The third testament... KICKS ASS!!! - Let's Play SMT2

[ghostdog]

Kudos to any kid that can claim that Persona 3 is the first game in the series. The amazing thing is that it can actually happen.

 

[deuxhero]

I despise her and every she stands for. She's a testament from a time before the Shin Megami Tensei universe grew out of the young japanese male idiocy and into one of the series with some of the best female characters, like, ever, to the point almost all memorable characters since IF have been girls.

Yeah, Naoto is one of the few non-torment game characters I really liked as a character (instead of another set of attacks or what not).

 

[derpherp]

Hmph, I haven't read the LPs since I actually want to play myself relatively unspoiled, but I'm reading up to whatever I just did in the SMT1 LP, and these are really nice LPs.

Big problem with these games is that it's almost impossible to find specific information, at least with my google searching. I've played most of Persona 2: Innocent Sin and got most of the magic down, but I found it to be incredibly easy and thus never became acquainted with the buffing magic syntax. A lot of the demons I'm recruiting ONLY have buffing(debuffing?) magic so I was shooting blind until I finally managed to find a quick list of MegaTen magic "translations," no thanks to "the Google."

Do you have any lists of nice demons to shoot for for those who aren't reading ahead in the LPs, or are you literally working from your own knowledge of the game?(if so, damn)

 

[deuxhero]

Specific Demons? The only ones I recall are
*For Nocturne get a force null team for Matador (Uzume is great even after it) and give the MC the uber useful Fog Breath.
*For Persona 3 get a 4 element Lilim for the first few blocks (After The Lovers is about when you can drop her). Fuse a Pixie and Nekomata then fuse it with an angel (make sure she inherits Garu and Bufu).
*For Persona 4 you really want a slime ASAP, then use it so it levels up and gets resists physical. Then make an angel with a sandman and a pixie, then make a triangle fusion with the Angel, a Sandman and the Slime (or a chain of other fusions if you want some other stuff on the result, aim for bufu if you do). Make sure the Slime is the highest level of them and make sure the Archangel gets res physical, then level the archangel up once for Media (heal all) then try (not needed, but prefered) fusing res physical and media onto something that resists fire (but isn't weak to ice) . Shadow Yukiko is a pain if you don't do crazy shit like that.
**After Shadow Yukiko get a Sarasvati and pass Invigorate 2 around ASAP. Until you get invig 3 or that MP leach spell (very late) it is handy for all non-physical persona (even good on them)
*I recall getting a resist all King Frost on day one of Devil Survivor that lasted for many game days. Not hard with Desu's easier fusion.

No idea for the first two of either series.

That's all as far as I recall

 

[derpherp]

Eh, I just heard that getting specific demons ready for various parts of the game was important, and the fusion system seems like it'd promote planning far ahead, but maybe it's more flexible than I thought. Either way, most of what I heard was in reference to Nocturne... so yeah.

In any case, I'm not terribly far yet but combining this with my previous experience in P2:IS I'm beginning to think these games are WAY easier than most people make them out to be. I don't grind for any notable lengths(no more than one level at a time generally), but I have a "never run" policy, and in SMT specifically I'm finding it generally more profitable to just smack demons at this point, I get enough Magnetite to cover my steps this way, and even in those rare games which are tight on money and have good equipment shops, XP is more profitable than money. Seems even more so in SMT since basically every new demon I've recruited has given me a sweet new weapon that isn't in shops yet, after talking to another with it's bro in my party.

 

[deuxhero]

Early game encounters aren't the pains in a SMT game, it's the bosses and the end game random guys.

 

[deuxhero]

Beyond passing a few good early skills around (Invigorate 2 in p4 (and victory cry if you can get it)) and keeping pixie in nocturne, you can pretty much always backtrack.

 

[Black Cat]

Hello, nya!

Just droping to, like, say i have already been cured of my Imagine adiction, put some order into my love life, and stoped brooding and talking with my razors in the emo corner so next update will be coming soon. I was, like, totally going to post it today but i was left without MAG and need to grind the first underworld map level's random encounters for it. Now add to that that just one of the monsters there give me any MAG at all, and that those are the same monsters that send your demons back to the COMP with one of their specials so i may need a couple of days to get enought MAG as to finish mapping the Fairy Kingdom and doing Puck's quest and thingies and stuffies and all that. But, like, i'm totally working on it so don't despair.

 

[Azira]

*starts despairing*

 

[lightbane]

*starts digging a grave*

 

[Black Cat]

Chapter the seventh, comes with the territory. Part the firsty first.






Bonjour, everyone! Welcome to another chapter of Let's Play Shin Megami Tensei II with Kuroneko-Chan when her mood swings, emo tendencies, and totally disorganized life allows her to, nya! Last time we met The Messiah and his party of singing, dancing, idoru impersonating demons and fairies and stuffies and thingies saved Mariah from The Center's machinations, converted Daniel to the one true Faith the shounen way, and witnessed the true evil face of JEWtopia when The Center threw Valhalla and it's entire population of wicked, ungodly sinners into Abaddon's maw. That, like, surprised everyone.

The first thingie i do today is to lead our party to the nearby Jakyo Manor so i can check what fusion options my current demons give me, and a little bit of me dies as i see i could fuse me three pretty cool Datenshi were the game not obsessed with making me Law because i don't like being a nasty jerk to people, meh. The first one is none other than Datenshi Betelgeuse's non boss form, the second one is Datenshi Eligor, and the third is Datenshi Berith. For those last two is that our Kuroi Neko teaches darke magicks, nya! segment makes a return, yay!

That was Betelgeuse. This next one is, like, Eligor, and my Berith screenshot got eaten by Abaddon so i will post it once i get the components for that fusion once again.

Meet Datenshi Berith! And, like, hai hai, i meant Berith and not Eligor, who this guy's in game, because whomever drew this totally mixed up Eligor's and Berith's favorite physical symbolical manifestation thingies, badly. Problem is, to this day the Megami Tensei universe visual style is still influenced by Kaneko's artwork so Eligor is still The Red Knight and Berith is still the, like, other knight instead, bleeping sigh. So i will introduce you guys and girls and, like, other stuffies to both of them so we can all point and laught and say bad things at the ignorant gooks together, nya.

Let's begin with Berith, an infernal duke usually described as being both mighty and terrible and whose favorite shape to take is that of an imposing red knight with a crown of gold and riding on a horse either red or black. He is also known by the names of Beale, Beal, Berithi, Vetralh, Betralh, Bofry, Bofri, Bolfry, Belberith, and Balberith, and i guess he really gets around or some thingie like that. Some students of occult lore believe him to be either an aspect or a divorced aspect of the phoenician deity commonly known as Baal Berith, in turn an aspect of Baal, who as some traditions go was the Lord of Heaven and King of Gods and The One God Of Whom All Others Are Aspects and stuffies and thingies until YHVH dethroned him to take the heavenly throne for himself or some thingie like that. If we follow this line of thought Berith, on his Balberith form, is actually one of the uber boss thingies in Devil Survivor! Though he loses the sexy knight charm on that one and becomes something along the lines of Carpenter's The Thingie or, like, a Lovecraftian stuffie.

Being an infernal duke he likes Venus and Copper. According to the correspondences of Hermetic Qabalah he is stronger during the days of the first decan of Capricorn, or the last ten or so days of December. Some older texts, however, claim he is stronger in June, but since i i am not planning on calling him forth to see by myself your guess is as good as mine: I like being a live witch and stuffies and He is one of the few demons of those listed on the Lemegeton and the Pseudomonarchia who actually goes as far as trying to kill the witch first thing after being called upon and will only listen to her once he has been defeated and bound by her arts.

The reasons because of this really awful attitude are comprehensible once his nature as a manifestation or form of the same force of perpetual change and motion that's, for example, related to Mother Kali, or at least a very similar one, becomes apparent, though from comprehensible to agreeable there's still a long way to go.

Both Berith and this force he is manifestation of are closely related to the lesser arcana of the two of discs, pentacles, golds, coins, etc, known as the Lord of Change in Tarot circles, and also to the Sephira of Chokmah in the world of Assiah, the purest aspect of the Pillar of Power on Assiah and, in alchemical terms, the Fire of the Earth, by which the weaknesses, impurities, and corruptions of form and shape are anihilated for the prima materia to reach either a state closer to perfection or total destruction, both of which are considered preferable to a mundane nature.

