Apocalypse: so fun it's worth repeating - Let's play SMT III

[KalosKagathos]

5. Hera. This is really a serious matter; your ranting was not so uncalled-for, Zeus.

Zeus. You fancied me thinking of some Danae or Antiope; and this was the dread reality. Now, Hermes, Hera, Athene, what is our course? We await your contribution to our plans.

Herm. My opinion is that an assembly be summoned and the community taken into counsel.

Hera. And I concur.

Ath. Sire, I dissent entirely; you should not fill Heaven with apprehensions, nor let your own uneasiness be visible, but take private measures to assure Timocles's victory and Damis's being laughed out of court.

Herm. It cannot be kept quiet, Zeus; the philosophers' debate is public, and you will be accused of despotic methods, if you maintain reserve on a matter of so great and general interest.

 

[KalosKagathos]

6. Zeus. Make proclamation and summon all, then. I approve your judgement.

Herm. Here, assemble, all ye Gods; don't waste time, come along, here you are; we are going to have an important meeting.

Zeus. What, Hermes? so bald, so plain, so prosy an announcement—on this momentous occasion?

Herm. Why, how would you like it done?

Zeus. Some metre, a little poetic sonority, would make the style impressive, and they would be more likely to come.

Herm. Ah, Zeus, that is work for epic poets or reciters, and I am no good at poetry. I should be sure to put in too many feet, or leave out some, and spoil the thing; they would only laugh at my rude verses. Why, I've known Apollo himself laughed at for some of his oracles; and prophecy has the advantage of obscurity, which gives the hearers something better to do than scanning verses.

Zeus. Well, well, Hermes, you can make lines from Homer the chief ingredient of your composition; summon us in his words; you remember them, of course.

Herm. I cannot say they are exactly on the tip of my tongue; however, I'll do my best:

Let ne'er a God (tum, tum), nor eke a Goddess,
Nor yet of Ocean's rivers one be wanting,
Nor nymphs; but gather to great Zeus's council;
And all that feast on glorious hecatombs,
Yea, middle and lower classes of Divinity,
Or nameless ones that snuff fat altar-fumes.

 

[KalosKagathos]

7. Zeus. Good, Hermes; that is an excellent proclamation: see, here they come pell-mell; now receive and place them in correct precedence, according to their material or workmanship; gold in the front row, silver next, then the ivory ones, then those of stone or bronze. A cross-division will give precedence to the creations of Phidias, Alcamenes, Myron, Euphranor, and artists of that calibre, while the common inartistic jobs can be huddled together in the far corner, hold their tongues, and just make up the rank and file of our assembly.

Herm. All right; they shall have their proper places. But here is a point: suppose one of them is gold, and heavy at that, but not finely finished, quite amateurish and ill proportioned, in fact—is he to take precedence of Myron's and Polyclitus's bronze, or Phidias's and Alcamenes's marble? or is workmanship to count most?

Zeus. It should by rights. Never mind, put the gold first.

 

[KalosKagathos]

8. Herm. I see; property qualification, comparative wealth, is the test, not merit.—Gold to the front row, please.—Zeus, the front row will be exclusively barbarian, I observe. You see the peculiarity of the Greek contingent: they have grace and beauty and artistic workmanship, but they are all marble or bronze—the most costly of them only ivory with just an occasional gleam of gold, the merest surface-plating; and even those are wood inside, harbouring whole colonies of mice. Whereas Bendis here, Anubis there, Attis next door, and Mithras and Men, are all of solid gold, heavy and intrinsically precious.

 

[KalosKagathos]

9. Pos. Hermes, is it in order that this dog-faced Egyptian person should sit in front of me, Posidon?

Herm. Certainly. You see, Earth-shaker, the Corinthians had no gold at the time, so Lysippus made you of paltry bronze; Dog- face is a whole gold-mine richer than you. You must put up with being moved back, and not object to the owner of such a golden snout being preferred.

Aph. Then, Hermes, find me a place in the front row; I am golden.

Herm. Not so, Aphrodite, if I can trust my eyes; I am purblind, or you are white marble; you were quarried, I take it, from Pentelicus, turned by Praxiteles's fancy into Aphrodite, and handed over to the Cnidians.

 

[KalosKagathos]

10. Aph. Wait; my witness is unexceptionable—Homer. 'The Golden Aphrodite' he calls me, up and down his poems.

Herm. Oh, yes, no doubt; he called Apollo rich, 'rolling in gold'; but now where will you find Apollo? Somewhere in the third-class seats; his crown has been taken off and his harp pegs stolen by the pirates, you see. So you may think yourself lucky with a place above the fourth.

 

[KalosKagathos]

11. Col. Well, who will dare dispute my claim? Am I not the Sun? and look at my height. If the Rhodians had not decided on such grandiose dimensions for me, the same outlay would have furnished forth a round dozen of your golden Gods; I ought to be valued proportionally. And then, besides the size, there is the workmanship and careful finish.

Herm. What shall I do, Zeus? Here is a difficulty again—too much for me. Going by material, he is bronze; but, reckoning the talents his bronze cost, he would be above the first class.

Zeus. What business has he here dwarfing the rest and blocking up all the bench?—Why, my excellent Rhodian, you may be as superior to the golden ones as you will; but how can you possibly go in the front row? Every one would have to get up, to let you sit; half that broad beam of yours would fill the whole House. I must ask you to assist our deliberations standing; you can bend down your head to the meeting.

 

[KalosKagathos]

12. Herm. Now here is another problem. Both bronze, equal aesthetically, being both from Lysippus's studio, and, to crown all, nothing to choose between them for birth—two sons of yours, Zeus—Dionysus and Heracles. Which is to be first? You can see for yourself, they mean to stand upon their order.

Zeus. We are wasting time, Hermes; the debate should have been in full swing by now. Tell them to sit anyhow, according to taste; we will have an ad hoc meeting another day, and then I shall know how to settle the question of precedence.

 

[KalosKagathos]

13. Herm. My goodness, what a noise! what low vulgar bawling! listen—'Hurry up with that carving!' 'Do pass the nectar!' 'Why no more ambrosia?' 'When are those hecatombs coming?' 'Here, shares in that victim!'

Zeus. Call them to order, Hermes; this nonsense must cease, before I can give them the order of the day.

Herm. They do not all know Greek; and I haven't the gift of tongues, to make myself understood by Scythians and Persians and Thracians and Celts. Perhaps I had better hold up my hand and signal for silence.

Zeus. Do.

 

[KalosKagathos]

Update 17: Third Kalpa

It is time to concentrate on the candelabra subplot again. If you kept track, we're still one candelabrum short for entering the next Kalpa. The third Horseman appears at the Shinjuku hospital after Aradia enters the Vortex World.

