That thing Cleve was talking about - Let's Play SMT!

[spekkio]

Megaten Games are probably one of the few good things that came from Jappon.

Great LP!

It seems that SMT3 for PS2 was heavily dumbed down compared to it's predecessors. Still good game tho'.

 

[lightbane]

And thats' why common sense does not exist in japanese games, IRL everyone would just nuked Japan until it's nothing more than ashes, that's probably the reason why Nocturne the entire world is fucked up and not only Japan

Btw, can you fuse the chaos/retard(law) hero with demons? or they have plot armor?

What happens too if you manage to fuse a jack lantern and a jack frost?


PS: Indeed jack frosts are fun, in DDS 1/2 they're special bosses but it's hard to take them seriously despite their massive damage attacks...
PPS: Also, can you leave to die Helena? or you're forced to do it?

 

[ghostdog]

I can't say SMT3 was dumbed down. I'd say that I found it harder than the first 2 games. Those 4 riders of the apocalypse were pretty tough. I think I stopped playing it when the 4rth rider was constantly kicking my ass. Yeah I know that I could simply ingnore him and continue playingm but... Also the fusing mechanics were a bit more complex in SM3. All and all I found SMT1 easier, since you could make some really powerful demons from early on.

Of course I like the atmosphere of the first games a lot more and the setting is better realized in those first 2 games.

 

[Black Cat]

@ Lightbane

Actually,

Spoiler

that's exactly how the world's going to end in the next update, the game becomes post-apoc after the characters spend some years in Limbo and both faiths became the main human forces after siding with either Heaven or Hell and becoming fanatical crusader armies for the most part. And before the end of the game the world is going to get destroyed yet again.

You can't use the heroes as Fusion Fodder, though by the end of the game only Hero and Heroine will remain as humans.

Fusing a Jack Lantern with a Jack Frost results in a Seirei aligned with Air (or was it Water?) since both are Yousei. When you fuse two demons of the same family you get a Seirei of an element based on the family, and then you can fuse those with demons to ascend them inside of their family one or two places, or lower them one. Seirei Fusions are the only way to ascend a demon in its family, all other fusions, save for Dark Fusions, result in a diferent family. Dark Fusions, being fusions where you fuse a normal demon and a dark demon, result in a stronger version of the normal one. Later you can also fuse demons with special swords to make uber-powerful, unique melee weapons... But since i never go with melee characters i do not remember a single combination, sob sob.

And no, you are forced to save her since

Spoiler

the two unaligned heroes are supossed to represent Adam and Eve, either recovering Eden or again falling with the wrong bunch.

So "It's fate!" and all that. And we will have to save her again before she becomes a permanent member of the party, this time from one of the three most evil dungeons in the game.

 

[betamin]

thanks for the lp man I liked the concept in these games.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Question, would it be extremely hard to play as a combat-oriented main character? As in, put points into strength and defense and forgetting about int? You'd have to forget about negotiations.

Also, this LP is really detailed, very nice

 

[Black Cat]

Chapter the fourth, Butthurt God Is Butthurt.
In which our heroine fuses more Demons, defeats a whole lot of enemy thingies, kills Commander Gotou, and humiliates Ambassador Thorman's true form without even trying. Then civilization is turned to ashes by the titular butthurt god and the fate of Tokyo's Finest becomes uncertain.






The previous chapter finished as Koneko and Helena were in a cheap bar and preparing to try to meet with both Commander Gotou and the American Embassador. Before leaving, though, let's take a peek into Helena's sheet: She has a bunch of support spells, the beautiful Maha-Zio, and a MPS with Nerve Bullets, that have a fair chance to sleep any enemy they hit, and that includes zombies, mechs, and most bosses. In the begining i will be focusing her on Speed since she already has a fair amount of magic power and having Zio spells we need her going first each and every turn. Once she has a good speed i will start raising her Magic and Intelligence again.

The party leaves the bar and goes to Shinjuku's Jakyo Mannor. Koneko fuses Youki Azumi and Yousei Dryad into a Youme Kinnari that has Agirao, Bufula, and Hapilma as spells, and has a fair speed for this stage. Youma are aligned with Law but remain neutral on the axis of Light and Darkness. It is composed by benevolent Gods that have a low-ranking on their pantheons and lack the renown or the many followers of their respective pantheons' main deities. Wikipedia has an article on those beings, and since they are outside my usual range i know nothing not writen on it: Kinnara

Then we go to Ichigaya to try and meet Commander Gotou. A group of soldiers stop us until they see the ID Helena prepared, then we are allowed to pass freely. Once inside the building were Gotou resides we notice the local Demons are almost exclusively Chaotic, including all the Datenshi we have met so far, Youki Azumis, and lots of Shiki Zombie Soldiers. Thanks to Maha-Bufu and Maha-Zio we carve a bloody path through their lines. In a room we find a friendly but not very smart SDF soldier, and then we get to the basement.

