Chapter the first, the Hawk has landed.
In which our heroine survives the very slow begining... Barely. Along the way she gets two pretty lovely demons of her own, though, so she is happy. She kills some big ugly dumb brute while a bunch of retards watch, grind a very very small dungeon until it becomes painful, and then the prologue ends and the game begins, yay!
Hawk! Get up already! Hurry up!
You have made it all the way to the tournament finals, you can't start slacking now! And don't give me any bullshit about not being capable... I may have been the one that save you when I found you getting attacked by that demon, but I could tell right off from the way that you were fighting that thing that you were a natural! Especially the way you were able to hold your own despite being in that drunken stupor!
I am forced to not only be a guy with null fashion sense, but a bloody drunkard bully too? I'll be in the bathroom slicing my wrists, if you need me.
Don't give me that face... You better be glad i saved your sorry ass! And remember, in your test run through the virtual battler you not only made the high score, but literally went through it unscathed. That's skill!
That's plot, baldie.
And don't be forgetting that I was the one that paid for that run! After all, you couldn't even remember your own name when I found you... Who else would've taken you in? And you make a hell of a Gladiator too... Thanks to me, of course. Hawk's a pretty cool - sounding name for one too, doncha think?
It's bloody awful. Did it come to you while you watched, like, Dragon Ball re-runs or something?
... Ah, this formerly studentless old man's luck has finally turned. Anyhow, until you win the champship and get us both out of this hell - hole, no slacking! I'm not going to let that asshole Haneda show me up any longer!
Crap, sorry 'bout the rambling... You got me though?
Hell, yes. Just, like, shut the bloody bleep up.
Then get your ass up and start today's training!
First i'll be saving. No way i would want to listen again to all that evil exposition from hell if the power goes out or something happens. And, well, it is always funny that during this initial part of the game to Save implies to sleep and recover all your HP and stuff, so actually...
Take it easy, kick back, and get rid of that tension.
... Good night, jerk. Nyahahahaha. Kuroi Neko always find the way to slack, comes with being a cat! Screen fades to black, etc. The next day Okamoto awakes us and we decide to begin with our grinding sesion: This time we pick the Training option on the menu, and he tells us to go and do a run on the virtual trainer, a virtual reality combat simulator. The one in Okamoto's Gym is pretty basic and bare-bones but at least is free, while the others we will later be finding around the city and beyond require a fee depending on chosen level and station dificulty.
Basic and barebones, as i said. It looks a bit better in game but not by much. The red and yellow line beneath the main screen is the residual magnetite detector that came with our COMP: It indicates how prone to random encounters an area is. The other thingies you already know from Shin Megami Tensei: Phase of the moon, MAG we have, direction we are facing, dungeon level, and our party's two rows. Before anything else let's take a look to Hawk's sheet.
Okay, as you can see things got a lot easier to read. The initial character is not a good Shin Megami Tensei character, though: Our first task will be to raise Inteligence for demon negotiation and Luck for special battle conditions, retreating, loot, and stuff. In the initial room if we turn back we can exit the simulator. The other two ways to leave are dying or killing the level boss. I start milking this dungeon for all it is worth. First thing we meet is an old friend: Yuuki Gaki. As you may remember those are spirits suffering from an unsatiable hunger or thirst, though not necesarily for food and drink: While most are seen as harmless, a Gaki can become dangerous to humans if his hunger is, for example, for flesh or his thirst for blood. They are also known as Pretras, and are a pretty common type of low level demon in the Shin Megami Tensei games. They still belong to the Yuuki clan, which is aligned with Darkness and Chaos and is composed of undead humans whose will or identity was so strong they managed to retain some kind of physical form and fragments of their mind even after dead.
The second demon we will face on this initial dungeon is the Akuryou Poltergeist, a new kind of demon. Poltergeist are usually seen in occult lore as either a very lesser entity with some kind of psychokinetic hability ocurring usually in the proximities of very stressed children and adolescents, so you could say it is either somehow attracted to those for feeding or some kind of similiraty or in reality a subconsious, semi-independant, or even nemesis based manifestation of latent paranormal hability. In the game they are ghosts from the Akuryou clan, also aligned with darkness and chaos and composed of spirits less powerful than the Yuuki who can't, or don't want, to pass on to the afterlife. Also, Poltergeists are very, very weak.
The third demon we will face in this area is the Shiki Zombie Dog, and i don't think i need to explain what it is. As you may remember the Shiki clan is composed by all manner of magically reanimated corpses without intelligence or will of their own, aligned with Darkness. When in big packs they can pack a punch for this level and the XP they give degrades almost as quickly as with the Poltergeist, so when after the first couple of levels they stop giving good experience i just evade them.