Soul: Now, there's a demon living in the annex even more frightening than Forneus! He looks like one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse! When will I ever feel at ease...?

To be more specific, he's in the room 204B.

No reason to panic. It's nothing we haven't seen before.

Will you stay here?

Yes.

Are you sure?

Yes.

When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!"

We exist... to watch o'er the candelabra...

I... the Black Rider... shall judge thee...

Instead of angels, Famine can call upon up to two Legions.

Legion is based on a New Testament story, in which Jesus exorcises multiple demons, all of whom were possessing the same man. Once exorcised, the demons possessed a herd of pigs, then drowned themselves. No, I don't really get it, either.

Anyhow, Legions can cast Makakaja, but they rarely do it, and it does little in this fight for reasons explain a bit later. Most of the time they use AoE physical attacks, like Tempest and Berserk. They also have Hell Gaze, a Death-based spell that can instantly kill any demon not immune to it. As far as I can tell, what makes it different from the Mudo line of spells is that its success depends on the target's evasion rate, rather than being a flat percentage. Tetraja still blocks it.

Legions are immune to Death, so the Stone Bite trick won't work here. Instead, Reggie can exploit their weakness to Electricity and use Shock to milk them for extra actions.

Here we have Soul Divide, a spell exclusive to the Black Rider and one that he likes to use quite a lot. It's a Curse-based attack that halves the HP of all enemies and has a chance of Muting them. The chances of Mute are quite low, by the way, the reason that both Reggie and Baihu got hit with it is that the dice hated me.

Things to note about Soul Divide:

1. Its damage unaffected by buffs and debuffs, it's always half of the current HP.
2. It can't kill anyone.
3. Daisoujou drains it, ending the Rider's turn.
4. Daisoujou can immediately use Prayer to remove everything it's done: both damage and the status effect.

As you can tell, it's far less scary than it may appear to be at first, which is why we didn't bother equipping the Curse-nulling Djed Magatama on Reggie and instead went for Ice-immune Miasma. You see, the Rider's other favorite spell is Glacial Blast. This can kill you, and if you get lazy and stop removing Makakaja with Hell Exhaust or don't bother casting War Cry at the beginning, it probably will.

Final note: Neither Famine, nor Legions have Dekunda or Dekaja.

So here's the plan: over the first several turns, War Cry, Fog Breath, Rakunda, Rakukaja and Makakaja are set up. When needed, the Biker removes the enemy's Makakaja, and Reggie keeps Tetraja running: we don't want to get a game over just because the protagonist is killed by a stray Hell Gaze. After that's done, the Hell Biker and Baihu do Focused physicals, Reggie spams Shock, Daisoujou drains the Rider's MP with Meditation and spends it on Prayers. Much easier than the previous two Riders.

The last one we need.

Reggie hits level 52. Tornado that has served us so well for more than 30 levels is replaced with Glacial Blast. Same damage, but it also can freeze enemies. Level 52 is great for another reason as well: now we can fuse the White Rider.

To get the White Rider you have to fuse any Yoma on new Kagutsuchi. First, we fuse Kushinada from Daisoujou and a Fomor, then fuse her with a Kelpie.

Haha! I am the Fiend White Rider! Behold my overflowing power!

God's Bow is all the reason you need to want this demon in your party: if it's not immune to Expel, it's dead. Can't be dodged. The cost is 20MP, which is high for a single target spell, but its extreme reliability makes it worth it.

We fuse an Aquans from Isora and a Karasu Tengu, then fuse it with an Erthys we grab at Rag's. We get Ara Mitama.

Ara Mitama is another aspect of the human soul. It embodies feelings and emotions like courage, anger and BURNING PASSION of shonen protagonists.

We use it to transfer a couple of buffs to the White Rider.

We get another Erthys from Rag's, use it to upgrade an Oni, then fuse the resulting Ikusa with Baihu.

The name Dakini can refer to two types of mythological beings. In Hinduism, they're vampiric servants of Kali who can turn people insane, drain babies of their blood and generally make your life hell. In Buddhism, they embody female intuition and wisdom. Quite a jump, I know. The Nocturne version has touches of both: the skill set is based on the Hindu version, but the look has a lot of Tibetan motifs.

Of skills of note, they have Dismal Tune, which is Soul Divide's little brother: it deals moderate Curse damage to all enemies and can Mute them. The Dakini's Magic score is poor, preventing her from dealing any major damage with this spell, but few demons resist Curse, so it's a reliable option.

The Dakini is further improved with a Nigi Mitama we get by buying an Aeros at Rag's, then fusing it with Erthys born of a fusion of a Kodama summoned from the Compendium and a Hua Po.

Well, that certainly was a lot of fusion. Now that we're prepared, the Labyrinth of Amala awaits.

We make our way through the entire Second Kalpa again to the place where we first met the Riders.

Will you light the Candelabrum of Compassion?

Yes.

Will you light the Candelabrum of Wisdom?

Yes.

Will you light the Candelabrum of Insight?

Yes.

Unlocking the Third Kalpa gives us another shortcut back to the Labyrinth's entrance.

This is the first thing you see after entering the Kalpa proper. The look of the Third Kalpa always reminded me of tombs, and those twisty shadows you can see on the walls look a bit like blood vessels, which creeps me out a little. The Third Kalpa is one of my favorites, as it has three separate routes, all leading to the final confrontation. Yes, you read that right, this Kalpa and all that will follow after have a boss at the end. There are several rooms before the branching point, though, so let's cover them first.

Soul: Life or death... You must choose... even if choice defies reason. I can see it. Your inclination is taking form... Would you like to know why your soul wavers?

Tell me.
Soul: Imagine that you're in a desert... A turtle walks up to you. You flip the turtle over, leaving it on its back. It struggles to right itself, but to no avail. For what reason did you flip the turtle? You did so because of the distress in your heart. The helpless turtle is you! If you look at things upside-down, of course they will appear inverted. Forget your worries and move on.

I was mistaken. This must be the key to understanding RPGCodex.

Soul: where death conquers death, and fire lights the darkness... The words of the beginning shall be spoken. ...We all await those words." ............I heard that from a demon in the Labyrinth. I wonder what it means...

At least this has something to do with the plot.

Demons encountered near the entrance to the the Kalpa include Beriths, Virtues, Trolls and Setantas. We have two newcomers as well.

The glowing humanoid is Amaterasu, the head of the Shinto pantheon and a sun goddess. The Japanese imperial lineage was said to go back to her. I won't be posting any concept art of her, as she's just a reskin of Okuninushi, minus the sword, put on fire. When we encounter one, you'll get the art.

The three-legged raven is Yatagarasu, a heavenly herald in the Shinto mythology.

This is where the Kalpa branches.