To understand Berith both in himself and as a manifestation of this force, though, it is important to remember both that he is a Fallen and that he is a Diurnal Ruler. Flauros, who could be considered Berith's Nocturnal Twin, is the mostly destructive form of this force, which could be called the Water of the Fire of the Earth if we wanted to get reaaaaaally dense and stuffies. Berith could be considered the Fallen form of the Fire of the Fire of the Earth, so his rule over this force has a expansive and constructive, or creative, bias. Also, given Chokmah position as the first step in the Path of the Flaming sword when seen from the Crown of the Material World and, also, as the crown of the Pillar of Power itself we can kind of mention Berith and Flauros as the purest, and thus shapeless and limitless, Fallen rulers of Assiah.

All those stuffies will become clearer once we reach the Abyss and your favorite witch begins explaining how the Sephira and the Pillars and the Path of the Flaming Sword work. For now keep in mind Chokmah is both limitless and shapeless, timeless and directionless, and represents what we could see as the purest manifestation, relative to which of the four worlds we are in, of the male force, not here to be read as gender but as polarity: The most Yod manifestation of Pure Yod, the most Yang manifestation of Pure Yang, etc and nya. You surely get it or something. Given we are talking Assiah now, though, it would be the most pure sub-manifestation of the most gross and dense manifestation of Yod or Yang, explained in normal and unespecific terminology and thingies and stuffies and nya.

By now any one still paying attention will see as, like, totally unsurprising that Berith is considered the demon of alchemy and, likewise, the demonic ruler of alchemists. Collin De Plancy refers to him by this name in his Dictionaire Infernal, from which the previous picture is taken, and most, if not all, traditions agree on his main office being related to alchemical processes and knowledge. Collin de Plancy also points a little known correspondence conecting Berith to the greek Pallas and the roman Diana, but as far as yours truly knows this line of thought was never studied in depth and stuffies. And all of his other offices and powers are also conected to what i already explained to you: The turning of something gross and base into something much closer to perfection as long as the sorceress wasn't so gross and base as to be destroyed by Berith's presence. One example, taken from De Plancy, would be the beautification of the summoner's voice to opera singer's levels.

The following images are a drawing of Berith as seen by David P. Wilson and two forms of his sigil, the first also by Wilson and the second taken from Mathers' Goetia.

Now to Eligor, who is, like, totally one of my favorite minidemons from the Ars Goetia. Do not fear, though, for i have not written all those stuffies about Berith with my hand totally hurt and in pain because i wanted to show off my vast and many and cool knowledges and laught at some eastern guys. Once we get to high enough level, towards the end of the gamey game or so, we can actually fuse ourselves a Berith by means of, i think it was, Cerberus and an Archangel, or any other combination of those two Clans with more or less the same promedial level.

Eligos, who is also known as Eligor or Abigor, is a great infernal duke and as such he likes venus and copper. He is more powerful during the days of the third decan of Leo, from august twelve to august twenty two. The lesser arcana closest to the force he is but an aspect of is the seven of wands or scepters, known among tarot circles as The Lord Of Valour. Both the card and the solar manor show to us he is closely related to the classic element of Fire, Yod, and Yang to make this multikult enough with the correspondences. All this locates him in the Netzach of Atziluth, the lowest level of the pillar of force and power in the highest, purest known world. So he is, we could say, the Fire of the Air of the Fire or the Yod of the Vau of the Yod. And just to add some random trivia i'll say the night ruler of Netzach is King Balam.

His main office is that of war, and in a way he is, like, totally 300, yes? As in the movie about those greek guys amd stuffies. He is mostly attracted to pleads and supplications involving some kind of totally one sided conflict, and more so if the side sure to be slaughtered rejects surrender or retreat for being sure and convinced their ideals are just and right and they are going to get, like, totally massacred for the right thingie and stuffies.

But this aspect of Eligos isn't just martial. In any and all situations were the Witch is facing an enemy, challenge, or situation totally above her league but from which she cannot retreat without betraying all she believes is just and rightful Eligos can be called to tip the balance, and the more defiant and suicidal the situation is the more Eligos will be impeled to answer her call. I guess Mass Effect 2 would have been a much weirder and cooler game had i been charged with writing the characters Shepard could recruit, nya.

Both Eligos advantage is also his, shall we say, problem. You see, Eligos is, in the Tree of Life, totally high, and i mean, like, really high. All those thingies whose generating force dwells or flows from Atziluth are waaaaay too high for us vile lowbies from Malkuth in Assiah to clearly understand. Being a day ruler of Netzach means he, in a way, has rulership over, like, the entire body of human inspiration and motivation down from the most primordial level: Love, passion, art, war, defiance, and all those thingies that make both Fire and the Pillar of Force and Power. And he is, like, a totally masculine, as polarity mentioned, demon and stuffies. But spawning from Atziluth also means he is totally detached from the material, the emotional, the ideal, and part of the conceptual. He deals with pure, abstract concepts.

He is, like, totally powerful and incredibly mighty, and his power one of the purest, but, at the same time, totally alien to the summoner's experience. What calls upon him and impels him to answer isn't the situation itself, being about to face a unwinable conflict or battle, but the motivation behind, and beyond, that event. While this is, in a way, true for all demons, angels, fairies, and miscelaneous preternatural and supernatural entities it becomes truer and more important the closest they are to the Crown of Atziluth.

His favorite shape is that of an incredibly beautiful knight armed with a lance decorated with one of those flag thingies and with a serpent as companion. By beautiful we mean not only of, like, totally awesomely pretty features and posture, delightfuly crafted armor, and a really nice horsie but it is also meant as a just, rightful, perfect, ideal knighty knight of great virtue and goodness and stuffies.

The offices most commonly attributed to him are related to war, to the fated result of battles soon to be, to the hidden causes and unexpected consequences of both future victories and defeats, and to councel about all matters belicose. He is also said to convey the appreciation and love of great lords.

He rules over sixty legions of infernal spirits and, given his power and his character and his resonances, i will say the battle to kick him and his forces out of heaven must have been totally awesome and epic. After all Eligos never retreats willingly, and is more than skilled enough to make every step he's forced to retreat totally not cheap. He's so totally cool, nya!

Awright, that was long. Our heroine decides to wander around looking for something to do, since we are kind of lacking direction right now. First we try to go to the Center but the gate to the big tower thingie is sealed shut. Next we go to The Factory, and after some looking around we decide to check what is being said about the Valhalla incident in the big screen thingie where they read the news. We find something totally diferent there, instead.

"We have some very sad news to report. The elite Temple Knight, Daniel, has betrayed the Center and the city.

Daniel has been spreading totally false rumors about the Center. This is truly a heinous betrayal, and everything he says is a lie. If you see Daniel, please report it to the nearest Temple Knight!

In that moment another signal kind of takes control over the screen and someone else steals the show. It's no other than Daniel himself, wanting to have a word with Millenium's citizens!

"Listen to me, I will expose the true plans of the Center! The Center claims that they want to create a peaceful Thousand Year Kingdom, but that is a world that only a tiny, select few will be permited to live in!"

It's, like, all there in the Bible, you know? The book i would expect elite Temple Knights to know by rote, nya.

"Millennium was created in order to weed out the unfavorables and pick those truly 'worthy' of living in the Thousand Year Kingdom! When the 'wheat has been separated from the chaff' successfully ..."

Here Abaddon ate a screenshot. It was some thingie along the lines of Millenium having no longer a purpose once the truly worthy have been chosen.

"... and will be destroyed entirely, along with all those living therein!

Look at what happened to the Valhalla Area! The Center had no more use for it, so they made Maou Abbadon swallow it, killing all the innocent citizens living therein! The fate of Valhalla today is the fate of ALL the areas tomorrow!"

Here Daniel totally jumps to another topic thingie, but this time Abaddon did not ate any screenshot so either the translation team screwed up or the game was made like that and stuffies.

"... The Center calls our industrial area the 'Factory,' but in reality it is nothing more than a concentration camp, where people are forced to work against their wills!"

