're both in the one room. The other one has...  Itemised Riberama. Saves 8MP, I'm sure I'll use it at some point or another.  Go in there with the wrong setup and vamoosh-you're dead in one hit.That's a bit worrying, but I'm sure we'll be fine. It can't be that bad, right? ...Right?  Back to the center of the floor, taking the north door this time. Another door north, and path to the west. Door first.   Haha, consider me your fan.Thanks, Yomotsu-Shikome. Sadly, she's not gonna join us despite that and also she's a way higher level than we can use right now anyway.  Back out, around to the west and that gives us a staircase on up. The third floor here...  ...Is where we were before! Useful, that. We have to pass through the trial area no matter what, huh.  Gozu-Tennoh's on the top floor. You can use the elevator just past the fighting arena to meet him.We could walk through the cage, or we could go around. That requires going back to where we were temporarily jailed, so let's do that.  ...Even if I won, I'd just be carted off to Kabukicho... The cell we were in has been closed off now. Good thing we got that Bead when we could then.  Good. You're in the prime of your life. Speaking of which... I want the blood of a young man! BLOOD!! Give it to me!!!Oh, Rangda. Seems she really knows what she wants too. How nice!  The elevator is a straight line from her. Through the door Oni blocked before and then a bit more straight on. Gonna take a second to get back up to the top but...  Well, this... this is... pretty high up, huh?  Oh, while we're out here, the only demon we can encounter is Badb Catha.  Anyway, we're not at the top yet but there's an easily missed or ignored cube over here. Gonna grab it before we move on.  It's "just" money, but that's still pretty good and worth it. 3000 is alright. It ain't a lot, even now, though.  That's all there is up here, though. Let's head on in to the last spot there is. Nothing higher from the looks of things.  This message means we've a boss fight coming. It's not been 100% consistent, per se, but it's still been learned enough already... Gozu-Tennoh Silence   This unique, unnammed Manikin is voiced by Allegra Clark. Her notable roles include Xsana in Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, Zazan in Hunter x Hunter, Curaçao in Detective Conan: The Darkest Nightmare, Cynthia in Pokemon Masters, Tomoko Higashikata in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is  When the Almighty... ...descends from above... God's resounding echoes... ...shall pierce the land! Masura    I am Gozu-Tennoh. As the head of the Mantra, I lead the demons that gather here. Gozu-Tennoh is voiced by veteran and megaprolific voice actor Patrick Seitz. You might remember him from such roles as Keith Goodman/Sky High in Tiger and Bunny, Jiren in Dragon Ball Super, Franky in One Piece, Kenpachi Zaraki in Bleach, Olberic Eisenberg in Octopath Traveller, Endeavour in My Hero Academia, Reisi Munakata in K Project, DIO in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and approximately a billion other roles in many other things. The emergence of a new, mighty demon... It is remarkable indeed. But first, let me reward you. Please accept this gift. Oh, our stock increased from 8 to 10. How nice! Hahahaha! Do you feel the power coursing through your veins? Should you choose to serve me, I shall grant you even greater power... What say you? Joining the Mantra must seem a tempting offer, is it not?We know they're planning a raid on the Assembly of Nihilo and Ms Takao is there. That means it's better to side with these guys so we can get in easier... I'm at your service. Hahahaha! Very well, then! I have a task for our new fledgling warrior. They are threatening us with their plot to bring the world to a halt. We can no longer overlook their madness. So I have made the decision. We, the Mantra, will wage war on Nihilo, and obliterate them! I have already ordered my soldiers to attack their headquarters in Ginza.  End Mantra Army Quick check at where we're at before heading back to Ginza... again... The S-terminal being at the entrance to the building is a mite annoying, but we've a workaround for that.  Namely, this conspicuous set of stairs that leads nowhere. We can jump from here. The game want you to think this is a bad idea and not do it. Ikebukuro So of course I do it.  It, uh, it does end pretty badly though!  Since we're on Hard, it just straight up drops us to 1HP no matter what we were at before. Can't kill you, at least, so that's small mercy. Not too big a deal either, since healing is cheap and plentiful.  There's a new soul by the entrance now that we've spoken to Gozu-Tennoh. There is another requirement for it to appear though...  Maybe he's preparing a memorial for all the slain Manikins.That seems like something we should probably go and check out, huh? We'll do that in a second. Gotta heal up and stuff first though, of course.  A new Yomotsu-Ikusa's opted to hang out between the Terminal and Cathedral too. Odd, that.  First that conceited summoner jerk and his spooky-rear end cat stroll through! And now some freaky mummy Fiend starts floatin' around? Somebody's up to somethin'! Ain't no tellin' me otherwise!Hmm... a Fiend is hanging out nearby, eh? And there's a strange monk in the area too? Can't be a coincidence.  So we'll make a couple new friends to help out here. Chatterskull and Badb Catha are used to give us Raiju, who is very good at what he does. Hitting stuff with electricity. He opts to learn some physical attack skills though, but gets Elec Boost at level 29 so I think it's worth it.  