Demon: Dude, forget it. Only someone strong like me can go in there! A puny wimp like you won't be able to get in. There are more doors like it inside... Even I can't get through some of them! If you wanna get in, you better build some muscle. Right now, you're just a little girlie-man.

As Hanuman, the heroic ape king from Ramayana, tells us, golden doors like the one in the screenshot can only be opened if your stats are high enough. Doors on the western side of the Kalpa require Strength, which isn't one of our character's best points. Bonuses granted by Magatama count, but even they aren't enough to gain entry. We'll have to return here several updates later.

Soul: The door up ahead will test your luck. If you're unlucky, you won't even be able to set foot inside the room. Even if you do manage to get in, there's no telling where you'll end up... So, tell me... Are you feelin' lucky?

A Dirty Harry reference? Anyway, we do. The doors on the northern side require high Luck, and we have no problems with that. Before we go through, let's also try the eastern side.

Soul: You need a certain amount of strength, luck or magic to enter each door. The door up ahead is one of them. If you're going in, you better be prepared.

It can be figured out that the eastern doors require Magic. Like Strength, ours just isn't good enough, so we'll have to return here later as well. Sorry if the update feels incomplete as a result, but stat points aren't infinite.

We equip Nirvana because of its hefty +8 bonus to Luck to help us with the northern doors.

Will you try to open it?

Yes.
Voice of the door: Your luck is worthy of praise! You may pass.

Just like that, we're in. There are more stat-locked doors in this section, but our Luck is high enough to open all of them, so I won't be paying them much attention from now on. What I'd like to point out is that this place can be a bit confusing to navigate: there are teleporters, doors that can only be opened from one side and Luck doors that act like teleporters, rather than actual doors.

This one, for example, leads...

...here. Yeah. As a result, you can't just blindly rely on the auto-map, but it's not something you can't get used to.

A lot of really nice loot is spread around. In addition to this Deathstone, there are 3 Mystical Chests with a Strength Incense, a Magic Incense and a Great Chakra inside.

A Burial Chamber is also here, but the only tomb working currently is Ongyo-ki's.

Enemy demons encountered around vary greatly and range from lowly Pretas to Loki. In between we have Kaiwans, Momunofu, Kelpies, Pisaca, Nagas, Fomors, Arahabaki and Decarabia.

Loa make their first appearance.

In Voodoo, Loa are spirits who facilitate communication between humans and gods.

Here we have Sparna.

Sparna is another name for Garuda, Vishnu's mount in Hinduism. In fact, you can evolve Garuda out of it, but we won't be doing that in this LP.

A ladder is behind one of the Luck doors.

Below we have this door, which refuses to open. I guess it's time to explain alignments.

You can see Magatama of 3 colors. Dark blue Magatama are dark-aligned, light blue Magatama are light-aligned, green Magatama are neutral-aligned. Circled Magatama are the ones that have no more skills to teach. These mastered Magatama are the ones that determine the main character's alignment. Reggie mastered 2 light Magatama and 1 neutral Magatama, which makes him light-aligned, hence the door's refusal to let him pass.

There are 2 more doors like this in the Third Kalpa. The one in the Strength area only yields to dark-aligned characters, and the one in the Magic area can only be opened by light-aligned characters. Because of Reggie's stats, we won't be opening any in this update. Again, sorry.

Alignment also determines Reggie's race, visible left to his name. He starts out as a Fiend, then it changes as he masters Magatama.

Other than the protagonist's title and these 3 doors, alignment has absolutely no effect on the game, which is why I haven't bothered mentioning it until now.

The tunnels on the B1 floor lead us to this hall. This is where all 3 routes come together. One of the rooms in the middle has a ladder leading back to the entrance to the Kalpa, the other has a ladder leading further down.

Further south is this door. The key to it can't be obtained until we finish the Fourth Kalpa.

Another new demon can be encountered on this floor.

It's Oberon, the fairy king, familiar to most thanks to A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Demon: I saw an awesome dude with guns and a great sword mowing down demons, hee ho! It was terrifying!

No prizes for guessing who the awesome dude is. He awaits us a floor below, but before we face him, I'd like to summon the Red Rider, which means grinding a couple of levels. We wouldn't have to do this if we could explore the other parts of this Kalpa, but alas.

On level 54, Mana Drain can finally be discarded in favor of Mana Refill.

This also marks the third light-aligned Magatama Reggie mastered, changing his title to Zealot.

On level 55, Rakunda is replaced with Tarukaja. The Red Rider can be summoned now.

To summon him you have to fuse a Fairy on new Kagutsuchi.

We fuse a Unicorn from a Nekomata and an Angel, fuse it with a Pyro Jack into Sarasvati, then fuse Sarasvati with the Dakini. The whole point of it was to get him to inherit Unicorn's Rakukaja, but after 30 minutes of re-rolls, I settle for Rakunda.

I am the Fiend Red Rider. Time for another war, eh?

Well, not quite. We buy a Kusi Mitama at Rag's.

Kusi Mitama embodies wisdom and insight.

It's used to teach War Sukukaja.

We fuse the Hell Biker with a Mizuchi into an Ikusa, which in turn is upgraded with an Erthys summoned from the Compendium to a Shiki-Ouji. This time around, Rakukaja stays.

A Shiki-Ouji is a more powerful and badass version of a Shikigami. They're so hard that they are immune to physical damage. Not bad for animated paper, huh?

We then get a Flaemis at Rag's, summon another Erthys, fuse them into another Kusi Mitama and upgrade the Shiki-Ouji with it. Sukukaja and Mana Refill are always handy.

With all this firepower we return to the Third Kalpa.

It's definitely him.

White hair.

Walk of a fashion model.

Dramatic pose.

Nonchalant attitude.

I had a feeling that I'd see you again.

Cocky smile.

That old geezer intends for the Fiends to kill each other off...

Vocabulary of a teenager.

Why? Who knows...? But, you're not dumb enough to play into his hand, are you? Then, get out of here. ...And don't look back. That's your only option. ...Am I right, kid?

It's Dante, everyone's favorite walking action movie cliche.

And I hate to admit it, but his words make sense. The old gentleman is obviously up to no good, doesn't tell us everything, and there's absolutely no in-character reason for Reginald to waste time on him when there's all that crap going on back home. With that said...

No way.

I promised to show as much content as possible, didn't I?

Okay. Take one step beyond this point, and...

To prevent "lol, Dante cannot into aiming!" jokes, he raises the handgun when he says "Bang!" to mimic a gunshot.

Let's rock!

Hell yeah, a boss fight!

Wait, what? How did he get past us? Whatever, the next Kalpa should be behind that door.

Trust us, we won't.

Where's he? Where should we...

WHAT?! He's attacking without entering the combat mode? Screw this, we're running away from this cheater.