Then we go to the local bar to check if there's any new information, rumors, and clues to be had. There i was, like, really lost. You guys and girls already know my memory is totally fail and stuffies when talking about games. First i talk with some random laborer.

"Wonder what it means?"

For the uninitiated i'll explain Akihabara is a part of Tokyo considered the place to buy computer related thingies, miscelaneous gadgets, and anime otaku stuffies. Next i talk with some shady guy...

"Apparently she came from The Center, but i wonder how she managed to break out of her hyp... Crap, I'd better not say any more or they'll come for me, too!"

... and some drunkard.

"underworld or somethin' under the earth. But ya know, we've been digging and digging and digging and haven't found it. It's gotta be just a rumor.

... Shit, my head is hurting again! I guess I haven't been drinking enough..."

By now we are pretty sure the next stop in our journey is the Undeworld, but this time we aren't going to enter the same way we did before. That area we visited was isolated and self contained, and we can't get any other place from there. We need to find a new entrance, and so we transmit ourselves to Holytown. Once there the first change we notice is that the woman who was, before, telling us about the Messiah saving her sister is not taking the news very well.

"I'm so worried about my sister -- she lives there..."

If she knew what i know she wouldn't be worrying nor sad, but despairing. Abaddon has a vewy, vewy, vewy slow, and painful, digestion. Since we are here i decide to check with the Fortune Reader to show you how helpful she can be when you are really lost and without the lesser clue about what to do next.

-_-U Thank you vewy much, nya.

Next we go into the local bar. Our heroine's favorite infernal dandy is here ( *squeee* ) and he has a totally not subtle hint about what should we do about the apointment we had with Mekata.

"Valhalla... they really will stoop to anything to achieve their ends! If i remember correctly though, Abbadon should be in the Underworld... wasn't he? If you are looking for him, that might be a good place to check."

And as you might imagine the plan to get to Mekata involves finding Abaddon and, like, getting eaten by him. Yay, totally amazing. Next we talk to some random guy.

"That's great! I had a massive debt at the casino over there, and fled here to avoid my creditors. Now i don't have to worry about them!"

Maybe The Center isn't as wrong as Daniel and others seem to believe it is. Last in this bar are the shady guy in the corner, and the guy from the Junk Store in the other corner.

"normal. Something HAS to be up.

Finally those Stalker punks got their butts out of the Great Church and freed up the tunnel, but now it's too dangerous to risk going into the underworld!"

"special dolls to perform a ritual that would let him into the Abyss. But I hear he accidentally used the Dancing doll instead of the Sleeping doll, and so his ritual failed."

And so we are done here. We now know where we need to go and how to get there, as well as what we need to find before we can go to the Abyss. Let's get to it, nya! First thingie is to get to the great church, but along the way we come across something unexpected. A huge group of people has formed, and they are all listening to...

"Why!? I'll tell you why! Because Valhalla was no longer useful to them! This is brutality, pure, inhuman brutality! The fate of Valhalla today is the fate of Holytown tomorrow! The other areas of Millennium are merely being manipulated! The only ones that will be allowed to join the Thousand Year Kingdom are those in the Center!

Hey, Koneko! Have you been listening to me too? I have decided to fight the Center and their dirty methods. I'm exposing the true agenda of the Center to the people, trying to encite them to action! By changing their minds and building opposition we have a chance of stopping them and fixing the system!"

It's pretty pathetic when a little young and cute and pretty Neko knows more about how the world work than a super duper Temple Knight elite magic commando.

"If things continue the way they are, virtually everyone in Millennium will be cast aside like so much refuse..."

Next we get to the great church without further interruptions. As we are going through it we come across a door we already explored before, but from beyond which a voice can be heard now. We enter to find a totally not suspicious guy.

¬_¬U

It is at times like this i kind of find myself missing some totally EXTREME diplomatic options. We keep going and get to the corridor we couldn't, thanks to the totally cute and awesome Stalker guys, explore before. This time it isn't a Stalker who is blocking our path, but Koinu! He's persistent and quite determined, i'll give him that. He also trained himself to get some reflects and some nulls since the last time we met him.

He begins the fight, dealing 26 damage to Koneko. Kerberos then goes and bites him, but the attack is reflected and my big angry dog does 66 damage to himself. Gurulu then slashes at Koinu with his claws but, again, the attack is reflected to my party! Given Claw is an attack producing multiple hits Gurulu gets hit twice, for 10 damage each. Nekomata does the same thing and gets the same result, being hit twice for 6 damage each. Archangel then uses his Heatwave thingie for two hits and a total of 65 damage. To finish it both Koneko and Mariah open fire with their guns, only to find guns don't do anything at all against Shin Super Koinu Z, meh.

The second turn is again opened by Koinu, who hits Archangel for 18 damage. In response Kerberos uses his fiery breath against him, doing two hits of 18 damage each. Archangel again uses his Heatwave attack, this time hiting Koinu thrice and for a total of 103 damage! *pet,pet* Nekomata then casts Raku-Kaja, raising the party's defense power in case the Anti-Messiah has some powerful trick on his sleeves. Gurulu uses a basic attack for 18 damage, Mariah casts Media, and Koneko uses his melee attack for an astounding 6 damage. Yay.

Third turn opens with Gurulu using his poison breath against Koinu and finding out he's also reflecting that, so he hurts himself for 24 damage. Koinu then hits Nekomata for 25 damage, and Archangel answers by using once more his Heatwave, hiting him thrice and for a total of 100 damage. Nekomata casts Raku-Kaja again, Kerberos uses his basic attack for one hit and 48 damage, and both Mariah and Koneko use their melee attacks for 5 damage... total.

Koinu's angry now, and begins the fourth turn by raising his sword. This somehow does 65 damage to Mariah, who is left with just 24 damage. Ouchie. The team now goes in a full blown offensive: Gurulu attacks for 16 damage, Kerberos for 53 damage, and Archangel uses his Heatwave attack for three hits and a total of 103 damage. Mariah then casts Media, Nekomata casts Raku-Kaja, and Koneko attacks for 7 damage. Almost there.

Next turn begins with Koinu casting Deka-ja to dispell all our buffs, nya. This also means he doesn't get to attack us this turn, so Kerberos finishes the battle and we all start packing.

He's kind of cute once he grows in you, right? He flees and we go beyond the gate he was protecting, where we find a small complex with some corridors and rooms tucked in a corner of the three floors of the great church, with an elevator and stuffies. Exploring there we get several incenses and a second elevator that we take down to B60. Where before we were just in a small and isolated area of the underworld we are now in its main area, and those kind of reinforce the explanation i gave you before about the weird and, like, totally impossible shape the underworld has since it is made up of several terrace like levels, each one deeper than the one before, along what looks to be a wall that runs, vertically, until it somehow hits Holytown's floor.

Not very far to the south we meet a strange looking guy next to a very deep cliff thingie.

"nowhere. This is apparently the place where they first materialized. They came through the ruins of Tokyo and helped rebuild it, but after its second destruction in the great flood, it's unknown where they went off to."

That more or less tells us we are currently in Shinjuku and not very far from the underground mall thingie next to the train or subway station and near the big towers where we fought Vishnu, Ravana, and Indrajit in the previous Shin Megami Tensei game. Now i explore around and find two other places of interest: A small and ruined building to the east, where our adventures will take us in due time, and the entrance to an underground complex next to what looks like the ruins of some railway thingie. Into this one i go...

"Follow the laws of the king while you are here!"

... and find the kingdom of Fairies, yay! Most demons of the Yousei Clan can be found around here, including some of the old ones from Shin Megami Tensei that didn't make it into the sequel, now retired and living peacefuly as townies and stuffies. Like our old friend Elf, now a tourist guide, and Pixie, moonlighting as a gate guard or something.

"This is where the Yousei, Chirei, and humans fleeing persecution from the overworld live."

"Are you refugees from Millennium too?"

We also meet our old pal, Koinu. He is ready to try a very diferent approach this time, which is also the last time he will get in our ways!

"This time I'm going to do it without hurting you... You won't even know what I did! But it will work, and better than anything else I've tried so far!"