Down there we find many rooms located at both sides of a main corridor. In the first one there is a treasure chest with an Aquamarine, the others are cells. Only three of the cells are occupied, though, and the three prisoners are girls by the name of Helena: A very small one no one sane would think was leader of some underground resistance movement, a schoolgirl, and some random woman. We free the three of them and we learn Bardon was already there but was chased away by the guards, and that other girls that were being kept here as prisoners had been moved to another installation.

We then go up to the second floor. Killing more things and finding a Luck Incense in a box. We also come across a new demon, Datenshi Forneus! And along with a new Kuroi Neko teaches darke magicks, nya! segment comes a warning: Do not try to recruit Chaos Demons if you have gone to Law, most of the time they just attack you by surprise and kill your weaker members before you can down them. Forneus, in particular, is a bloody bother, since the Zio exploit works both ways and they sport Maha-Zio. If they get the jump on you they will shock half your party before you get your first turn.

Forneus is the thirthieth spirit described in the Ars Goetia, also a Marquis and, thus, sharing favorite astral body and metal with the ones that came before. His card is the four of disks or pentacles and is stronger during the daytime hours of those days falling under the second decane of Capricorn, from January 10 to January 19. He rules over 29 legions of infernal spirits of which some where originally of the order of Angels and some of the order of Thrones. His office is that of education on the art of rethoric and languages, as well as to give a good name to be admired even by foes, and prefers the shape of a mighty sea monster.

Also, his sigil is made of pure coolness.

This one is a diferent case to the previous ones, though. I like encountering most of the Datenshi in the game, even if just as enemies, because i already knew them from the Ars Goetia and all that stuffy stuff. Forneus, however, works the other way around: I dislike him so much that i would never even think about calling upong him because of how bloody angry makes me encountering him in the game, more so the first times when i still did not understood how the game worked and what party combinations where, like, totally useless.

And this meeting is not going to change my opinion of him: He first gets angry with the party because they refuse to get closer and decides to show them his great might. After a turn of combat negotiations are resumed and this time Koneko reaches the point where he can invite him to become his minion, and upon hearing that Forneus decides to take their lives. The party retreats but not before lossing both Jacks, unable to resist the onslaught of four Forneus for long. We summon Kinnari and Kobold in their places, but before long it becomes obvious without Jack Frost's Maha-Bufu this is going to be hard: Big groups of Bogles and Suicide Squads of the Gaian Church patrol the corridors along with the Datenshi varieties and a great number of Zombie Soldiers. Our heroes explore a bit while evading their enemies, meet another friendly soldier, find a big money cache, and then abandon the building to return to Shinjuku and recover.

Upon returning to Gotou's base with both Jacks back in good health they find a lone Gaian and decide to try and recruit him, to test if it is possible while experimenting an alignment shift towards law. It isn't, but at least the encounter gave me an excuse to post the Gaian Suicide Squad's art.

We continue killing mountains of Zombie Soldiers, Gaian Suicide Squads, and Fallen Angels until we come across the man itself: Commander Gotou, mortal enemy of both God and Fashion, and even if the later one is an unforgivable sin for now we will try to be diplomatic and listen to what he has to say while focusing on not laughing our asses at his choice of clothes.

I'm sure you've got a bone to pick with me about Helena, but hear me out, let me try to explain where I'm coming from. While i wanted my subordinates to keep the resistance out of my hair, I certainly didn't want her executed. That was entirely their idea. Quite frankly, I haven't paid much attention to what they've been doing, as I've been busy with more important matters.

Some leader he is.

There's... a plan that's being carried out. Behind the scenes, very secretive. Only a select few know about it. The gist of the plan is to create the "Thousand Year Kingdom" in the name of God. Maybe you've heard of it before, a lot of old religious texts mention it. The basic idea is that those that live in the Kingdom will be promised eternal peace and tranquility. A paradise on Earth, if you will.

Problem is, there's a catch.

There's always one.

It's like an exclusive club, and only those that worship God get a chance at membership. Anyone else? Well, they get the lovely runner-up prize of getting to be slaughtered at the hands of the American army, courtesy of God's orders.

Those evil, bible thumping americans!

You may not be aware of it, but at this very moment there are nuclear missiles pointed at Japan to accomplish this end. The only thing that's keeping them from blowing us all away is a force field that the ancient gods have put up to protect us, and even they can't hold out forever...