The column to the left of the entrance can be used to circle around Dante and get to the tunnel from which he came without bumping into him. He'll follow you around the column and leave the way open.

A door is just around the corner. By the way, if Dante reaches us, we fight. After several turns he runs away, and Reggie is booted back at the beginning of the current section. Yes, current section. There are 3 of them.

To get past here, you need to turn on all the switches first. Alright, I'm gonna count to three. That's how long you've got to come up with a plan.

Time for round 2.

Dante gives you a little time before he follows you through the door. How nice of him.

This part is difficult to reflect with screenshots, so I'll explain it using the auto-map.

The exit is at the north. Before it opens we have to activate 2 switches. They're shown with 2 exclamation marks near the center. Exclamation marks at the south-western and the north-eastern corners are teleporters, connected to each other, that Dante can't use for some reason. We start at the south-eastern door. First thing we do, we run forward, open the door to the right, then run inside the room with the southern switch. We activate it. As we leave the small room, Dante enters through the northern door, so we can't activate the northern switch immediately without starting a fight with him. Instead we run out of the southern door, use the south-western teleporter, enter the northern door, activate the second switch.

After both switches are activated, Dante will guard the exit. We approach him, get his attention, then run all the way to the south-western teleporter again. Since he can't use it, we have more time to reach the exit from the north-eastern teleporter than he does from the south-western one.

Phew.

This part is even easier because Dante isn't following you all the time. The exit is at the center. The switches are in 3 rooms, one to the west, one to the north, one to the east. When you activate a switch, Dante will attempt to catch you on your way out of the room by entering it from the opposite side. You have to use columns found in those rooms to run around him, much like we did in the first part of this encounter with Dante. The only trick is that some parts of the rooms are blocked with glass that doesn't show up on the auto-map, but it's still the same puzzle at heart, and as long as you don't hit a switch, you have all the time in the world to study the room it's located in. Dante won't chase you until you activate a switch. He will deactivate all activated switches if he catches you this time, though. After all 3 are turned on, he'll be guarding the exit again, and you'll have to use the exact same teleporter trick to get past him.

Double phew. The B4 floor is completely safe. No Dante chasing you around, no random encounters, Dr. Dark for healing, if you need it.

Soul: If you are, you better be ready. I saw a guy with guns and a huge sword walk in not long ago.

WHAT?! How did he get past us again? How did he get inside the Third Kalpa in the first place, anyway? Last I checked you needed candelabra for it.

It's quiet. Too quiet.

...You're wrong, pal. Checkmate!

Kick your smug ass as hard as possible, now that the game allows us. And love every single moment of it.

To start with, Dante has a new attack: Bullet-Time.

Dante fires Ebony and Ivory in all directions...

...not all of which have our demons in them...

...then strikes an improbable action hero pose. It deals moderate physical damage to everyone and can cause Panic. The Shiki-Ouji nulls it, gods bless it, allowing us to heal the damage immediately. Dante still has his old attacks, like E&I and Rebellion, but Bullet-Time is the one he uses the most.

The important thing to realize is that Dante still hasn't bothered to learn Dekaja, so setting up Tarukaja, Sukukaja and especially Rakukaja should take priority. The Holy Star trick still works, to an extent: he doesn't always remove debuffs immediately, but it's still high on his priority list. There's not much point to it this time, though: he only has 2 action points, and both are lost when the Shiki-Ouji nulls his attack.

When buffs are running, you can start doing Focused attacks on him.

Terrorblade is especially effective, as it often hits twice, dealing more than 2000 points of damage in total.

I'm glad. Otherwise, it wouldn't be any fun!

A third of his HP later, he gets serious and starts using elemental attacks.

This is Whirlwind; heavy Force damage to everyone. Nulled by the Red Rider. He can also use Roundtrip here, AFAIK, which deals heavy Electricity damage to everyone, but he doesn't get to use it on us because over the next turn we reduce his HP by another third. It would be nulled by War, anyway.

But, playtime's over. Let me show you how grown-ups fight!

His confident stance makes it sound like a real threat.

Anyway, this is the last card he has up his sleeve: Showtime.

He does a launcher with Rebellion (that fails to launch anyone but him)...

...fires Ebony and Ivory in mid-air...

...then does a downward slash with Rebellion. The result is heavy Almighty damage to all enemies, except it's not all that heavy after 4 Rakukaja spells.

Should have done the Killer Bee loop instead, noob.

BGM: Parting

Uh-oh, he's smiling.

Sorry for the emulation glitch.

And for this one.

We forgot the most important thing about Dante: when a cut scene starts, he becomes invincible.

Well, it's been a pleasure, guys. I'm thinking of LPing DDS or Raidou games next...

Just messing with you.

then I'll be giving my client exactly what he wants. And that just won't do.

I thought that if I kept on collecting stuff like this, eventually I'd hit the jackpot.

Half the time, I have no idea what he's saying.

But, plans change. Maybe you'll have better luck than I did trying to get to the bottom of all this. It'd be a shame for you to die now, so I'll give you a little help...

At this point, all I care about is what that old geezer has up his sleeve. Here, take it.

You obtained the Candelabrum of Knowledge.

The way's finally clear.

A floor below, a welcome sight.

Will you look through it?

Yes.

The demon inside you will continue to be your source of strength during your quest.

They pray, wishing for greater power...

Let me tell you about that god...

She is from a Vortex World beyond the boundaries of this world.

there exist countless Vortex Worlds. One of these worlds is where Aradia originated.

this Vortex World was made by the true power of creation.

and that is the Vortex World where Aradia once resided. Those who dwell there wish for one thing: for their existence to become real... To find the means they depart into the ocean of Amala and seek out worlds that hold the power of creation.

She emerged in response to the cries of witches who were persecuted for their beliefs. The witches prayed to Aradia for power and freedom... They also prayed for people to be saved from the hardships of life. However, Aradia never showed herself on earth, nor did she save anyone. She was a god who could only give hope to her believers.

Anything is possible in the vast ocean of Amala.

There is little that she can do in a Vortex World where her existence is forbidden. She is merely the god of forsaken freedom...

You have heard the voice of the Absolute One, too. But, please know this... In the everlasting flow of Amala, we have long waited for you... for this time to come.

the new demon of chaos, whom all are waiting for in anticipation, and the final moment that my master awaits...

...You must be overwhelmed by it all. Reginald... If you can restore the candelabra to their original places and come here once again, then at that time... I will tell you the answers to all of your questions.

Only two left.

Jump in?

Yes.

One mini-game later...

4 candelabra are needed to enter the Third Kalpa, three if you don't count the one Dante gave us.



In the next update, we'll do our first special fusion and be introduced to the third and last Reason. Several optional bosses should be appearing around now, but I'm not sure if they'll make it in.