You have tried nothing but frontal attacks so far, KoiKoi. Given how very brutally overleveled i am it's not like that had any chance of working, to begin with.

"Puck, show 'em your stuff!"

This is getting so vewy, vewy weird. If i were not inocent and cute and sweet i would be, like, totally reading those two last lines in a vewy diferent way, and letting my demons loose on Robin Goodfellow's and Koinu's butts without quarter nor restrain. And the next line isn't making thingies better.

Mariah pulls a Gailah and gets herself between Koneko and Puck on the last moment, so the Infidelilly Sap falls on her instead. Puck notices things are about to get very, like, dangerous around here and escapes before anyone can react: "Crap! I missed! Sorry, sorry... Well, see ya!"

As he whines and whines and whines the Sap is starting to work on Mariah: "Ooh... Ooh, Koinu... You're the one I've been searching for all my life!"

"Keep away from me!

And he escapes too, as fast as his feet can carry him. Mariah, though, chases him! "Where are you going!? Oh, Koinu, wait for me!!" And, as the Messiah and his demons are left alone and prepare themselves for yet another rescue mission, a timid Yousei appears before them. Meet Anoon, a totally likeable Fairy whose identity was vewy vewy hard for me to discover.

"The sap that Puck used is a magic medicine that makes anyone fall deeply in love with the first person they see as soon as it takes effect. What Koinu wanted to do is use it on you...

Ah! M-my name is A-Anoon... I-I was the one you were supposed to be made to fall in love with. But to tell the truth, I...

N-Never mind! I'm sorry!"

She is suposed to be, i believe, a Gwragedd Annwn, a type of Welsh fairy whose name means Wife of the Underworld. They are related to the element of water in more ways than one and live beneath lakes and rivers in isolated, lonely regions. They are said to be incredibly beautiful and at times they go and marry with humans out of whim and because they are really flighty in all thingies romantic. They are also said to be really good healers and herborists and stuffies, which as you will soon see also points at Anoon being one of those. Being a fairy fangirl surely has its advantages, nya.

Now we proceed to explore the kingdom of fairies and interview everyone we can. Among other thingies and stuffies we find an armor shop, a temple of gaia, and the local terminal. Of all those only the first one deserves its own screenshot since we already know how the others look. Then we come across Anoon's little shop of medicinal herbs and have a chat with her.

"U-um... you want to know about the Infidelilly Sap, don't you? Only the Yousei King, Oberon, has the power to break its spell.

... A-and, if you would like me to, I can ask him to break the spell for you..."

Yes, i guess i have no option since the game will not let me continue much further without Mariah in my party and we still need to take her to Mekata so we can have a talk and stuffies.

"A-all right. Then I shall ask King Oberon for you."

We leave and keep exploring. First we find a dryad, now retired and living the boring life of an RPG villager. She's also the local gossip or some thingie like that.

"Do you know Anoon, the girl that runs the apothecary here? Well, from what i hear, she's fallen head over heels in love with Koinu, that human that came from the surface!"

TeeHeeHee, i say. This totally explains why she's wanting to help us, and also foreshadows events soon to come if you were not paying attention when i told you about those fairies' nature and customs. We also find a Messian preacher guy, meh. We also find the other entrance to Anoon's shop.

"but nobody will pay any attention to me! Everyone here worships the evil gods that were imprisoned in this area. But I won't give up! I will build a church here no matter what!"

"U-um... have you met King Oberon yet...?"

Now we can proceed with our explorations, and during those we come across two fine examples of another old friend of us: The Goblins! They both tell us thingies and stuffies and nya.

"He's a real thorn in our sides with all the mischief he constantly makes, but you just can't hate the guy. Careful though that you don't fall victim to one of his pranks!"

Kind of late, little guy, but i thank you for the good intention at least.

"protector of Tokyo, is sleeping in piece all over the Underworld. Some people are saying that if he gets revived, he's gonna destroy Millennium and revive Tokyo down here, but I dunno about that. What do you think?"

Pieces, you say? Like in totally bits? This kind of rings a bell, right peeps? I keep going around and stuffies. During a fight against some Dark Elves i get a Kodachi of Light, a much better weapon than Koneko's Head Basher. We also come across our first Banshee, and by all that's good and fair and seelie you should not mess with those girlies. They totally love casting mudo at you.

She's a Bean Sidhe, the ladies of the fairy mounds. Her appearance isn't really faithful to Fairy Lore, since she's usually depicted as wearing a green dress and a gray cloak even if she can, like, kind of take other shapes, or even none at all, if needed or wanted or stuffies. She's always crying and sobbing, though, and her eyes are of a bright red because of this. When she wails and cries around a household some family member will soon die, and she will reveal who only if she's caught. When many Banshees get together for a, like, super duper orgy of wailing, sobbing, and crying it means someone of great importance will die.

They are, for some reason, usually confused with Glaistigs even if they have little in common other than both liking green dresses, which is kind of a given since they are both Fairies.

After this encounter we come across King Oberon's throne room, who is also an old friend of us. As you may know he is one of the most famous kings of the Faeries even if few people know he did not made his first appearance in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night Dream but much earlier. His two greatest qualities are his totally great beauty and his really small size, both the effects of the curse an evil fairy witch did put upon him. And he is waiting for us since Anoon already told him what happened, yay.

"It sounds like that incorrigible Puck is at it again... Him and his mischief, will it ever stop? I had intended to admonish him myself, but the slippery little weasel went up to the ground floor and fled out the east exit.

Human, if you wish to break the spell first you must catch Puck and get some Infidelilly Sap from him. Understood?"

We could keep exploring but it was around this time i came to notice i was, like, really, really overleveled. Most battles don't give me any Magnetite, and those who do give me so little, compared to how much my demons are eating every single step, it is steadily going down and i'm going to be left without any less than it takes to explore what is left of the map. We make a break back to the surface, stoping only to recruit a Banshee of my own and getting some new information from a helpful Goblin we already met.

"Puck plays around in a dungeon to the east a lot. Careful though, knowing that joker who knows what kind of stuff he's got there!"

Banshee isn't really a demon useful to my way of playing, sadly, and right into the COMP she goes. Before going back to that other dungeon we saw before, though, its Kuroi Neko grinds the local fauna for hours and hours and hours until she goes back to having enough Magnetite to explore without being always in a hurry. I'll say it like this: It wasn't short, and it wasn't funny. I almost gave up more than once.

At least we got to see some new demons. Like Mandrake, the evil root...

... Ocypete and Aelos, the two other Harpy Sisters...

... those thingies i don't remember the name or if we already met them before...

... and our old pal Nue, who now got a raise and some cuddles for being turned into one of Touhou's Extra Bosses.

And that's it. We kill those guys for, like, hours. And then more hours. And then more, and more, and more, and more hours. I was going to stop there because i was not in the mood when someone made me feel bad and guilty and a total bitch for leaving you all waiting so i went back to write this update. And i want you all to feel guilty since i can only use one hand to type, so this really was a lot of work you loveable bastards, you.

Since every now and then i got overconfident or really moody and tried to hurry the process by hunting the three harpy sisters, who are totally not fun to AUTO some of my demons died a lot and needed to be resurrected on the Gaia temple. This, along with the choice i made at the end of the quest, means at the end of this update i'll be back at being neutral and can use chaos demons too! Me happy, nya.

Part the secondy second of this update will come when i finish it, which shouldn't be too long so i'll finish tonight or tomorrow morning. Then we'll see how fast i can write the next chapter with the hand like this and my magic moods and stuffies.



Edity Edit: Had forgotten to resize the last two screenshots, nya.

 

[spekkio]

This fine gentleman approves the resurrection of this thred:

 

[Overweight Manatee]

Are there different versions of this game or something? I don't remember it being that hard or ever needing to grind much. Guns were so overpowered that you could beat most random battles just with them.

Also, this may be a bit late, but:

Oh, sorry. Edit time, I forgot to answer the question: I believe it is not in this game. If it is and i played through it, like, six times without knowing and planning around inheritances i am going to jump of a brigde or something, sob sob.

Inheritance is in the game. The reason you probably don't notice is that all demons only inherit preset skills, reentering and leaving the fusion interface won't give you a new set. Please make sure the bridge has water under it, otherwise cleanup is a bitch.