The fourth kind of demon we will be facing in this area, and which serves as boss, is the Shiki Zombie. He gives good, if not great by any measure, XP but there is only one in each dungeon run so you won't be milking him. Actually, only kill him when you want to go back to save and recover.
The fifth, and last, kind of demon we will be finding in this training dungeon, and only very rarely at that, is the Virus Moebius. The Virus clan is aligned with Darkness and Chaos, and composed by the physical forms, manifestations, or representations of computer viruses. I am guessing they are not, like, part of the simulation but actually intruding on it, or something.
We just milk them for a while. We start evading the dogs when they no longer give enought EXP to justify the damage and focus on the Gaki, killing the poltergeist too because they are, like, supereasy to defeat but pretty hard to escape from. We kill the Moebius thingies the few times they appear. As you can see in the next screenshot the place is very small, so there is not a lot to do other than run circles and level up.
When i reach level 14 i decide i had enough. I recover, save, and the next day i pick the option to leave Okamoto's Gym for a walk and some exploration. He gives me two hundred makka for the virtual battlers scatered around town and then i'm free, yay! Let's start going around, meeting people, having fun, exploring, and stuff. In the next screenshot you can see the residual magnetite scanner thingie when in a totally safe area, and also the general look of this part of the game.
Now we begin interviewing the locals, as usual. First comes the armorer next door, and if the game is trying to, like, make me hate Okamoto it is starting to manage precisely that: He talks a lot, wants to make me fight in the arena like some sweaty gladiator thingie, gives me a stupid and totally uncool nickname, and makes me insolvent. Help me some more, please!
What with Okamoto being as poor as he is, everyone knows he doesn't have any money. Tell him to return the 1000 Makka I lent him!
Then a guy who tells us of something he heard about a scientist working at Madam's manor. The Madam is the ruler of Valhala, which is a kind of a free and wild area inside the extremely Lawful enviroment of Tokyo Millenium.
something no good, I hear.
This is a Shin Megami Tensei game, so the only way for scientists to stop being up something totally not good is to round up every single guy with glases and a labcoat for public executions. Then we may finally get two weeks of peace and tranquility before the next apocalipsis, demonic invasion, or, like, something. Next guy in line tells us a bit about the local currency, Makka.
It's gotten so that nobody will take anything but Makka any more.
Later we will at last learn what Makka is, where it comes from, and stuff. Now we enter the local virtual battler station and are received by a girl dressed in the kind of thing only a japanese guy would draw without feeling dirty or, like, sick. Maybe there is a shortage of, like, fabric in post apocaliptic Tokyo or something, but i kind of doubt it when we are living in a superfuturistic megalopolis with virtual reality demon hunting training programs and stuff.
You too can be a hero in cyberspace! So, what will you do?
I ask her to
explain me about that virtual battler thingie.
When you play the Virtual Battler, we'll hook you up to this virtual reality station, and in the virtual world you can fight demons. Except for the fact that you won't die if you lose, it's exactly like a real-life fight, so it works quite well for combat training. You can use it to gain battle experience, but keep in mind that if you use any real-life items while training, you'll lose them for real. Game over is either when you run out of HP or defeat the level boss... Being able to win by beating the boss is pretty impressive!
So, you understand?
Now, I tell her i want to have a
virtual battle thingie. She shows me the menu, and i will take this moment to explain how it works: There are many Virtual Battle Stations through the city and beyond, yes? Each one has a dificulty level of its own, so this one Level 4 is going to be totally easier than The Center's Level 1, and stuff. The price of each run at each training level is proportional to the absolute dificulty of the run and not to the level, so a much harder Level 1 would cost a whole lot more. The virtual battlers are a good way to train every now and then, and as you will soon see we will need to visit them every now and then for, like, other thingies too. For now I pick the first level, since i am cheap and like it.
Level 1 costs 20 Makka. This level is a cinch, it should be a breeze. Enjoy yourself!
Once in the virtual maze i notice something is wrong: The thingie in my COMP shows a safe area, how can this be? I begin exploring and no more than a couple steps from the begining tile i spy something in the distance. The vision fills me with woe and horror and evil thingies, sob sob: I would prefer my stalkers to be rich, cool, fashionable, smooth, and totally not disabled if possible.
We follow him for a while since there is nothing else we can do, and at a dead end we find him waiting for us. It would have been easier to just, like, drive to us and say hi instead of making us pursuit him and stuff, no? Whatever.
No, that would be mean for the poor demons: You are just a very stubborn pervert, Steve.
I'm a person just like you, and I came into this virtual battle so i could meet you. My name is... call me Steven. I'm here because there's something I want to give you.
No way i'm going to be accepting candy from you, creep. Shoo-Shoo.
Here... this is my Demon Summoning Program that I wrote. You can download it to your arm terminal directly through the virtual interface here.