As far as we've come, we're still weak though. We need an ace in the hole. I think you'd be perfect candidates. I want your help. I won't force you to make up your minds now though. I'll wait here for you to make your final decision.

So basically that's the gist of it: The forces of Heaven and Law seek to trigger a nuclear apocalypse to cleanse the world in preparation for the Thousand Year Kingdom. Will our heroes be able to stop such an insane plot? Well, go back to read the chapter title if you thought the answer was going to be yes, of course. For now we leave Gotou's base for Yotsuya, where the underground tunels leading to the American Embassy are located. Once there our Fake ID allows us to pass another checkpoint, yay!

As we come closer to the American Embassy, headquarters of the forces of Heaven in Tokyo, we come across several new demon types aligned with Law or with Neutrality. The Chirei Fachan, the first new one we meet, is a weird one as you can see. The only thing i remember about him is that he can some Bufu magic on you if you get on his bad side.

We also come across big parties of patrolling Orcs as well as Angels, either alone or in pairs. While we have our own Angel the ones we come across still refuse to talk with us and may attack us if we do not escape first thing upon encountering them, so we just kill them all and reap the experience. We also get to meet our first Youchou Harpy and Touki Spartoi, but since we have no free slots in our COMP we can't recruit them. The later family, Touki, is mostly composed of lesser war deities and is pure neutral, since they just like to fight things. The former one i do not remember. We also get an Intelligence Incense in some box.

We stop exploring and return to Shinjuku, and once there we kill random things in the mall until we collect the 120 experience points standing between Koneko and level eighteen, then we fuse Kinnari and Dryad to get a Yousei Rusalka, kind of an slav fae similar to a mixture of the succubus and the undine from the civilized world. Then we fuse Datenshi Gamygyn and Yama Imp to get a new Kinnari. Rusalka has Marin-Karin, Diarama, and Me-Dia but we will not be using her yet since my party is lacking on high level, as relative to the game's stage, attack power. Summoning a pure healer would not help.

Returning to the American Embassy with two free slots i defeat a couple of Zombie Soldiers, some Orc patrols, and come across an angry bunch of Spartoi. I try to talk them into my gang but we end fighting, then halfway through the battle i decide to try again and then this happens:

Yay, he joined without asking nothing, nor having me run a gauntlet of stupid questions, etc. Such a nice, gentlemanly, well groomed warrior skellie! And he has the Critical skill, as well as the spells Suku-Kaja and Taru-Kaja. He doesn't have a lot of HP though, so, like, Fusion Fodder it is for him. And i must be on a roll, for around five steps later i come across my first Majuu Cu Sith, the flying doggie dog with big ears!

I am friendly to him, and he turns to be pretty straightforward.

I'm tired of being like this... I'll become your minion, so will you fuse me with a really cute chick?

Yes

OK then, I'd like to see a token of your sincerity first!

¥385... You know, I'd really like that. Give it to me and I'll be your minion.

Yes

Heh heh heh... You've still got more, don't you? Now i just want, hmm... 241MAG. That's OK, right?

Yes

Hee-Ho!

OK, I'll be your minion!

He has the Bite skill, obviously, and both Dolminer and Toraest as spells: The later teleports you outside of the dungeon you are currently exploring and back to the world map, while the former sleeps the enemy. I prefer to kill the random enemies fast and with as little interaction as possible, so i will not be using this little guy a whole lot.

Back to exploring the Embassy it is, since with that last one my slots are again all taken. There are lots and lots of things to be had in chests and boxes on the building: I get an oinment, a Magic Incense, 960MAG, an Emerald, and ¥6720. Then i find Ambassador Thorman, and the screenshot was eaten by an evil monter so you will have to wait until later on the update, when he appears again.

I am Thorman, the American ambassador. I apologize my Japanese not very good. I hope you can understand me. I hear rumor about you! I give you big welcome!

We bring out American army to save everyone from demons. But... we are not strong yet. Gotou... He want to call Maou Lucifer to Tokyo. We need to defeat him first. Lucifer want bring many imprisoned demons to world. We just soldiers, we not trained to fight demons. You can fight demons please help us, defeat Gotou.

If Lucifer summoned, terrible, terrible for Japan! There will be no way to stop that many demons that he will free. If you defeat Gotou, peace will return to Tokyo. We will be able to bring back former era of peace.

You not make up your minds yet? Do you want to hear my story again?

No

No, for the love of God. Just no!

You make up your minds yet? Will you hear my plea?

Yes

Oh! Thank you very much... Defeat Gotou! Good luck!