Take-Minakata and Forneus are next and fuse to make Incubus, who's not quite as focused or, well, good. He'll do for what we need though.  Remember this door? We're going back through it now.   Seems like we've found what we're looking for!  As the Menorah flickering so helpfully told us, we have our second Fiend fight here. This one is a bit different to Matador, though.  Every Fiend after Matador (and technically the Raidou fight we just did earlier, but shush) is 100% optional. If we didn't clear out the first Kalpa in the Labyrinth, this wouldn't even spawn here. And even though it has, we can choose not to do it. Opting to flee from the fight does not guarantee that you won't fight then and there, but it can give you a chance to reconfigure, leave and come back.  You get two chances to opt out, even. It's bizarrely generous in that respect.  But nah we're doing this. We came this far, let's go! The Second Fiend TALK Unlike Matador who pulled us into his magical realm mid-scene, this one starts with the Demi-Fiend being dragged in.  Our new skeletal monk friend doesn't appear at first, but eventually deigns to pop up behind Demi like a bad creepypasta.  Daisoujou's voice actor is... okay, I don't know. Unlike Matador's, he's uncredited in any source I can find. Behind The Voice Actor even puts it a a big ol' giant question mark. ...It does the same for Matador, though, so who knows for sure.  Man is destined to die, and the world to end... Yet, still, you challenge the order of the universe. No matter how many menorahs you gather, the shadow on your heart will not be lifted. It is my duty to save those who have gone astray... Let me be your guide. Receive my salvation... Accept your death! And as Daisoujou rings his meditation bell, a thing that is gonna happen a lot, we segue into the fight! Fiend Daisouou Fiend Battle  Much like Matador before, Daisoujou gets to go first. How rude.  Unlike Matador, though, he is not guaranteed to do much with it. He used his unique skill, Meditation, here to be an rear end but he could just do two regular attacks if he really wants to be generous. Meditation is Almighty-elemental, costs 10MP, has a power of 60 and it drains both HP and MP. What a jerk!  Oh yeah and his basic attack? Cracks 100 if/when he uses it too.  Much like Matador, Daisoujou is a bit lacking in that he cannot do anything about us buffing.  Unlike Matador, and even Thor or Raidou, Daisoujou is a lot more lacking in that he cannot do anything about debuffs either. He straight up has neither Dekaja nor Dekunda. Bit of an oops, there. Needless to say, we'll take advantage of this glaring hole in his repertoire to setup for a much easier win.  Also just gonna use this little ol' rock to prevent things getting out of hand.  Daisoujou might be lacking in control, but he is not lacking in ways to kill you dead. Especially later.  Mightn't look like much at first, but I brought back an older Take-Minakata so that he could get guaranteed crits. Might is nicer for general traversal, but Dark/Bright are better for bosses.  Seemingly common trend comes from having barely attacked Daisoujou, but he still has taken enough damage to say a quip!  At this point, he's debuffed (and we're buffed) enough to turn this fight into a wee bit of a joke.  If he ever gets a chance to use his second press-turn, he does like to use Mahamaon or Mamudoon.  He didn't do either at all on this run, though, so I had to pull from a slighly different save to get another shot at it. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Mahamaon/Mamudoon are both straight up blocked by that Tetraja Rock used earlier. They both normally cost 25MP, attempt to hit everyone with Light/Dark (respectively) instant death and have a baseline 30% chance of working. ...Yes, this fight existing means we can see Mamudoon before Mudo. Don't think about it.  Daisoujou IS on his last legs, though, so let's see what he has up his very baggy sleeves now. You shall be consumed by the fire of your worldly desires! Ah, another unique skill. No boss thus far has done anything along these lines. Startle is pretty simple, really.  It takes his one press turn and converts it into 3 half-turns. Barring a drain or repel (not in this setup!) he'll get to do something else.  Preach is yet another unique skill. It costs 15 MP, deals multi-target Mind damage (power of 50) that has a base 40% chance of inflicting charm, sleep and/or panic on everyone (can only have one ailment per target, but the result can be different for each). It straght missed Raiju and Take-Minakata, the Demi-Fiend has Iyomante as his active Magatama so he's immune and Incubus is naturally immune to Mind elemental attacks anyway.  No item drops, but decent EXP and Macca. He has 2500 HP and only 800 MP. 12 Strength, 21 Magic, 11 Vitality, 13 Agility and 10 Luck. Immune to Nerve, drains Curse and Mind, reflects Light and Dark.  Another Menorah in hand, but we'll give it a bit before hopping back to Amala to return this one. After all, we really should go to Ginza now. End
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Jan 21, 2022 11:27
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Raidous entrance is more unique than I would've thought. Glad to see 'em put in the detail
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Jan 21, 2022 11:32
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What's the difference between a press turn and a half turn? I'm not too versed in SMT terminology.