I'm very interested in seeing how the Neutral path turns out, I've only seen Law and Chaos.

 

[ghostdog]

ITZ ALIVE!

Random inheritance sucks bug time (I'm looking at you SMTIII)

Good to see you're still on it black cat, I may finally play it, now.

 

[Azira]

Yay! Update! Wooo! :D

 

[Black Cat]

Chapter the seventh, Comes With The Territory. Part the secondy second, nya.






We go east until we come across that ruined building we saw before, and this time we get inside and start exploring. Before long, though, we come across Puck. I'll take this chance to tell you guys and girls and trannies a bit more about him: He's also known as Robin Goodfellow, and he's a trickster and a joker and a prankster. He popularized by A Midsummer Night's Dream of William Shakespeare just like Oberon was. He is thought to be one among the Hobgoblins, mischievous and bothersome and totally ugly sprites belonging to the Seelie court. This detail shows us that while he may be a bother he isn't really evil, just playful and childish. He is also closely related to the Phooka, another group of seelie professional pranksters.

I'm really sorry I threw the Infidelilly Sap on you companion there... But i was force to by Koinu, I had no choice! Go easy on me!

The game then asks me if i will stop chasing Puck, to which i answer i'm totally not going to stop.

Please! Give me a break!

He says, and then throw a bomb to us. This does some damage to us and is one of the things he will be throwing at us after each and every encounter we have with him during this dungeon. He also throws antimagic spheres, which close your magic; and poison bombs, which do precisely what you think they do. I kind of remember he using also sleep gas but i haven't got any screenshot of that, so i'm either imagining things, having another memory lapsus, or he did but i did not took a screenshot. Meh.

In any case after each and every encounter he runs away and we follow. The dungeon is small but it has some hiden holes to the previous floor, some teleporter tiles, some chests with incenses, and a whole lot of Puck being his usual self. After a small while i unsumoned most of my party to save Magnetite, and in the last encounter with Puck before the last room i was kind of distracted and choose yes when he asked if i was going to stop pursuing him, which he does in each and every encounter with the default answer being yes, so i had to leave and enter again to reset the dungeon, joy. You can imagine i wasn't precisely blissful when we kicked open the door to his lair and cornered him.

All right, all right, you want the Infidelilly Sap, right? Gimme 10.000 Makka and it's yours.

Totally no, Puck.

... Whoa! I'm kidding! I'm kidding! Here, go ahead, take the Infidelilly Sap.

Really, no, I don't trust you aren't going to try to pull another stunt, and after all that bloody bleep i demand satisfaction! :evil:

... Ah, you are still pissed, aren't you?

You are a pretty perceptive Hobgoblin, aren't you?

Here, I'll give you 10.000 Makka, so give me a break!

Hmpf. Yes, that's kind of fine. And now shoo shoo before i change my mind.

Here, take the 10.000 Makka, just don't hurt me!

Now i leave Puck's hideout, summon my demons back, kill stuffies to recover the Magnetite i used in there, and go back to Oberon's, who receives us without delay.

Very well, with this, I can break the spell on Mariah.

... Go to her now, the spell is broken.

We leave the throne room, explore the rest of this floor but find nothing of interest other than a soul incense and the stair to the next level down, and after a little while we come across a door in front of which Anoon's waiting for us, Tee Hee Hee.

I-I was told to come here by King Oberon...

Of course you were, Anoon-Chan. Of course you were. x3

Please, Koneko, come inside with me.

We do go inside the room just to find Mariah and Koinu having a discussion. Since i couldn't come here before because i had totally not Magnetite i missed the chance to show you Mariah trying to catch Koinu, who was kind of running around in circles and screaming for her to leave him alone.

Pervert! Deviant! Horny bastard!

Koinu
Wh-WHat!? What the hell!? YOU followed ME here! Shit, this isn't fair! I didn't do anything!

... What the hell is going on here? All of a sudden this woman's attitude changed 180 degrees...

Mariah
Ah! Koneko! You've come to save me from this sicko! Thank you!

I have come to save him, Mariah. Poor little thingie. In any case, Mariah returns to the party, and as soon as Koinu's left alone Anoon throws the Infidelilly Sap on him!

Koinu
... Ah... God, what an exquisitely beautiful Yousei you are... I would do anything for you, just to be able to gaze upon your beauty...

Anoon
A-ah... I-I'm overjoyed to hear you say that...

And of they go, as do we. After a bit more exploring and dungeon crawling, during which we find a Luck Incense, we come across the lower exit. Beyond we find ourselves in a lower, but also bigger, terrace thingie. And as you will see in the following screenshots there are several places of importance here: Two more shinto like shrines, the entrance to another dungeon, and a strange looking hole thingie. To this last one we get first, discovering a Dwarf.

There's a whole lot of them, so you can keep digging and not run out. Actually though I'm a bit shorthanded at the moment. Will you help?

Uh, yeah, sure. That's why i have demons, right? So i can, like, help by sending them to dig while i go watch and tell them how well they are doing it, nya.

He gives us the Saturn Pillar for our help and then tell us we are always welcome to help him if we are bored and stuffies, yay. We leave and retrace our steps to the dungeon entrance we passed by during our first explorations of this second terrace thingie and find it's the Kingdom of Dwarves, Kobolds, and assorted earth spirits and fairies! First thing we do is walk into the bar, right in front of the main gate because that's the first care of dwarves after a long day of work and adventure. And of men in general, too, in their case without the adventure.

There, first we talk to the Dwarf...

gods here in the underworld have some sort of connection to the dismembered Prince Masakado. Don't know what the connection is though.

... then the Kobold at the right.

but i hear that someone chopped him up into little bits.

Such a tactful statement! You are, totally and doubtlessly, aligned with the element of Earth, for bleep's sake! In any case, next and finally we talk with the Kobold to the left.

You're the girl that was chasing Koinu around, aren't you!

... Eh? You have a new boyfriend already? Hmm...

Iceburn! We leave the bar and go straight into the Jakyo Manor, located almost next to it. Once there, and since we have gone back into Neutrality i can finally get me some Chaos Demons to play with, yay! First i fuse Archangel and Nekomata to get...

* SQUEEE *

Then we fuse Dark Elf and Dverger to get Youki Turdak, another of our old pals from Shin Megami Tensei. He's some kind of spirit of pestilence and sickness from Tibetan Lore as far as i can remember from when i was playing Imagine and registered mine on my Compendium.

As you can see both my new demons are of the front line kind, which is always a given with me since i would go totally insane if i had to fight each and every random battle myself instead of hiting AUTO and then getting the emulator into TURBO mode.

And thus ends the present update. Next time we meet the Messiah and his troupe of mighty demons, kawaii fairies, and assorted miscelaneous spirits and monsters will explore the kingdom of dwarves and discover a mutant subterranean comunity of mutants and exiles. We will also fuse some more demons, take those pillars we already got to the corresponding planetary shrines and maybe explore all those shinto shrines we have been discovering.

'til next time!





@ Mirror-Kun

It wasn't dead! It was, like, taking a nap. A cthulhu nap, yes.

Overweight Manatee

I'm not grinding because the game is hard. In the begining i remembered some of the bosses as being much harder than they actually were, maybe because they made and impression when the first time i played the game they used my furry and fuzzy nekoback to mop the floor. So i leveled myself a whole lot in the begining, yes? And as you have seen i always try to have demons of my same level or higher, so being kind of overleveled and with demons too costly on magnetite for the area where i was i had to advance slowly and kind of grind a little bit every now and then to get enough Magnetite to survive the next dungeon, and every now and then go back to Valhalla's Slums to grind zombies, zombie dogs, and big flower thingies until i had stored loads of Magnetite. All of this slowed the rate at which the game's, like, expected level and my party's level rejoined.

This was all fine and dandy when i could go back to Valhalla's Slum, since to get ten thousand Magnetite there was easy as pie. Now, with Valhalla's gone, i'm having real trouble maintaining my demons fed since the enemies on the areas i am give too little magnetite to keep up with my party's consumption rate. I always have this problem, but never so intensely. This time i really went overboard with the leveling and the fusing powerful demons, but the good thing is that there is absolutely nothing, short of Mudo casting demons and the ocasional high level demon, that can as much as make my guys and gals break a sweat. So it's kind of annoying, but choices and consequences and all those stuffies.