 

[KalosKagathos]

How this ended up being longer than the Obelisk update, I'll never know.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Hee ho! You're really good at describing battle tactics and the like, KK.

This must be the key to understanding RPGCodex.

Oh, and the hit-and-run sequence with Dante, combined with switch-flipping, is great imho.

 

[KalosKagathos]

Hee ho! You're really good at describing battle tactics and the like, KK.

Thanks. Bosses are near the top of the list of reasons why I like Nocturne, so I want to do them justice.

Oh, and the hit-and-run sequence with Dante, combined with switch-flipping, is great imho.

I hate Stinger with its chance of irresistible instant death. That is all.

 

[lightbane]

So, can Dante kill you with his pistols or only harm you a bit? Are random encounters still activated as you try to resolve this "puzzle"?

I like how like it happens on most Capcom games Dante can asspull sudden invulnerability/other superpowers as long as it is a cutscene. Sadly, of course killing him is not an option, a pity, it would spare him from the horrible shit that Devil May Cry 5 will be.

 

[KalosKagathos]

So, can Dante kill you with his pistols or only harm you a bit?

You mean when he's chasing you around? No idea, but he probably can't reduce your HP below 1, since no other environmental hazard can.

Are random encounters still activated as you try to resolve this "puzzle"?

No, thankfully.

 

[KalosKagathos]

Update 18: Amala Network Revisited

If you remember, Reggie reached level 56 near the end of the previous update. That's a very good level to reach because it allows us to fuse a great demon. But first, we'll need to gather proper materials.

1. Mikazuchi. We create him by fusing the Shiki-Ouji with an Incubus.

Mikazuchi (or Take-Mikazuchi) is another Japanese god of thunder and a wrestling buddy of Minakata.

2. Yatagarasu. First we fuse a Unicorn from a Nekomata and Angel, then the horse is fused with Orthrus.

3. Uzume. Fused from a Pixie and an Angel, as usual.

Now, the fusion of Minakata usually results in Chimera.

Chimera is the part-lion, part-goat, part-snake beastie from Greek mythology that got killed by Bellerophon.

However, sacrificing Uzume on full Kagutsuchi changes the result.

Oh my.

The Godly Light spell Amaterasu will learn on level 57 is an Expel-based attack that reduces the HP of all enemies by 80%. In theory. In reality, it has an absolutely terrible accuracy rate and, to add an insult to an injury, isn't exempt from the "Miss equals double press turn cost" rule, like most Expel and Death attacks are. It's dirt cheap (10 MP), but its extremely unreliable nature means we'll be sticking to using Prominence as Amaterasu's main offensive tool.

The real reason we're fusing her is the skill she learns on level 58.

Still, our Pixie has certainly come a long way, hasn't she?

About time we reported back to Hijiri.



BGM: Hijiri. Took a while for his theme to finally play.

Yeah, that Dante fight really was something, wasn't it?

I could tell from here that the flow of Magatsuhi had returned to normal.

Oh, that.

Well, with this blow to Nihilo, Hikawa won't be able to make his move for a while. I think we can take a little breather.

Let him recover, build up his forces anew and all that. Genius strategy, buddy.

Oh, you're not gonna tell me? ...Does it bother you that much? If so, then I'll stop asking. I'm satisfied knowing that the Nightmare System is out of commission. Oh yeah. It might seem like I'm making you do all the work, but...

"Seem"? You mean you aren't?

...I'm doing what I can. Let me share with you what I've found out so far, okay?

Sure.

Alright, listen up.

This idea is commonly referred to as a Reason. Now, to acquire a Reason, you must receive divine protection from a god, and this is where the Magatsuhi comes into play. You need a large quantity of Magatsuhi in order to summon a god. That's why Hikawa, a human, was collecting Magatsuhi.

Hijiri is officially useless.

It was a guy who was held captive by the Mantra. His name's Isamu. Do you know him?

Yes, I know him.

Yeah, that's what I thought. Anyways, about Isamu... He actually seemed to be doing okay in Amala. If you're unlucky, you can get swept away somewhere, or even worse, you can end up being absorbed by the Network. Well, in a world like this... one life doesn't amount to much, and you're better off not getting involved. But if you want, I can send you to where I met Isamu.

OK, maybe I was hasty.

Here we go. By the way, tell Isamu not to spend too much time in there.

This marks our second trip to the Amala Network. Like the previous one, it's spread over several floors.

B2 is a basic teleporter maze, similar to the one we had to go through to reach Ginza for the first time. The loot is suitably bad: a Medicine and a Dis-Charm. Enemies are Mou-Ryo and elementals. 45 levels ago we'd have to be careful.

Very soon we come across an Anomaly.

Did... you find... Isamu...?

No.

He may be up... ahead. When you... find... him... get yourself... out... The terminal's... acting... up... It's not... like it... should be...............

You cannot hear Hijiri's voice anymore.

A staircase to the next floor is right after the Anomaly. On B1 we meet a number of souls.

Soul: Geez, we've been having a lot of visitors lately! A human kid came in and began living here not too long ago. Well, I don't care who comes, as long as they don't bother me.

Soul: You seem friendly, but I'm not in the mood for chatting. "Believe no one." "The truth is within you!" You've heard it all before, right? So keep it to yourself, would you? ...Um, I'm babbling, aren't I?

Soul: How many times you plan on comin' here? I don't want to talk to no one! I'll heal you, so just go home... Pest.

............You have been healed.

Soul: No matter how many times you visit me, I'll heal you. Anything to make you go away!

That's nice, his reasons aside.

A saving point.

Soul: No one likes to be disturbed... And if you try to force your way through, you'll run into even more trouble!

Next we have another maze.

This is a square room with four columns in the middle. When you pass between certain columns, an angry soul appears, shouts a silly slogan, then blocks some passages between columns, preventing passage.

This one's my favorite. Anyway, you just memorize where the soul spawn and simply don't go there.

This is the correct route. There's also a Cache Cube with a Life Stone in it in this room.

Mitama can attack you on this floor.

The only one you haven't seen before is Saki Mitama, which grants good luck and blessings.

Phantoms with their self-destruction attack of doom are also around. With God's Bow and Wind Cutter, they aren't much of a problem this time.

In the next room the soul strikes back, and you have to solve another kinda-puzzle. Loot's better this time: two Cache Cubes, one with a Chakra Drop, one with a Magic Mirror.

Next is a fork. No matter which way you go, you end up in the same room, but...

...the soul creates a wall, limiting your movement to a half of it. Damn this thing, we'll have to backtrack 5 meters! Anyway, those Cache Cubes? One's with a Magic Mirror, the other one is a trap and will reduce the entire party's HP to 1.

The right half of the room has another exit.

Behind it is a save point.

Soul: ...That's what a demon I just met over there said. But he was much madder... and fiercer...