There has been an... incident... and because of it, very soon, "Tokyo Millennium" here will most likely be overrun with demons. The leaders of this city have been surpresing the demons for a long time, but they can no longer hold out. At this point, nothing can stop the demons from entering our world. Unless we learn to live with the demons and use their power, we humans will never survive.
Therefore, in preparation, I have been giving this program to everyone that looks to be able to summon and use demons. I don't know who you are, nor does it matter to me.
I'm supossed to be the one who got reincarnated in an amnesiac here, Steve.
All I can tell is that you are powerful, and thus I am giving you this program. Do you understand me?
Yes, I do. Now, for the readers: This is a bit of lore that never got well explained in the games. While the demon summoning program is just that, a program that somehow reproduces the magical ceremonies and translates the language of demons, it doesn't work for everyone: The user has to have an inate talent for summoning or, like, stuff for it to work, just like the user can't control demons of a higher level than herself and stuff. But this is unique to the Shin Megami Tensei storyline, and while some of the alternative timelines, like IF, may share that it is not something universal: In Devil Survivor, for example, the designer of the program finds a way to energize the thingie without requiring a talented or trained user, so anyone can take one of the magic COMP thingies and summon demons as long as they survive the first use. Meanwhile, many of the boys and girls in Devil Survivor are so talented some even manage to summon greater, unique demons without using their COMPS, only focusing their will and stuff, so meh. Go figure how it works and, like, stuff.
Very well, I am glad that you understand. I shall upload the demon summoning program into your arm terminal. Use it well!
I hope you use this program with fore-thought and moderation.
*grins* Hai Hai, one hundred percent of course, etc. Trust me, nya.
We will most likely meet again here in the virtual reality of the Virtual Battler. I look forward to seeing you again. Goodbye for now!
Sigh, do i even have a choice? Meh. We leave virtual reality and then go back outside to keep exploring. Not far from the virtual station we find a guy who tells us more about Madam and how dificult it is to meet with her...
It ain't bad being governed by a beautiful ruler! I went to her manor up in the northeast sector of Valhalla, but her guards kicked me out.
... and then we enter the bar. Instead of being small dungeons like in the first game, now the bars work like a store: You can buy drinks from the bartender or talk to the patrons and stuff, all from a bunch of menus. After being welcomed by the Bartender i pick the option to
Chat and keep picking diferent patrons until i have talked with all the present ones.
virtual battling. That's not supposed to be part of the program!
Oh, don't worry... It's probably just one of those demons of the VIRUS clan. Actually, i am quite certain it is.
If you win I'll do whatever you want me to, if you get my drift.
Even buying some sensible clothes so that i no longer need to consider your presence a formal declaration of war against the republic of my eyes? You got yourself a deal, i say.
You sure you can afford to be wasting time in a place like this?
vs Hawk. Word on the street has it that Hawk is probably going to win.
That means we leveled more than enough at the virtual dungeon, and then some more. He says diferent things depending on your level and stuff, it's a nice detail. We leave the bar and go around the corner, and as we walk in front of a door a woman's voice calls us.
Come here. No, over here, to your left. Stand here before me and listen to what i have to say. Then your eyes will be opened and your path will become clear...
As i face the door she again invites me to enter and stand before her, and so we do. The first we notice is that the game is really a lot prettier now. The second thing we notice is that all sensible clothes seem to have gone boom-boom with the rest of Tokyo, sigh.
and guide you to the correct path. Is this the first time that you came here? Very well, I shall tell your fortune for free.
Hmm... Hmmmmmmm...
Deep, deep within the recesses of your soul... I see... a name. A woman's name. She is very important to you. Can you remember her name?
Yes, of course. She is Mariah, star of the ocean and, like, worst character in the entire game, what naturally means she is the character we will be carrying around the most, sigh. Her fashion sense is worse than yours, gipsy lady, and that's no small feat, i say. Her original name is Hiroko, which is pretty horrible but at least is a name and not an evil Jew letter.
So, you've remembered? Her name is Mariah, correct?
Yes, that's what i just said.
Mariah. Do not ever forget that name.
It's not like the game will let me forget her, sigh.
Her fate is inexorably entwined with your own.
I am affraid you are right. Later in the game we can come visit her for a hint on where to go next. She will never tell you what to do here, but she will say, like, you are needed in The Factory or you must go to Arcadia or stuff. At times she can get useful, right? But other times you want to shoot her dead. I mean, there is a pretty awful puzzle later where you need to find some thingies spread all around Tokyo Millenium and beyond in order to open a gate to The Abyss. So, you say, maybe the Gipsy Lady will give me the general location of the next artifact, right? Wrong. All she says is, like, you should go to the Abyss. Really, screw you. We leave and talk to a guy close by, who gives us some general information on the city...
All of the Areas are controlled centrally by the "Center."