And about the Inheritance thingie...

That kind of explains a lot, though.

@ Ghostdog

Good to see you guys are still interested. I'll try to be more regular with the updates, but i'll promise nothing so i don't jinx me. x3

@ Topic

It seems my previous LPs got fixed by themselves and i can go back to use quotes, yay! Thank you, whomever fixed that problem! :happyneko:

 

[lightbane]

Perception: So, you're back? Okay then, with a bit of luck you'll update more frequently... *hides the shovel somewhere*

 

[deuxhero]

"Listen to me, I will expose the true plans of the Center! The Center claims that they want to create a peaceful Thousand Year Kingdom, but that is a world that only a tiny, select few will be permited to live in!""

Isn't that a Jehova's Witness thing? Not that it matter when Satan is based on the Jewish view on his character, God has Rapheal+Uriel (Catholic exclusive LTIC) and Strange Journey has the gnostic demiurge.

 

[Black Cat]

Chapter the eight, Getting The Blah Out Of The Way.
In which our heroine will blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. She will also blah blah blah blah blah blah, and blah blah blah blah blah blah. Finally, she will meet someone who will blah blah blah blah blah blah. Also, guns will be bought and demons will be farmed for Magnetite.

Last time we met we did lot of thingies and stuffies, and left the Messiah and his merry demons soon after reaching the Chirei Kingdom. As we rejoin them they are going back into the Jakyo Manor for some more fusing: First Eligos fuses with Angel to become Daitenshi Ramiel, one of the archangels of Christianity. He is one among the Watchers, is often confused with Uriel, and has the office of guiding the dead to heaven and stuffies like that. Neither angeology nor theurgy are really my topics.

Next Kelaino fuses with Banshee to become a new Datenshi Eligor, and so our party is now Turdak, Kerberos, Eligor in front and Ramiel, Koneko, Mariah in the back. Then we go into the Armorer to buy Daybreak Armor, Helm, and Gloves and Crimson Leggings for Mariah, who was still using some pretty obsolete armour pieces. We also equip Koneko with a Glamorous Axe, a weapon usually left as loot by the Ogres, those big gray brutes we were killing before to get their Magnetite.

Then we start exploring around Dwarflandia. First individual we meet today, though, other than the mutant shopkeeper is a self exiled laborer. Then we meet with Tsuchigumo, whom we met during our previous adventures.

As you can see we recruited him, and it actually was pretty easy to. We began by being friendly to him, and the dialogue went more or less like this...

If you want to talk it's only polite to put down your gun.

Yes

Now I can talk without worry.

Well, come on over here!

Yes

Very well.

I am Chirei Tsuchigumo, son.

I am at your service.

That was pretty easy, yay. While exploring we also meet the Youma Tengu, but they are unworthy of anything but pew pew. We also meet the local blacksmith, who is, obviously, a dwarf. A totally devoid of manners one, too.

We keep exploring and find a Punch Gun, among other miscelaneous loot. The Punch Gun is a one use item that blows away an enemy, making him abandon the fight. It obviously won't work against bosses, but it is kind of nice to have one for emergencies, or at least it's funny to imagine in use. We also meet another kobold.

You shouldn't judge people like that just because they got reincarnated in a gladiator cab, you know?

... No. I didn't mean anything bad by it. I just could tell you were with all that gear you're decked out in.

So anyway, if you're a fighter, then you know about the old man that does black-smithing around here? He repairs the weapons and items that we dig up here, abnd builds us new ones sometimes too.

He's really skilled, so you might benefit from meeting him.

This has the smell of hinty hints, doesn't it? We take note, hai hai. Maybe that angry workaholic dwarf we met before will turn out to be useful later. For now we decide to keep exploring, and while doing so i find Koneko a new luck incense and meet with another local, this time an exiled Gaian.

the Church of Gaia is not as weak or oppressed as it is on the surface.

After all this i'm starting to despair, as my Magnetite stores are two thirds empty and stuffies. I decide to go to the third underworld layer, the deepest one, and before i buy Koneko a M249 Minimi, and give Mariah his M16. I also buy her some nerve bullets, and later buy a bunch of Amulets from the Gaia Temple. Those null all damage tiles in the current level for as long as we remain on it and will become really useful once we go back Crawling on the next chapter. On the way to the elevator that goes down we come across another talkative Kobold...

The one east of the exit from this level? That's our place of employment. We dig up old weapons and artifacts from ages past over there.

... And this is just between you and me, but there have been people from the surface that have been coming down here to buy what we find, too.

... and once below and on the way out we meet a Brownie.

you can visit the community of humans that lives down here. For humans, they're really great guys, and cool, too! Not as cool as you, but don't tell them I said that. But despite being as cool and nice as they are, they fled here from the surface. Must be pretty nasty place up there, huh?

I don't finish exploring the lower level since by now i am on my last fourth of Magnetite. Instead we go outside, not to explore nor to visit this comunity we just heard about but to hunt demons until my stores are once more well stocked. The third layer of wasteland is very crowded, though: As you can see in the next image as soon as we leave we can see the entrance to the human comunity and three diferent altar like thingies, all in the same screen.

But we ignore those places for now and go east for a little while. There we find a small, empty, rectangular stretch of wasteland that's ideal for farming. Why, you ask? Well, we stand in the lower corner, yes? Then we press right and hold while our party moves right and, following the wall, up until they are at the northeast corner and stop. Now we press and hold down to follow the very same wall in the oposite direction and get back to the starting point in the southermost corner, where they stop by themselves. Why is this so special and important as to warrant an explanation? Because, as you may have understood by now, given the shape of this place we can do that while in Turbo mode. Oh, joy.

There we meet with some new enemies, like the Machine Junk, who is no other than our old friend the T93F, only scrapier and more post apoc than the last time we met. Or the Kamen Hijiri, a new, and weirder, kind of Gaian agent. His name means, i believe, Holy Masked Man or something like that. He is weird and, like always, evidence the Gaian agents got all the cool artwork reserved for mortals.

Those rusty robots are half the reason we are here: Each one of them gives 86 magnetite upon defeat, so a group of, say, three give us 258 magnetite. The other half of the reason are the many Nue that wander around, each of whom give us 100 magnetite upon defeat. They are very common enemies around here and, thanks to being able to wander in Turbo mode i only need around ten minutes to go back to ten thousand magnetite, yay! There are also one or two Ogres around, and they too give good Magnetite upon being defeated.

During my time here i also recruit a new Kelaino, and once i finish farming i go to the mutant comunity's entrance area and record its location on my COMP. The terminal reveal this area is no other than Roppongi, Alice's small wonderland in the previous Shin Megami Tensei. From there, and without going any deeper, we transmit back to Akasaka, the Chirei Kingdom, and fuse Kelaino with something i forgot to get a new Yousei Nadja!

:facepaw: Screw you, Japan. Then we teleport back to Roppongi, leave the dungeon, and go back to finish exploring the lower floor of the dungeon conecting the Chirei Kingdom with the lowest layer. We find nothing more than a Code Breaker guy, so we go back outside, farm until we get around twenty thousand magnetite just to be on the sure side, and return to Roppongi, this time with the intention of exploring the place, finding all the incenses, talking to all the mutants, and getting the scavenger hunt like quest line.

This dungeon is like this: First floor is a dungeon that has the entrance and an elevator that goes down to two other levels, the first of which is just some small dungeon thingie and the second one being the mutant town. There is a second elevator that goes up to two diferent areas of the ground floor and first basement, the later being again a small dungeon with nothing of mention outside of some incenses and the former being a dungeon with both incenses and the mutant chief guy. All of those areas, other than the mutant town, are riddled of one way doors, meh. Other than that there is totally nothing in here that can as much as look our way.

While exploring the entrance dungeon beyond the first hall we meet a very brave mutant, taken in consideration we have just slaughtered several hundreds of his demon friends to reach him.

Turning ugly thingies into experience points, nya.