Oh crap, it can't be that thing again, can it?

On the good news watch, the Red Rider harnesses the power of sky itself. As if he hasn't been OP already.

Hey, it's that Specter from before.

Specter: YoooOoUUuuu!! I, LOoK, fOR YOuuUU!! ThIS, tiME, I kiLL yOu aND fEeL gOod!

It's still pissed.

Specter: DiEEeeeeeEe...!!

On its first turn, the Specter summons five copies of itself.

Specter: OoOoooOoooOOOO!! I eAT! I EAt yOU!!

On its second turn, it attempts to cast Megido (medium Almighty damage to everyone), only to discover that...

...it doesn't have enough MP for the spell. This is gonna be good.

Suddenly things take a turn for the worse. 6 enemies who can drop Megidos cast of your own MP on you are no laughing matter. Fortunately, there's an obvious and easy counter: debuffs. After Fog Breath and War Cry, Specters will have a very hard time connecting Mana Drain in the first place, and when they, it'll take a very small amount of MP.

This small.

Then it's just a matter of doing Focused physical until they drop, which doesn't take long.

A word of caution: after their numbers drop below 4, they start using Gathering to summon more Specters, but never above 4, so unless you can cut them off MP or kill more than 1 in a single turn, the battle can become an endless stalemate. As long as you have buffs - any buffs - this shouldn't happen.

Reggie stays on the path towards becoming a buffer and replaces Fog Breath with Sukukaja.

Further down the corridor, a closed door.

What in the name of...

Shadow: .................................................................................Hmm?......................................................................................Hmm.......................................................................................You.........You...... want to pass...?

.............
Shadow: .................................................................................Then.........Stay there................................................................................................You...............What's your name.....?

[Ignore him.]
Shadow: ....................................You......... quiet..................Cool...............................................................You...............Solitude...................You like... solitude...?

.............
Shadow: ....................................You...... are cool...........................Cool..........................................Can......... you..................live...... on your own?

.............
Shadow: .................................Talk to... Master Isamu......We all... live on our own......You are............ me......

As little sense as that made, the way is clear.

Look, pretty lights. I wonder what they do.

They collide with Isamu and make a funny sound when they do so.

Either way, there's no point anymore. The Isamu that once wandered this world aimlessly is dead.

BGM: Isamu

What's it with this game and creepy torso faces? And unlike Sakahagi's coat, these shift over Isamu's body slightly.

I figured out how I want the world to be. You see, there's me, and then there's everybody else. Most people don't even notice me.

That's not a bad thing, or a sad thing either. After all, only you can be at the center of your world, right? Then, each person should be allowed to create his or her own world... That is my Reason... the Reason of Musubi. ...You agree, don't you? That it'd be nice to create your own world?

Yeah, I agree.

I knew you'd understand. You can't please everyone, and you really shouldn't try to.

Right.

So yeah, I stopped blaming you for not helping me back then. ...See ya, Reginald. Give yourself some time to think about it...

And that's that.

The exit is on the other side of the door.

I'll go after him. You don't have to go inside Amala anymore.

If there's somewhere you want to go, don't wait for me. If not, why don't you check out Asakusa? Who knows...? You might find something new...



In the next update, we'll explore the newly rebuilt northern part of Asakusa, make an unlikely ally on the ruins of Ikebukuro, fight a magnificent demon from HEAVAN and receive a prophecy.

 

[KalosKagathos]

Pretty short, so I figured no bump was needed.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Things like this always make me chuckle for some reason.

 

[Azira]

 

[spekkio]

:clap:

And your description of Dante and the way you took him down made me:



Great updates as always, Kalos-kun.
Unlucky me for choosing Nocturne as my first SMT game - it's probably (?) the best one in series...

 

[KalosKagathos]

Thanks for the encouragement. Another update will appear right now.

 

[KalosKagathos]

BUMP FOR THE BUMP GOD. AN UPDATE FOR THE UPDATE THRONE.

 

[KalosKagathos]

14. Herm. Good; they are as quiet as if they were so many teachers of elocution. Now is the time for your speech; see, they are all hanging on your lips.

Zeus. Why—there is something wrong with me—Hermes, my boy —I will be frank with you. You know how confident and impressive I always was as a public speaker?

Herm. I know; I used to be in such a fright; you threatened sometimes to let down your golden cord and heave up earth and sea from their foundations, Gods included.

Zeus. But to-day, my child—it may be this terrible crisis— it may be the size of the audience—there is a vast number of Gods here, isn't there—anyhow, my thoughts are all mixed, I shiver, my tongue seems tied. What is most absurd of all, my exordium is gone clean out of my head; and I had prepared it on purpose to produce a good impression at the start.

Herm. You have spoiled everything, Zeus. They cannot make out your silence; they are expecting to hear of some terrible disaster, to account for your delay.

Zeus. What do you think? Reel off the exordium in Homer?

Herm. Which one?

Zeus. Lend me your ears, Gods all and Goddesses.

Herm. Rubbish! you made quite exhibition enough of yourself in that vein in our cabinet council. However, you might, if you like, drop your metrical fustian, and adapt any one of Demosthenes's Philippics with a few alterations. That is the fashionable method with speakers nowadays.

 

[KalosKagathos]

15. Zeus. Ah, that is a royal road to eloquence—simplifies matters very much for a man in difficulties.

Herm. Go ahead, then.

Zeus. Men of—Heaven, I presume that you would be willing to pay a great price, if you could know what in the world has occasioned the present summons. Which being so, it is fitting that you should give a ready hearing to my words. Now, whereas the present crisis, Heavenians, may almost be said to lift up a voice and bid us take vigorous hold on opportunity, it seems to me that we are letting it slip from our nerveless grasp. And I wish now (I can't remember any more) to exhibit clearly to you the apprehensions which have led to my summoning you.

As you are all aware, Mnesitheus the ship's-captain yesterday made his votive offering for the narrow escape of his vessel off Caphereus, and those of us whom he had invited attended the banquet in Piraeus. After the libations you went your several ways. I myself, as it was not very late, walked up to town for an afternoon stroll in Ceramicus, reflecting as I went on the parsimony of Mnesitheus. When the ship was driving against the cliff, and already inside the circle of reef, he had vowed whole hecatombs: what he offered in fact, with sixteen Gods to entertain, was a single cock—an old bird afflicted with catarrh—and half a dozen grains of frankincense; these were all mildewed, so that they at once fizzled out on the embers, hardly giving enough smoke to tickle the olfactories.

 

[KalosKagathos]

Update 19: In which the city of Asakusa is explored further, our hero becomes a shameless political prostitute and looks Death in the eyes, an otherworldly dong creature gets displeased, the words of prophecy are uttered, and the author suddenly and inexplicably breaks the previously established update naming convention

Male Manikin: ...But, we weren't the first ones here... Well, we're still pumped up. I'm going to help restore the city, too.