... and then visit the Junk Guy next door, who doesn't want to sell us anything because of Okamoto. When the boys and girls in the seedy district think you should stop being a moron and shape up chances are you are bottom deep in crap.
then blowing it all at the casino and never returning it. So until he shapes up I'm not selling him anything. Unfortunately that extends to you too, since you're staying with him.
Once outside we finally get something cool done: Next in line is the Disco! We are received by some well dressed guy, and once inside we listen to the infamous Disco song and watch people dancing in an endless two-frame animation. Here,
Linkity Link.
And amusing thingie in Tokyo Millenium is the clubbing. I mean, Clubbing is not what i think about when i think of facist churches opresing the population under the iron heel of, like, thingies. I think of, say, mass four times a day or something, etc. But, worry not: We will be doing a lot of clubbing in Shin Megami Tensei. We will even go clubbing around Hell! Now that's what i call having fun.
In the disco we get to talk to all kinds of talkative people. This guy, for example...
I could join Haneda's Gym and become one of his warriors. Haneda Gym...? It's right to the east of the main town.
... and this girl, reinforcing my theory the sick old creeps overseein doctrine at the Congregatio Pro Doctrina Fidei went and forbade good christian girls of using skirts longer than the bare minimun necesary for decency.
I suppose it's only natural to be taken in by my beauty...
But if you're here, you gotta be dancing!
We also meet two old friends of us who make me think someone is not going to be returning home tonight, and then we get to know the infamous Tony, who gets around so much he is the DJ of all Shin Megami Tensei II's Discos at the same time. Not even Chuck Norris or Vin Diesel would be able to.
On the way out we come across another girl. She gives us some very interesting information without noticing, not even by accident.
Boy, was i ever right to flee the slum town! The entire northwest section of Valhalla is shut off, making it past the guards to get here was tough! I think I'll go to the Colosseum next!
Next we visit the Weaponsmith, to keep showing you around and saving me from having to remember to take screenshots when on a buying spree or something. Also, members of Okamoto's gym means the same than saying me and Okamoto.
Nothing personal, but i can't sell anything to members of Okamoto's gym. Sorry...
Now, let's go back to interviewing people. First in line is some random girl...
Good luck! if you become the Champion, you get to live in the Center!
... and a woman who, like, totally surprise sexs the fourth wall.
you can choose what you want to buy by pressing up and down, and change the quantity of what you purchase by pressing left and right. This way you can buy and sell everything you want all at once easily.
That's some nice thingie to know, though. In the previous game if you wanted to, say, sell a bunch of nine Magic Stones you needed go all the way down in the inventory, pick the Magic Stones to sell one, be taken back to the first line of the inventory and go down all the way to the Magic Stones again, pick the Magic Stones to sell the second one, etc. And the buyer asked you every single time if you were sure. Next is the casino, also known as minigamelandia. Right now we can't yet enter, though. Can you guess because of whom?
here, get your ass back to the gym and train!!
Almost there, in any case. Now we talk with a Mesian preacher still throwing around the same stuff last time we met those guys...
Those who believe will all be saved!
... a guy who thinks we never played any game or pen & paper setting with seedy bars before...
If you're looking for information, the bar is the place to go!
... and the Appraiser, whose function is to identify items for a small amount of Makka so you know what they are, how many attacks and what special rules weapons have, etc. It is very, very useful. In the first game you more or less had to take the crystal ball and the tarot cards to do that.
Next is a guy who will trigger a vision of our past, including a guy in a tube filled with some liquid and a white haired man in a suit who then asks us to give tubeguy a name. Who are those people? We will be discovering it later. First, meet trigger guy, also known as totally not cyclops.
What was he like? Well...
You will give him a name... Understand?
Yes.
His name is...
Daniel. If you can't think of a name the name will give name him Zain, for the seventh letter of the hebrew alphabeth. Zain corresponds to the seventeenth path of the Three of Life, joining Binah to Tiphareth, and its name means Sword or something. Zain is related to the zodiacal signs as the others from the twelve simple letters of the Hebrew Alphabeth, in this case to the sign of Gemini, and it's tarot card is The Lovers. Being one of the first ten letters its numerical value is the same as its position, 7, and its number is either 67 or 717. Some occultists see Zain as kind of an Anti-Vau, given it is a letter aligned with division and conflict. And even if i know my way around Kabalah i think jews are evil servants of misery and ruin and live only to eat babies and give their souls unto their Dark Lord. One thing does not cancel the other.
... Daniel... His name is Daniel?
Bloody bleeping
yes, that's what i said.
¬¬U Screw you.
Listen when someone's talking to you! The guy who was looking for you... called himself Daniel.