We leave him, sigh. While going back to the world map we kill a dryad and get an Athame Knife, a very good weapon for Helena at this point of the game. We return to Shinjuku's mall, heal, etc. Then go to the Jakyo Mannor and fuse Cu Sith and Kobold to get...

... our very own Andyman Messiah, yessir! He has the Bash skill and both Hanma and Penpatora as spells. Since we are somewhat in front of the game in the level department he is pretty strong and can soak a fair amount of punishment, and together with Angel he will turn the first part of the battle against Gotou in a torrent of abuse and cruel bliss.

We hurry to meet with Gotou. He has been already informed of our alliance with Ambassador Thorman and is waiting for us.

You dare to oppose me then? Well then, my friends, I'm afraid you leave me no choice but to kill you. Take care of them!

Demons of a higher level than is currently normal start appearing in pairs. First come Pishasha and Nue: Kinnari tries to freeze the former but he turns to be immune, then Unicorn kills him with a Hanma. Helena shocks Nue with Maha-Zio, doing also 58 damage. Koneko then shoots him for 33, and in the next round Nue is killed by him first thing.

Then came a Shade and a Baykok. Unicorn opened the battle killing the former with Hanma. Then Kinnari and Helena try to freeze and shock the later to no effect. In turn he tries to freeze unicorn but horsie dodges the spell and then Angel casts Hanma on Baykok, who dies screaming.

That leaves us and Gotou, so much for his ambush.

I see that the demons were no match for you after all. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself!

Sorry, but i can't take you seriously if you do not go get dressed first. Kinnari opens the battle casting bufula on him for 12 damage, leaving him froze. Because i was not taking any chances when giving the orders next is Helena casting Maha-Zio on him for 13 damage. Unicorn bashes him for 27 damage, koneko shoots him for 6, Angel slaps him for 18.

Gotou opens the second round attacking Unicorn for 43 damage, then Kinnari casts Bufula on him for 12 damage and freeze, but now is late for that. Koneko shoots him for 6 damage, Unicorn bashes him 27, Angel slaps him for 18, and Helena shoots him for 21.

Third round is opened by Kinnari casting Agirao for 40 damage. Gotou binds Unicorn with Sibabu, then Helena casts Maha-Zio, shocking him and doing 13 damage. Koneko shoots again for 6, Angel misses her attack.

Fourth round begins again with Kinnari casting Agirao for 40 damage, then Helena shocks Gotou with Maha-Zio, also doing 13 damage. Angel uses Penpatora to unbind Unicorn, then Koneko attacks with his sword for 4 damage, feeling pathetic.

Kinnari opens, again, the fifth round by casting Agirao for 40 damage. Helena casts Maha-Zio but Gotou dodges, then he attacks Kinnari for 50 damage. Unicorn bashes him for 27 damage, Koneko shoots for 6, Angel attacks for 18.

Sixth turn is opened by Helena casting Maha-Zio, but again Gotou dodges it. Then he attacks Unicorn for 43 damage. Koneko shoots evil dude for 6 damage and then Kinnari attacks, being without enough MP for her spells, but is dodged. Angel attacks for 18 damage and Unicorn bashes for 27.

Seventh turn begins with Gotou casting Sibabu and again binding Unicorn. Angel casts Me-Dia to heal the group, Helena casts Maha-Zio for 13 damage and a shock that came too late to be useful, Koneko shoots for 6 damage and Kinnari returns to the COMP since without MP she is, like, useless and Koneko plans on bringing out Jack Frost next turn.

Eight turn begins with Angel casting Me-Dia to keep healing the group. Then Helena shocks and does 13 damage to Gotou with Maha-Zio, killing him. We get 1792EXP each, ¥1344, 550MAG, and a Meito Kotetsu, whatever that is. Commander Gotou gives us some parting words and goes meet his allies on hell, or whatever.

We keep killing Zombie Soldiers and Gaian Suicide Squadies as we leave. We go back to Shinjuku, recover, and travel to the Embassy, for we have a meeting with fate in there. We screenshot our character sheets in their current state...

... and then we go straight to Ambassador Thorman's office. He seems pleased with our successful attack against Gotou. So pleased, in fact, that he decides to show us his true face: That of Majin Thor!

You've done superbly. I am Majin Thor, and on behalf of God himself, I thank you and praise your good deed. Will you continue to fight in God's name?

... Then you dare defy my command!?

Very well then. In punishment, I, the great Majin Thor, will take your lives!