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Jan 21, 2022 14:51
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Blaze Dragon posted:What's the difference between a press turn and a half turn? I'm not too versed in SMT terminology. They both let you do things, but a press turn becomes a half turn instead of being used up if you crit/hit an enemy's weakness, so doing one of those things lets you act twice. A half turn is used up even when you hit weaknesses/crit, so there's still a limit on how many times you can act per round. Fuckers like Daisoujou have abilities that just give them more half turns, so they'll always get a bunch of actions even if they're not hitting your weaknesses. They're generally honorable enough not to spam them, but there's at least one really memorable exception.
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Jan 21, 2022 15:38
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Sum Gai posted:They both let you do things, but a press turn becomes a half turn instead of being used up if you crit/hit an enemy's weakness, so doing one of those things lets you act twice. A half turn is used up even when you hit weaknesses/crit, so there's still a limit on how many times you can act per round. Fuckers like Daisoujou have abilities that just give them more half turns, so they'll always get a bunch of actions even if they're not hitting your weaknesses. They're generally honorable enough not to spam them, but there's at least one really memorable exception. HRRRRRRRRRM ... HRRRRRRRRRM ... HRRRRRRRRRM The comfort of death will come, for men and demons alike... ...by the guidance of the Great Will
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Jan 21, 2022 15:48
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Sum Gai posted:They both let you do things, but a press turn becomes a half turn instead of being used up if you crit/hit an enemy's weakness, so doing one of those things lets you act twice. A half turn is used up even when you hit weaknesses/crit, so there's still a limit on how many times you can act per round. Fuckers like Daisoujou have abilities that just give them more half turns, so they'll always get a bunch of actions even if they're not hitting your weaknesses. They're generally honorable enough not to spam them, but there's at least one really memorable exception. I got frozen by a much later boss after bringing the wrong Magatama and he spammed Beast Eye/Guillotine until I died Tokyo Sexwale fucked around with this message at 22:51 on Jan 21, 2022 |
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Jan 21, 2022 22:46
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Sum Gai posted:They both let you do things, but a press turn becomes a half turn instead of being used up if you crit/hit an enemy's weakness, so doing one of those things lets you act twice. A half turn is used up even when you hit weaknesses/crit, so there's still a limit on how many times you can act per round. Fuckers like Daisoujou have abilities that just give them more half turns, so they'll always get a bunch of actions even if they're not hitting your weaknesses. They're generally honorable enough not to spam them, but there's at least one really memorable exception. That sounds like it would mot be very fun.
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Jan 22, 2022 00:59
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Fun fact: Meditation is, on paper, a stronger version of another skill, Life Drain! It is stronger, so long as the user is under level 28. Once the user is at (or above) level 28, however, they're for all intents and purposes the same thing, due to a quirk with how magic damage is calculated - after a certain level it's based entirely on secondary, non-power attributes of the spell and Life Drain and Meditation share those secondary stats. Daisoujou is never less than level 28 so Meditation is, for all intents and purposes, a fancy Life Drain.
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Jan 22, 2022 02:38
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I never let the demons change their skills. Yeah, they can slump their heads in response all they want, but considering how ruthless this game can be, that is far too much of a risk to take.
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Jan 22, 2022 03:32
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Shitenshi posted:I never let the demons change their skills. Yeah, they can slump their heads in response all they want, but considering how ruthless this game can be, that is far too much of a risk to take. What, you don't want your primary attacking skill to become Patra or Estoma?
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Jan 22, 2022 04:13
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