Then we also meet a guy who lost everything at the Casino for the who-knows time and wanted to tell us, meh. That ends with the area, yay! No we leave the area through the only exit there is, and meet the overworld map for the first time. A bit north of the mall like building we were in we come across a small area where the scanner-thingie goes red and yellow, indicating random encounters can be had. I only get several bunches of zombie dogs, from whom i run, and a group of Chirei Knockers. The Chirei clan, composed of spirits related to the earth and caves and stuff, has gone rogue since the last game and now is neutral in both axis-thingies.
I
*think* that art is theirs, but if it isn't then we will notice sooner or later. The Knockers are mischievous faeries who liked to play practical jokes on the miners, but also helped them on ocasion, leading them to rich mineral deposits or warning them about inminent collapses for example, if they were treated with respect and their jokes just laughted off. In some versions they are the spirits of dead miners, but both originally and most of the time they were, and are, seen as a kind of earth spirit or stuff. I choose to negotiate with him and pick the friendly mood.
Oyoyo? You want to talk to me!?
Are you a friend?
Yes.
I'm Chirei Knocker, ho! I'm yers to command!
So Kawaii!
Let's look at this little guy's sheet: He has Zan, the basic force spell; Happy Dance, a skill that may make enemy blissful so that they become distracted and lose rounds; Taru-Kaja, the melee buff; Dia, the basic healing spell; and Posum-Di, the cure poison spell. He is a pretty useful chap, i say. As you can also see skills now have a MP, if kind-of-magical, or HP, if physical combat based, cost, and in exchange you can use the one you want instead of having the game pick one at random. In the sheet spells are on green, skills on yellow.
Next we come across Haneda's Gym. He has a much better Virtual Battler than the mall, but it is pricey (more like we are poor, sob sob). Other than that there is not a lot to do here, we can only visit Haneda's office and then talk with some of his warriors. Let's do that before leaving: First we enter the office and are received by a big WTF moment. Seriously, Japan, what the bleep?
If it isn't the sole warrior from that run-down Okamoto gym! I bet you can't get any decent training at that grubby old gym. How would you like to join mine? You're pretty cute too, just my type. You can never have too many handsome young warriors! Anyway, if you'd like to use my top-of-the-line virtual trainers, you're welcome to them.
... I won't let you train for free, of course, but if you are interested just ask one of the gym members. Of course, no matter how hard you train, you'll never be able to stand up to my warrior, Red Bear! Ho ho ho ho ho ho!
We leave this perv alone with his photographs of manly muscleheads and go explore the gym and interview the gladiators. First we enter the training room...
In the past, it's produced several warriors who went on to become Champion.
... then the rooms in the back. The first one is empty. The others are not, and thus we get a chance to meet a stron, proud, brave gladiator...
... I don't want to die...
... and two random retards who don't say anything interesting, so we leave. Haneda's Gym is surrounded by a small dangerous zone in a sea of no-random-encounters-allowed thingies, so we go round and round and round until we meet another new friend. Remember the Pixies from Shin Megami Tensei? Well, this one is a High Pixie, meaning something like a noblewoman among the Pixies. She is from the Yousei clan, which has remained True Neutral. She has a pretty cool hair.
You can use that computer to talk to me? Cool! I think I'll become your minion!
I am Yousei High Pixie. I am at your service.
That was, like, so bloody one hundred percent pure Yousei that i loved every single second of it. Let's see this girl's sheet: She has Hapilma, the spell to make enemies happy and distract them; Dia, the basic healing spell; Jio, the basic lighting spell; Patra, the one we before knew as Patora and that heals some psychological status effects like charm and sleep; and Jionga, the second tier of single target lighting spells.
We can't still summon Knocker and High Pixie, though. Our funds are two low for that: We have 180 Makka, and to summon both of our minions would cost much higher than that. High Pixie alone would be higher than that, actually. So we keep going and trying to find money and stuff: First we try going north, towards the colosseum, but you-know-who decides not to let us pass...
The tournament comes closer every second! Get back to the gym already!
... so we go east from Haneda's and come across two other buildings.
The first in line leads to the underground passage linking Valhalla to The Center. It is a safe area right now so we explore around, find a Jakyo Manor in which i will not be doing anything yet, and then come across two diferent thingies that block our path. First, some Templars keeping watch near the exit to The Center...
... and then a strange man who does not let us close to the door he guards, meh.
So we leave and go next door, to the church. In Tokyo Millenium churches aren just churches, they also have Terminals that allow us to both Save and Transmit to other terminals we have recorded in our COMP. Since we have none, we are stuck in Valhalla for now. Meh. After saving and recording the Terminal in our COMP we go say hi to the priest of this totally not christian religion.
Once outside we try to keep going west from here but...
... so we go back to the dangerous area around Haneda's Gym and go round and round and round while escaping from evil demons and talking with the friendly demons. That way we get some Magnetite and Makka from the Knockers and the High Pixies. We also got an Amathist from a Poltergeist we scared and left it to pay for his escape, and a a Knocker living both to its lore and its name.