This isn't a place for normal humans like you to be hanging out.

Have i found Fair Codexia? :shock:

You should leave, now.

Totally found it! We just ignore him and keep going, and among the many who wish to die at our paws we meet the Gaian Ashura, who aren't half as interesting as the other Gaian agents.

While slaughtering weak demons and exploring the entrance dungeon and this side's first basement we also recruit a new Tsuchigumo by means of indulging my inner idoru and ordering my party to dance and dance and dance for him until he was satisfied. Then we reach the second basement and...

So we decide to start breaking the local laws and customs by means of totally ignoring the sign and interviewing everyone we meet, as usual. First one in line is the Mutant Elder, Mutant Elder.

I kind of noticed.

but it used to be the city of Tokyo. But with the missile attacks, the great flood, earthquakes and other disasters, the city was destroyed and sunk deeper and deeper into the earth. And if that wasn't enough, "Millennium" was built right on top of it, so that old Tokyo is now sealed completely underground.

And it still makes totally no sense.

The Center refused to let us mutants live in Millennium with the rest of humanity, and cast us out. We fled here to the underworld... and here we continue to live on, cut off from the light of the sun.

... We don't demand to be accepted, we don't want any reparations from the surface dwellers -- all we want is for the light of the sun to shine on us and the great city of Tokyo once more...

My apologies, forgive me for rambling on. Thank you for listening to this old man's story.

This guy will become very important later on. For now, though, we keep exploring: First we visit the local Armorer and Weaponsmith, and along the way we find another old friend of us, revealing Stephen Hawkins isn't the only immortal around.

Hey there, Rag. Still trading gems for elementals and stuffies, i see. Later! Next we find the local casino but, really, at the speed those guys are eating Magnetite i don't feel like playing minigames. Later we meet a talkative Gaian...

the underworld. We followers of Gaia wait for their revival, and the liberation of the people living here...

... and a talkative mutant girl.

we were driven from Millenium by the Center. Without a place to live, we had no choice but to flee here...

We'll never forgive their callousness... not until the day Millennium is destroyed and we can rejoin society...

And what happened with We don't demand to be accepted, we don't want any reparations from the surface dwellers and all those thingies and stuffies, nya? We keep going, find the local Repair Garage, and buy some amida beads and nyorai statues here. The former ones protect us from energy draining attacks, so i'll keep some at hand in case we fall into a dimensionl rift pointing to Ravenloft or something. The later ones null an attack that would otherwise kill you, so they are great to AUTO Mudo casting stuffies. Neither can be used by Law characters. Afterwards we meet the last mutant civilian...

Abyss... It would be great if he could take me there. Thrown out by normal society and condemned to a place like this, I have no dreams or hopes for a bright future anyway, maybe there I could make a better life for myself.

... and the second elevator, the one leading to another pointless chibi dungeon thingie and then the dungeon where the mutant leader hides. During our adventures there we find both an intelligence incense and a luck incense for Koneko to use and a Stamina one to join the other we have stored. Then, in the farthest reach of this side's highest floor, we come across a small room where we aren't welcome...

Mutant
Leave this place at once! If you don't leave quietly, I'll see to it that you'll leave in body bags!

Time to purify this gene pool, nya. :twisted:

Voice
... No, wait!

Awwww, man. :sad:

... You're not the people they sent to kill me...

Totally no.

So, you're just humans who have come to the Underworld...

Totally yes.

Perhaps you can help me. May I make a request of you?

This is a role playing game, no doubt about that. Yeah, sure. Give me your questy quest.

You will!? I appreciate it! What's your name? I see.

:shock: Ewwwww...

This one's pretty obscure. The little ugly guy is suposed to be Ebisu, the first son of Izanagi and Izanami. Because of this or because of that, though, he was an imperfect creature so they put him in a raft and left him to be taken away by the currents. Later he would wash ashore some place and be raised by some Japanese aborigines. He is the Kami of fishermen and hard workers, and is also one of seven Kami of good fortune and is said to look over the health of children.

... For you to help me revive Prince Masakado. Prince Taira Masakado is the guardian deity of Tokyo. However, his body was torn asunder into six parts when he tried to mediate an internal dispute between the ancestral gods of Yamato... Japan.

Methinks he should have put more points into Diplomacy, nya.

... As you may know, ever since the lands of Yamato were relinquished by Izumo's O-Kuni-Nushi, the gods of heaven, the Amatsukami, have ruled over the gods of earth, the Kunitsukami, and controlled the land.

However, in the chaos that occured at the turn of the century when mobs of demons overran Yamato and its fertile valleys were decimated by missiles, the Kunitsukami decided that this was a perfect chance for them...

... the perfect chance to overthrow the Amatsukami and take back the lands of Yamato that they once controlled and raise their own stations. And so, the Kunitsukami trapped the Amatsukami, sealing them deep within the bowels of Yamato. Their revolution a success, they should have retaken the lands that are now called Japan...

... But they did not. The Kunitsukami were being manipulated by the demons that had overrun Yamato all along. Prince Masakado was torn to pieces, and the Kunitsukami were sealed off in shrines here in the underworld, just as the Amatsukami were.

... However, realizing the error of their ways, the Kunitsukami secretly collected the pieces of the Prince's body before being imprisoned. The imprisoned Kunitsukami each have a part of Prince Masakado's body. If they are not freed and Prince Masakado's body is not reassembled, then the turmoil here within Tokyo will most likely never end.

... And will never be able to atone for my crimes, as it was I that betrayed the Amatsukami and gave the demons an opportunity to succeed in their nefarious machinations...

Do you understand?

Of course i do. Multikult leads to horror and despair, etc. It's pretty interesting Japan isn't affraid of throwing that kind of message in games and stuffies, i think.

Do you wish to hear my story again?

Please no. Really.

Very well then. Will you be willing to free the Kunitsukami from their imprisonment, and resurrect prince Masakado?

Yes, of course. Masakado and I go, like, waaaaay back, shorty.

You will!? Thank you!! Please, succeed where this powerless old fool has failed...

And with those words we leave to go back to the Mutant Comunity thingie. Along the way, since we return a diferent way we came in as to find anything we forgot to loot the first time through, we come across a mutant that tells us the reasons behind the bothersome maze thingies and the moody guards: As Hiruko knew the secret of Prince Masakado he was getting targeted by assasins.

Once in town we buy some new guns, called Kirai-Ho, for both Koneko and Mariah. Armed in this way we leave the dungeon and return to the world map, instead of transmiting back to the Yousei Kingdom. Three of the Shinto Shrines hide dungeons in them, and two of Masakado's pieces are back in Millennium, one in Holytown's great church and one in the small stretch of underworld conecting the passage between Valhalla and The Center with The Factory's totally out of the way prison. And once we get all of Masakado bits a pretty long dungeon awaits us.

The plan is to get at least thirty thousand Magnetite before facing the first Shrine, and between Shrines recover what we spent and get five thousand or so more. That way i will be sure to face that last dungeon of the Underworld with more than enough Magnetite stores. This is more important than it seems: In exploring the mutant comunity, finding Hiruko, and colecting some loot my demons ate through more than eleven thousand Magnetite.

So next time we meet our heroine will assault the shrines, free the Kunitsukami, kill a whole lot of stuffies, be witness to Masakado's rebirth, and free the Amatsukami... Or at least she will begin to. With some luck she will also fuse herself some new demons to keep the ADD from turning bothersome, but in any case we will be crawling the first of Shin Megami Tensei II's real dungeons so she will be a happy neko anyaway.

'til next time, chummy chums!



Edity Edit:

1. Fixed grammar and some, like, expressions and stuffies. Epic fail.
2. Added Ramiel's artwork, nya.

 

[ghostdog]

I hate all the Pucks of this earth.

 

[lightbane]

How it was... ah, yes... Do not suffer the mutant!!! Kill the mutant, purge the impure!!! And update more!!

 

[Black Cat]

@ Lightbane

Spoiler

In the Law ending you get to do just that...

Spoiler

... but worldwide...

Spoiler

... and get to watch it from a mystical space warship capitaned by Satan and which is carrying the pure ones and the remnants of the Heavenly Host to colonize a new world.