As it was hinted by Hijiri, the Manikins had been hard at work while Reggie had been away having fun in the Obelisk.

A previously inaccessible part of Asakusa has been restored as a result.

Female Manikin: ...It's full of demons, though.

Male Manikin: Oh, well. Futomimi should be ready to give his prophecy at Mifunashiro. I think I'll go there. Are you going?

Demon: We believe in coexistence, so there's no violence here.

Demons of the Jirae race are the new neighbours of the Asakusa Manikins.

This is a Titan. Titans are the eldest generation of supernatural beings in Greek mythology who had ruled the world before they were overthrown by the Olympians in a war known as the Titanomachy.

The building has another exit, using which bring us up one level.

We enter this building next.

Demon: Then, you should drop by once in a while, to check up on him. Take the advice of a long-time Asakusa resident!

Demon: You visiting them?

Demon: I heard someone saw Hikawa by the building that used to be the Mantra's headquarters.

Inside we get some very interesting pointers.

There's also a small terminal here and two Cache Cubes: one with 2 Life Stone, one with 2000 Macca.

Finally, the building can be used to get even higher.

Here we have the last unexplored structure in Asakusa.

Within are 3 Mystical Chests with gems in them: an Emerald, a Sapphire and a Diamond.

We should validate the rumors we've heard now. First, let's travel all the way back to Shibuya, to the club where we met Chiaki.

Soul: They kept saying, "We'll summon a magnificent demon." Sounds... fishy.

Interesting.

The place of the ceremony is fiendishly well-hidden: the entrance is on the other side of the building in the middle. The door does show up on the auto-map, though.

This is what you get if you attempt to enter on any Kagutsuchi phase other than full. SMT II players may recognize the four dolls in the background. Now let's follow the soul's advice and enter on full Kagutsuchi.

Manikin on the right: Screw everyone for making fun of us just because we're Manikins! We're gonna summon a magnificent demon, then give 'em the beating of their lives!
Manikin on the left: Right on! It's payback time! Hurry up and summon that magnificent demon! Summon the magnificent Mara! This is going to be sooo sweet!

You know, I always struggled to find the proper words to describe the SMT version of Mara, but "magnificent" is just about perfect.

Baphomet: *chuckle* As I haaaad been saying, it's not time yet. Mara is a magnificent demon... If we summon him at the wrong time, something baaaad may happen.

Manikin on the right: We can't let anyone who's made fun of us live any longer than they absolutely have to!
Manikin on the left: That's right, Mr. Baphomet. Just like the guy on the right said!

Manikin on the right: Tell him to summon Mara and make our lives a little easier!

I love the pettiness of these two.

Hurry it up.

It's not like anything can go wrong, right?

Manikin on the left: Now, hurry up and summon Mara!

Baphomet: *chuckle* Have it your way! Not my fault if something baaaad happens, okay?

Baphomet begins to chant...

Oh yeah, I probably should tell you what Mara's supposed to look like.

Told you he was magnificent. Anyway, the name appears in a whole lot of languages and can often be seen in words related to illusions or bad dreams (English "nightmare", or Russian "кошмар"). The Megaten Mara is based on Mara who tried to tempt Gautama Buddha and is a manifestation of worldly desires.

Baphomet: Come forth from the depths of shadow... And submit to my will!

He's... He's limp.

Mara: ...............................................................Ugh......G-g-geee......

Baphomet: Well! In my rush, I have summoned Mara the Magnificent in an incomplete body of a slime.

Mara: ......Blah...B-Bluh......H...ow.........Blorg......

He's getting excited!

So yeah, Mara. He has two attacks: Dismal Tune and Hades Blast. Hades Blast is the one to watch out for: it's a physical AoE that can deal very impressive damage. Make sure to boost your defense and/or reduce his offense as soon as possible. Mara's main gimmick is his knowledge of Diarahan, a healing spell that brings him back to full health. As a result, you have to kill him in a single turn. Fortunately, his HP is very low: only 2300. After setting up all buffs and debuffs, he can be killed with a single Focused Terrorblade, provided it hits twice and scores a critical. To make your job even easier, you can reflect a Hades Blast back at him with a Tetrakarn, but that's just overkill.

One of the easiest bosses in the game. If your character doesn't get killed at the start with a random Hades Blast critical, there's just no way you can lose.

Something is on the ground... You obtained the Magatama Muspell.

Muspell has no weakness, resists all status effects and teaches spells that inflict status effects on all enemies and deal some damage while they're at it. Absolutely essential if you're building the main character for this sort of thing, but it's not what we're doing.

Now we should see if the other rumor was true.

It's been a long time since we were here.

Hey, look, a cutscene! Guess it was true. A very cool version of Hikawa's theme plays in this scene, but it's not included on any soundtrack, for some reason. Does anyone know if on-disc music files were ripped by some kind hacker?

EDIT: Found it!

...What a surprise.

Or should I say, "Demi-fiend"? Frankly, it never crossed my mind before... But, it seems we were destined to meet again.

That's why I didn't stop you from going to the Obelisk.

Why so much security there then? For the Spyglass?

I also wanted to verify that you were truly the Demi-fiend. However, not only did you defeat my subordinates, but you single-handedly set the Maiden free.

We did bring Nicolas Cage, the undead monk and Baihu along.

The strength of the Demi-fiend, as written in the Scripture of Miroku... It was beyond my expectations. You might be able to aid me in delivering Shijima to the world...

Eat your heart out, Sephiroth.

Humans became dependent on its warmth, and averted their eyes from its destructive nature.

By doing so, a life of repose would in turn be promised to them.

It is not man that makes the distinction... It is the world. Humans should be beacons that light the world.

That is the ideal way of life.

The drums start spinning at this point.

Don't you agree, that the world should be ruled by serenity...?

Yes, it should.

Reginald is a man of wide views and has no problems accepting multiple mutually contradictory ideologies.

So, you understand the greatness of Shijima? ...You are on a different level than the masses, as I suspected.

I will ask for your assistance when the time comes. ...It is now time for us to part. I will not feel at ease until all this is over. Do you not sense something wicked in the air? Someone is scheming to ignite the ember that still glows within the remains of Gozu-Tennoh.

It is I who will create the new world!

Man, I am getting jealous of that inexplicable knack for teleportation plot-important characters have been displaying lately. But what was that he said about Gozu-Tennoh?

Strange.

Demon: A human guy was here, too.

Something is definitely off. Oh well, it'll probably solve itself.

Meanwhile, we have a prophecy to catch.

What I am about to say is critical to our future.