This is yours!
Hawk got punched by Knocker!
Take good care of my buddy!
Knocker left.
We also meet our first Chon-Chon. This one comes from Mapuche lore and is an evil looking, crazed human head with huge ears it uses to fly around like a bird and pursue its victims and, like, stuff. It isn't a natural creature from either the mundane or occult worlds but a form or transformation the Kalkus, a bunch of boys and girls seeking to follow evil and ruin as their path of spiritual enlightment, can turn into or be transformed into in certain conditions. Their name comes from Kalku, the name given in that lore to some kind of primal force of pure evil and corruption. In the game the Chon-Chon belongs to the Kyouchou clan, composed of demonic birds and similar creatures. The clan's aligned with Darkness and Law.
After evading them i return to the mall like thingie. Before going back to Okamoto's, though, i again visit the Virtual Battler, pick the cheapest level again, and start wandering the dungeon. First room i come to, though, a strange signal reaches me...
... then everything becomes blurry as another forgotten memory fights its way into my mind. Again we are at the lab and in front of some guy in a liquid-filled tube, with the well dressed guy next to him.
... Give him a name.
Yes.
His name is...
Sarab. Were i to refuse naming him the guy would name him Gimmel, after Gimel, the third letter of the hebrew alphabeth. It is the thirdteenth path in the Tree of Life, joining Kether with Tiphareth, and it crosses that Abyss thingie where Choronzon sleeps and kill Egos and stuff. Gimel is spelt Gimel-Mem-Lamed, but remember evil jews write from right to left so if you see that written in hebrew it would look like Lamed-Mem-Gimel. Being one of the seven double letters Gimel is related to a celestial body instead of an astrological sign, in this case the Moon, and its tarot card is the High Priestess, in case the relationship to the Moon wasn't enought of a give away. I believe it means Camel or something like that, and is a symbol of teaming up and becoming friends or, like, thingies all let's colaborate! and stuff.
Sarab. Is this all right?
Yes, guy. That's precisely what i said, just like the last time. You should visit a doctor or something, maybe age is making you, like, deaf or something.
¬¬U Screw you a bit more.
And really, if you don't get that reference i am going to have to kick you where it hurts the most then hit you with my big fat book of occult references over the head until you reach enlighment. We now wander around the maze, kill some Shiki Zombie Dogs and then the Boss, a Gedou Slime. As you may remember the Gedou clan is the clan where both the demons that don't fit other categories and possesed humans are thrown in. Then it is a slime and we are all at least partially Dungeon Crawlers, so no introductions needed.
We kill him almost by accident and return to the outside world, then return to the Gym. It seems the boring introduction will finally come to an end, now: Tomorrow's the great battle and stuff, yay!
One more win, and you're the champion... So relax, go get some rest so you'll be prepared!
Next morning he wakes us up and gives us directions and instructions and stuff, because we are in the tournament's finals but we do not know how to get to the Colosseum by ourselves. Then he gives us a very awful inspirational speech, but maybe it would work if i was a meathead gladiator with just half a neuron and stuff, or a Shounen fan with around as much. Meh.
Now listen close, 'cause I know that you still haven't gotten your bearings around here yet. To get to the Colosseum just head north from that twerp Haneda's gym.
Remember! You're though! You're the best there is! You can win, got it! Just remember what I taught you and you'll be fine! Or would you like to take a quick rest before we head out?
Nah, the sooner we finish this thingie the sooner i can begin the game proper.
All right then, go on ahead. I'll catch up with you.
Now we can go to the north of Haneda's gym. Before going to the Colosseum, though, we go to the big screen thingie in the corner: Most of the time it has the Millenium News Network transmiting some news and messages and stuff aproved by the Establishment. The give some background and stuff, so they are pretty cool. This one's totally not fishy at all, i say.
Here is the latest news from Millennium...
And old man who works at the Factory has given a donation of 10.000 Makka to the Mesia Church. Mr. Takemura, age 78, had been working for 50 years, slowly putting money into a savings fund a bit at a time. He brought the entire 10.000 Makka he had saved to the church yesterday. We should all strive to be as faithful and generous as he is!
Now we go to the Colosseum. Before going to the arena, though, we loiter around a bit and go to the Hall of Fame, where the statues of previous Champions are. Some of those guys we will meet later, and stuff.
Here we have erected statues of each of the Champions who have won the tournaments and attained Center citizenship.
Despite having a small stature, consistently defeated all manner of strong opponents. Specialized in using his opponent's power to his own advantage.
Had huge pride in the aesthetic qualities of his muscular body. He is also widely reknowned for his uncanny luck.
Climbed the ranks while always fighting fairly on even terms, he was nicknamed "The True Samurai." A serious person, he continues to be one of the most popular warriors, and still has lots of fans.