It's kind of amazing.

 

[deuxhero]

I was just playing *deep breath* Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summon: Raidou Kuzunoha Vs King Abaddon and noticed the sap in the previous update appears in one of the case files (though it gets called a dew). Neat.

 

[Black Cat]

Chapter the ninth, An Arm And A Leg.
A pretty short update in which our heroine dares the first shrines to free two among the Kunitsukami and get their corresponding pieces of Prince Masakado's body. She also kind of befriends Baphomet, the Nanoha way.





Last time we met the Messiah and his party explored the lands of the Chirei and the lands of the Mutants, the last two comunities to be found in the underworld. I farm the rectangular area already mentioned until i have thirty thousand Magnetite units stored and then return to the Chirei Kingdom via the Terminal network, visit the local Gaian Temple to recover from the grinding, and leave for the first of the shrines where the Kunitsukami are imprisoned. When, after a short journey, we arrive there Hiruko's voice, coming out of nowhere, tells us to enter. Maybe he thinks we came all this way just to take pictures.

This dungeon is made of mostly open areas with small one tile rooms scattered around. The only way to traverse the open areas is by means of some kind of currents in them: You step on a tile that's part of this current like thing and are pulled along a twisting path until you hit that current's end, either at the tile in front of the main entrance, the tile in front of a staircase, or one of the small rooms with a door in each cardinal direction. In those rooms you find either a treasure chest, a trapped treasure chest, or nothing at all. When you step through one of the doors you become trapped in another current and off you go, so the key to the dungeon is memorizing which door leads to which room.

After the first floor there's a second one. This one adds a variety of the small one tile rooms that has only one door and a trap by means of which you fall back to one of the rooms in the floor below, but otherwise it's just the same: Explore all the rooms to get the incenses, then hit the stairs to the next level.

In the last floor there's nothing of note other than the small central room. It has four doors, three of which are linked to the currents of that floor and a fourth leading to the heart of the shrine. When you enter you are given a spin and are actually looking in a diferent direction than the one you should, but you can only fall into that trap if you aren't paying any attention and since you just end falling to the floor below it's not like it matters. We go to the heart of the shrine to free the second Kunitsukami and find Datenshi Baphomet in there.

If you do not, I will send you to Yomi, and make you go on a date with Yomotsu-Shikome!

Baphomet, as a symbol, represents a concept similar to that of the Vau from the Hebrew Qabalah or the Air of the Hermetic one. In the tree of life it would be represented by the Middle Pilar, the Tao of eastern philosophy, or the androgyne of Alchemy. From the point of view of alchemical process it would be both Coagula and Solva, from the one of ceremonial magic it would be wild power given shape by Logos, in the context of Occult Philosophy it would be a middle, but not apathic, path similar to that Taoism, etc. The concept has its depths beyond this surface layer but this isn't the place to discuss it. Enough to say that, as it can't be any other way with Christianity, the incarnation of concepts so heretic as shades of gray had to be demonized and turned into Baphomet, the demon almost synonimous with Leonard, who we met during our previous adventures. Meh.

Meanwhile, Yomi is kind of a hellish underworld of Japanese myth, and the Yomotsu-Shikome are eight horrid hags that live, for lack of a better word, there. The game then asks me if i want to obediently leave, to what i answer that no, i do not.

Fine, then! I won't let you leave here alive!

The battle begins with Kerberos biting it for 19 damage, then Koneko shoots at it for three hits and a total of 100 damage. Eligor uses his attack skill that isn't Heatwave for a mere 10 damage and Mariah shoots Baphomet for four hits and a total of 127 damage. Our enemy then casts Marin-Karin to no effect, Ramiel casts Agirao on it but the spell either don't do any damage or gets absorved, and Turdak uses his Buddha Strike for 28 damage.

The second turn again begins with Kerberos biting Baphomet, now for 20 damage. Eligor then uses Heatwave for two normal strikes and one critical one, a total of 106 damage. Baphomet tries to Deka-ja us but since we aren't buffed it does nothing at all, and Koneko shoots at it for six hits and a total of 188 damage. Then Mariah shots at the demon, scores five hits, and finishes the fight. We rule, etc.

Onamuchi appears before the dust can settle. He is another of the Kunitsukami, a descendant of Susano who some consider to be the same one than Okuninushi, the lord of the Reed Plains who defeated and killed his own brothers, who had before killed him in a fit of jealously, with help of a magic weapon Susano gave him. When the Amatsukami came he gave his land, which he had lovingly developed, to Takemikazuchi and retreated to a world of magic and spirits over which he had been given control as reward.

So, you've spoken with Hiruko? Then you will know what to do with this. Here!

And thus we obtain Masakado's right arm. We then return to Akasaka to visit the Gaian Temple and the Jakyo Manor, where i fuse Eligor with Gurulu to get my own Datenshi Baphomet. Many demons in Shin Megami Tensei II, some cool and some fail, you can only fuse after defeating them in battle. This includes a good deal of the Maou and at least one of the non Maou Abyssal rulers. This also includes most of the cool and recognizable Daitenshi, like Uriel.

Afterwards we fuse Turdak with Banshee to get a new Eligor and teleport back to Roppongi, farm for a while, and then return to Akasaka, visit the Gaian Temple to recover from the grinding, and set course to the second shrine to be found in the lands of the Chirei. My party is now Baphomet, Kerberos, and Eligor in the front row and Ramiel, Koneko, and Mariah in the back one.

This dungeon will require an explanation. There are four floors, each one divided in four isolated areas which we will call A, B, C, and D. You start in, say, A1. From there you can only go to A2, and so on. Once you reach A4, though, you'll find A4 and B4 are joined, the wall between them gone. So now you go to B3, and discover you can pass back to A3 from there. If you do you can't return to B3 the same way, you have to go back to A4, then B4, then B3. The same goes for every single tower, to give them a random name.

The way each of those areas is made, though, is such that most of the time the area you are in and the previous area which is conected to it by means of a one way wall kind of fuse together. You go through a door and find yourself in a corridor. In truth you are in a one tile room, one of the walls exist only from the other side, and once you take the first step you can't return this way and must retread all the path. An example follows.

The only way to be sure is to check the map more or less constantly. To make matters worse in this shrine we find both Legions and Black Oozes, who can't be AUTO fought without getting wiped and aren't worth the effort of the killing the manual way. It gets kind of annoying very fast. There are also Temple Knights, ghouls and ghoulettes, and the three orders of the third sphere: Angel, Archangel, and Principality.

I try to recruit a principality for future fusions. I pick the friendly attitude and he asks me what it is i want. I answer i want his life and he tries to talk me out of violence, showing us christianity deserved to turn into the smoking ruin it is nowadays. Afterwards we just throw macca and magic stones at him until he joins my little army, reinforcing the point.

On the fourth and last tower we come across Oyamatsumi, who i believe is the big boss of shintoist mountain dwelling spirits since Yamatsumi is the general term for all mountain dwelling spirits and the Ö at the begining is usually seen, in the names of japanese deities and spirits, as meaning great rank or significance.

I'm lost and can't find my way out! Please, bring me with you!

He becomes our minion for only as long as we remain on this shrine, but just as we turn some bosses into fuseable demons by means of defeating them we do the same with the imprisoned Kunitsukami, and later the imprisoned Amatsukami, by means of freeing them. In this particular case, though, he is too weak as for me to even consider fusing him or adding him to my party. We finish exploring the dungeon and then go straight out.

Here, let me at least give you this.

He gives us the right leg of Masakado, yay. This also finishes this update, which is smallish and kind of short. The rest of Masakado's pieces will be coming monday or the day just after since i have all up to the Amatsukami's cave entrance already in my screenshot folder, i just need to edit the images and write the updates. This also gives me some time to do the boring Magnetite collecting in short burst, and that's a definite plus.

'til next time!



@ deuxhero
I love the Raidou games, though they aren't really role playing games. They have a pretty amazing, very pulp, and totally weird style, and some of the small gameplay details like diferent demons altering your interactions with people are cool. You should do LP, you should.

 

[Fat Dragon]

Great lp, just started reading it yesterday. Only ever played the 3rd game which is pretty awesome, nice to see how the others are.