But, another power is being born that can potentially bring our efforts to naught. Yes, it's... Yoyogi... This evil power will take form at Yoyogi Park. Right now, it is but a mere shadow. However, when it takes form, it will have enough power to change the face of the world.

Manikins: ...Yoyogi Park?............A threat to Manikins...?............

We have learned to work together. If we join forces, we will be able to fight this evil power. Let us work harder and prepare for that time. We will not fall to the power that is brewing in Yoyogi Park...

There will be an end to our journey, a world where we are free from suffering...

Yoyogi Park, huh? If you remember, that's the first location we visited after leaving the hospital, only to find out that the place is locked from the inside by fairies who live there.

Luckily, there's another way in now. Another part of Asakusa has been restored, and it can be used to reach a tunnel leading to the eastern side of the park.

I heard you can't get inside Mantra's headquarters right now. ...The Manikins are worried. Former members of Mantra could be involved, but most likely, they wouldn't try anything without a leader.

Maybe those Manikins are up to something themselves...

Curious, but we have to deal with the park situation first. Let's see what's in the final parts of Asakusa.

Good, it has been getting boring without them.

Male Manikin: But, we worked together to build this city. We'll beat down that evil power!

And right around the next corner...

Will you stay here?

Yes.

Are you sure?

Yes.

When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hell was following close behind him.

Never understood why this shot of the main character backing out slightly is here. He acts as if he has lost a staring contest.

Let us see whether or not you can best the four knights of death...

overcome the inevitable fate of death...?

Beware, or it will engulf you in an instant!

The Pale Rider has two Loa assisting him, and I'd say they're actually more dangerous than him. For starters, they have Stone Gaze, which can set up instant kills by any physical attack. Second, they have Dormina and Poison Bite, which can be used to spread around the Sleep and Poison status effects. Why is it a bad thing? The Rider has two spells that stand out: Eternal Rest you're already familiar with and his exclusive skill Pestilence.

Almighty damage to everyone and a chance to catch Poison. The kicker? If a demon has already been poisoned before the attack starts, they die instantly. Needless to say, immunity to Curse is very attractive in this fight.

But back to those two Loa. They also know Debilitate, which is Tarunda, Rakunda and Sukunda all rolled into one. This spell is bad news, and Dekunda is mandatory. As an icing on the cake, they have Last Resort. Damage a Loa without killing it in on the very same turn, and there's a chance it'll blow up in your face on the following one. There's another icing on that icing, too: it heals the Rider by around 500 HP. I only wish I was making this crap up. In my mind, it's best to just ignore the pests and concentrate on dealing damage to the Pale Rider.

How do we do that? Oh, the usual, we cast Tarukaja, Rakunda to boost our Focused attacks further. But before that we use War Cry to reduce his dama... No wait, we don't do that last part. We finally put Amaterasu's Tetrakarn spell to good use and take advantage of the Pale Rider's love for using Blight, a physical AoE that deals heavy damage to everyone and can inflict Poison on top of that. No instant kill shenanigans on it, though.

This is what happens when you do a Blight on a party protected by the might of Tetrakarn: it bounces right back. For added humiliation, each hit is lovingly reflected individually, so the Rider takes all of the damage that would otherwise be evenly spread across 4 targets. In total, after Rakunda, it exceeds 1200 points. And this is why you don't War Cry.

Yeah, and Tetrakarn works the same way as natural reflection does, meaning it also drains the attacker of all current action points. Beautiful.

Just don't forget that the Rider knows other spells too and can drop a Mabufudyne or a Pestilence on you instead and be ready to heal that if he does. If a Loa triggers Tetrakarn, finish it off.

That was fun. We should hurry to the park now.

Female Manikin: It's him. Definitely him.

Soul: There's a giant hole there. We call it the Asakusa Tunnel.

Soul: But, you can't get in, so there's nothing to see.

Male Manikin: He went down the hall.

Souls here tell of two interesting landmarks, and Manikins reveal the identity of the evil power.

Our old friend has opened up a shop he dreamed of.

......Hahahahaha! I'm sorry, I always wanted to say that. You remember me? I'm the Manikin that collects all sorts of junk. I finally opened my own shop! Take your time and look around. Since you helped me out before, I'll sell to you at wholesale.

Could it be? Did we find a shopkeeper who doesn't charge outrageous prices?

You wish, they're only getting higher. We buy the Kamurogi Magatama, which makes you resistant to physical damage, weak to four basic elements and teaches physical attacks. We probably won't be using it, but gotta catch 'em all. The other two are currently outside our price range, so we'll have to return for them at a later point.

This building also houses a small terminal and a Cache Cube with a Revival Bead in it.

We leave Asakusa behind us. Let's take a look at that temple first.

Soul: But... What's a "Kimon"?

The temple is sealed with a powerful spell.

We have no way of getting in right now, but if you played the original SMT before, you probably can make an educated guess regarding the identity of the inhabitant of this temple.

The only way to go is the Asakusa Tunnel.

It probably holds some kind of a record for the shortest dungeon ever.

Near the entrance is a portable one use Estoma.

And a the bloodied body of a dead Manikin.

And another one. Like a nightmarish breadcrumb trail, bloodstains in this dungeon can be used to guess which way Sakahagi went and which way the park lies.

The tunnel is dark, so Lightoma is needed to make any progress.

How else can you see all the blood?

Male Manikin: Th-Th-Thank goodness it was dark...

The blood tells us that Sakahagi took the southern subway track. Which mean the northern one leads to optional goodies.

There's another Cache Cube nearby with 2 Medicines inside, but who cares about those?

On the southern track we find another corpse, confirming the theory.

At the start, there are 3 ladders. One leads to nowhere, one leads to a Mystical Chest with a Bead Chain in it, one leads the way we have to go.

10 meters after the correct ladder is a small treasure room with 3 Cache Cubes. One's a direct damage, another one has a Soma Droplet.

The last one has 3 Titans in it. Weak to Electricity, making them easy targets for the Red Rider's Bolt Storm and Reggie's Shock.

Speaking of enemies, meet the Raja Naga.

Just like regular Nagas, except royalty. Still weak to Fire.

Other demons spawning here include Ikusa, regular Nagas, Nues, Sarutahiko and Shikome.

10 meters after the treasure room we find another ladder, which in turn leads to another subway station, at which point the dungeon is basically over.

It doesn't even have a token optional area on the other track.

Soul: After that, a female human passed by. It's usually quiet her, but...

Now this is interesting. The Manikin is obviously Sakahagi, but who is the female? There are two possibilities.

Soul: That vicious Manikin won't be able to do anything just by himself.

So we make it to the exit.

To the north you can see the hospital where we started the game. This means our destination is to the west.

Sure enough, here it is.



Next update: Yoyogi Park.




EDIT: Found the track that plays in the Hikawa cutscene. Why isn't it on the official soundtrack?