An extremely hardy fighter that could shake off hits as if they were nothing. It's said that his body contained triple the magnetite of a normal human being's.
Wielding superhuman strenght, the strongest warrior ever to fight in the Colosseum. Famous for his battle to the death against Killer Tsune.
Said to have been able to freely summon and control demons at will.
Meh, good thing I escaped from that jerk before he went on to try and become a Shounen superhero. Now we go to the arena and stuff, where an employee is waiting for us. He explains us all about this thingie and Okamoto gives another one of his motivational speeches. Then we are clear to go.
trainee Hawk! Now listen, you make sure that he doesn't die too quickly! If te fight goes too quickly, the spectators will get pissed and start a riot!
All right, here's the rules. The final battle is a Dungeon Match. Both you and your opponent will be dropped off in different parts of a big maze, the center of which is set up as an arena. Once the match starts, you need to work your way through the maze. We've dropped some weapons and items in varios places in there. If you find them they should help you out.
To make things interesting we've released a fairly large number of demons into the maze too. Once both fighters enter the ring, the true fight starts. You can only fight your opponent in the ring! No fighting in the maze if you happen to run into each other there. The winner of the fight will be the first to knock out or kill their opponent, of course.
Those are the rules. Got it?
This is a dungeon and the other Gladiator is the boss, got it.
All right then. Hawk, go on through.
Okamoto
You've come this far... There's nothing more i can do to teach you! Go for it, Hawk! Have confidence in your abilities! You ARE strong! You WILL win! You come back alive and in one piece, got it?! Now get on out there and show 'em what you're made of!
The finals of the tournament begin in earnest! Let's introduce our two contendenders for the championship!
In this corner, we have... Red Bear!
*Ovation*
... and in this corner, Hawk!
*Ovation*
READY! GO!
This will be quick. The maze is pretty small, so meh. First i take all the equipment left for me: Fritz Helm, Leggerslam, Kaiser Armor, Slicer, Bullets, Desert Eagle, and Rivet Knucle. In the maze i found four kinds of demons: Yuuki Gaki, who are rare enough as for me to just coming across one group while trying to recruit demons and stuff; and then three demon types of the Demonoid clan: The seeder, the leecher, and the uploader. Laught at the bad joke, please.
Okay, now seriously: The Demonoid clan is the group of artificial lifeforms created from demons in some way or another, never explained. They are slave workers, cattle, and stuff. The three types we will meet in this dungeon are the Demonoid Heracles, the Demonoid Spartan, and the Demonoid Oracles. Since i am lacking resources like Orbs, Magic Stones, and Magnetite the only one i manage to recruit is a Demonoid Spartan, and not until after many failed tries that ended with me running away. I will take this oportunity to also introduce you to a semi-new element in Shin Megami Tensei II: This is a random encounter, not a boss or unique battle, against two diferent demons bunches at the same time! One of Oracles and one of Spartans. I try to hail, in a friendly manner, the little green guy since my previous negotiations attemps with the Spartans went always badly...
Spartan interrupted you!
Don't ignore me! Hmph! That's stupid!
Aah, booooring!
I
apologize to him.
I think you're lying!
Give me your soul!! ... (Oh yeah, I sounded *so* cool!!)
It got kind of annoyed
I try to
persuade him.
Whaat? You don't want to fight me?
Yes, that's it.
You want me to betray the Maou?
I tell him that he
won't betray them by joining me.
Eh, good enough. I'm Demonoid Spartan. Well, guess I'm at your service.
Let's see this guy's sheet: He has one special skill, punch, that he can use as many times as he wants. He is very low level and has 10HP. High Pixie would kill him with her little finger, meh. At least he is one more target for the enemy. Now let's see the Heracles art and sprite, and then let's win the championship and stuff.
In the center of the supersmall dungeon there are two entrances to the arena where the fight will take place, one at each side. I summon Knocker to my left, Spartan to my right, and High Pixie in the middle of the back row and enter the arena to face Red Bear. As we start talking, though, my vision goes blurry again and the memories start pouring in again. Very bad timing, i say. Keep in mind that the rumor going around that this Red Bear guy and the one they are talking about in that memory are the same one is very very wrong. Is the situation of facing off in a duel with an important oponent in front of a lot of cheering idiots what triggers the memory, just like later, when meeting Madam, we will get the memory of the other main female character, who is totally not related to Madam. Red Bear will not abandon this ring alive, nyahahaha. Knowing the future i'll say that makes him lucky.
His power is nearly identical to yours... Can you decide on an appropriate name for him?
Yes, of course I can.
Koinu, naturally.
If you don't give him a name this guy will call him Daleth, after the fourth hebrew letter, Dalet, who is related to the fourteenth path of the Tree of Life, joining Chokmah to Binah, and also crossing the Abyss where Choronzon sleeps and eats people who come visit him. Dalet is spelled Dalet-Lamed-Tau, numbering 434. Being one of the seven double letters is related to a celestial body, Venus. Its tarot card is The Empress, and it has the meaning of an archway, a valve, a door, a gate, etc. A division between there and here, so to say. Being one of the first ten letters, also, its value and position are the same one, 4.
So, you will name him Koinu then?
Yes, old guy. Yes.
So he is named Koinu... I see...
Listen when I'm talking to you! I gotta admit, you've got guts to ignore me like that... Or maybe you're just a fool.
Hawk, you've done quite well, making it up the ranks this far. I applaud your fighting prowess! And...
... I mourn your impeding death!
The fight begins with High Pixie casting Jio for 11 damage and totally no shock, since now it works like it should and while every now and then it shocks the target it is no longer one hundred percent sure it will do so, yay! Then Hawk shot him for 18 damage, and Red Bear answered using a Kick skill, hiting both Hawk for 9 damage and Spartan for 10, going back to the COMP without even, like, taking a round or something. Then Knocker casts Zan at Red Bear for 5 damage. Then second round was amusing: Hawk shot Red Bear with the Desert Eagle. Critical Strike! 33 damage, Red Bear dies. Meh, my memory was, like, playing games and stuff with me again. We get 160MAG and 400XP,
One more... and I'd be Champion... I... could have... gone to the... Center...
I am not going to feel sad about some random uncivilized brute who killed people in a Colosseum to pursue his dreams, guy, so just go ahead and die and stuff and don't make me lose any time and, like, stuff and thingies. The announcer then comes and, like, announces Hawk's the champion like three or four times while the people cheer. Then time moves forward and we are in Okamoto's new office at what once was Haneda's gym.
I've finally got a decent gym, and showed up that pansy Haneda! Not only that, I'm finally out of debt and can buy stuff around town too. Keep winning and make us both rich!
Nah, i'm so done with you it's beyond the domain of words, and maybe even that of pure concepts.
If you keep winning, the Madam'll take notice and call us to her mansion. Hehehehe... Oh, Madam...
This guy's so bloody low i have met coal pieces more worthy of life than him.
H-Hawk! What the hell are you looking at me like that for! Oh yeah, and not only all this, but you get to become an official resident of the Center!
... Eh? Looks like someone's here to see you.
Meet Mariah, ambulant fashion emergency extraordinaire! Her prefered weapons are whips and pistols, thus what she is carrying around in the image, and, even if her clothing would never make you suspect it, she is a high ranking Temple Knight. I guess with being a main character comes the right of using personalized uniforms and weapons and, like, stuff. And, really, i know guys aren't thinking about that when drawing this kind of character, but really, look at those bloody heels! She is a Temple Knight, she is suposed to kill demons and heretics for the future of JEWtopia! I don't know anyone who wouldn't kill her own ankles trying to go for a walk with those damn things, much less survive a fight to the death with an army of demons!
My name is Mariah. I've come here from the Center.
Okamoto
Oh? And what would a Center resident like yourself want with us?
Mariah
As the new champion, I need your help.
I need your help to find someone. About six months ago, there was an accident in the Center where there was a large explosion. In the confusion, a little boy disappeared. Actually, it turns out that the accident really wasn't an accident at all. It was deliberately set up by two scientists named Mekata and Hanada, both of whom disappeared right afterwards.
After the explosion I searched for the little boy, but couldn't find any trace of him anywhere. I think the two scientists took him with them. Through some digging around, I discovered that one of the scientists, Hanada, has been hiding in Mada's mansion in Valhalla.
The security of Madam's mansion is really tight, and she never lets anyone in normally. But they say she always summons new Champions there to congratulate them on their victory. Please, take me with you! I can't get into that mansion any other way!
Yes, i can do that.
R-really!? Thank you, Champion!
What i can asure you i don't need is another stupid nickname, really.
Okamoto
Hey now, the Champion's too busy to be bothered with your missing persons hunt!
... Ah, what the hell, I guess it's all right. Looks like you've got another visitor.
I am a messenger from Madam. She would very much like to meet you. Please come to her mansion when you are free. Here. This is an Invitation from Madam. Please do not bring any more than one guest with you. We will be waiting for you at the mansion.
Okamoto
Aw, you gotta be kidding me! Only one guest?
Life is so pretty, i am so happy.
Ah, don't worry about me though. You promised the girl you'd take her, best not to go back on it. I'll be here if you ever need me. Go ahead, have fun!
We abandon the office and have a look at Mariah's sheet.
And so end this update. Next time we meet Hawk and Mariah will explore some more around town, buy some crap, and then visit Madam's. Later they will race against time to stop the opening of a gate to the Abyss right in the slums, meet Daniel, travel to the Center, and chat with a whole lot of Non Player Characters, so stay tuned.
'Til next time!