Sob sob, you wouldn't get a cross reference if it stole your bloody hammer. On him I sic the dogs of war, and if you are viking leave the thread now: Otherwise you may never again be able to feel any cultural pride out of your local Gods, for I will not even do a round by round report since Thor never got a turn to begin with. He got frozen, shocked, or put to sleep at the begining of each and every turn. Then we all kicked him in the head until next round, when the entire thing would repeat itself. Once in a while he would manage to get both frozen and put to sleep at the same time, for fuck's sake, and after not a few rounds of abuse he died to Angel bitchslaping him, just to add insult to injury.

So much for, like, virile warrior gods of the frozen north and stuff, i guess.

I have already brought my hammer down. Within moments, nuclear warhead-tipped I.C.B.Ms will strike Tokyo.

Tokyo and the demons will soon be no more...

Glory to God and to his Thousand Year Kingdom...!

WARNING! WARNING! THOR IS POWERING UP TO USE HIS FINAL ATTACK: DIVINE THUNDEROUS BUTTHURT OF THE NORTHLANDS!!!

We now have little more than thirty seconds to try and escape, but there is nowhere to go so we just run around until the bombs go boomity boom. First there is a flash of blindingly intense white light. Then Helena decides to sacrifice herself so at least one of us can escape.

At the very least, I should get you out of here so you don't have to!

There's no time!

...Farewell, Koneko...

She casts a spell called Toraport. It would usually take us back to the last Terminal we saved our game in, like a Town Portal spell or something. This time, though, it will have a somewhat diferent effect.

What wondrous places await us beyond this strange vision? What strange creatures await us there? What fates were met by the rest of Tokyo's Dream Team? All those questions and many more will be answered in the next update, so stay tuned for more apocaliptic crazyness!

'Til next time!






@ Clockwork Knight
While in theory possible you would be limited to just Hero and Heroine for around half the game. Some parts, like the dungeon in the next update, will become very dificult and bothersome since long parts of it would be you wandering alone, and thus without magic nor healing, and fighting a couple of pretty powerful bosses in such conditions, including our first battle against two bosses together. The Cathedral will become very hard if not impossible, and a whole lot of insuferable. At least that's how i believe it would be, i never really tried to do such a thing.

 

[lightbane]

Apparently in Shin Megami series God is always a dick, I ask you to ignore the law and chaos shit and go in your way, bitchslapping everyone if possible.


Also, a quick hint: do not say "chapter the first, etc.", the "the" is unnecersary, the correct wording would be "first chapter, second chapter..." or if you feel lazy just write chapter 1-X and call it a day. Will you play it to the end? Unlike modern and "mature" "rpgs"of nowadays jrpgs lasts at least 20/30 hours for the minimum...

 

[Black Cat]

If you go the LAW route later on this particular game you kind of discover HE was not being a dick and had a plan from the very start, so it kind of fits with the concept of have faith unto God and do not question HIS ways, etc. In the second one, being based more around Gnostic symbolism and all that stuff, he is such a big Dick McDickinson that even in the LAW path you end fighting him and passing judgement of HIS actions. I mean, bloody Emperor Palpatine is a more civilized, kind, caring individual than HIM, on that one. Since i am going with the Neutral path this time,

Spoiler

once in the Cathedral you defeat all infernal generals, God's messenger comes and tells you that the Thousand Year Kingdom is still away, since in other lands there are those that weren't given a chance to hear HIS message and only when every single mortal has had the option of accepting HIM or turning HIM down can true jugdement be passed. And of those who died in the judgement, that being the Great Destruction and the Post-Apocaliptic Wasteland and the Second Diluge, all those deemed worthy of a second chance will be given one once the Thousand Year Kingdom comes to be. Then Hero and Heroine go to preach the new testament or whatever, and Law Hero is somewhat like Jesus since he died for our sins and stuff.

Or something like that, you guys already know my memory gets a bit mixed up at times, or i mix what i understood with what really happened, but it was not really all that bad on this one as you can see. It was more of the stern Father-God that has the best of HIS children in mind but at times must get rought with them than how it gets on Shin Megami Tensei II,

Spoiler

more along the lines of NYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, AND NOW GOD RULES! DIE, SINNERS! BURN IN HELL! BOOOOOM!

Edit: As far as i remember in the second one among HIS allies, just as Thor and the like in this one, he has bloody Cthulhu! Atlus couldn't get more biased against poor YHVH on that one :wink:

This was mostly like hey, i want to replay some Megami Tensei games so let's make an LP while we are at it, so as long as people is interested, yes, i will be updating this one straight to the end, then the second one, and if you guys want and i still have some endurance left then some of the other ones i have, by your choice. Also, if i find a way to fix some of the graphical glitches Devil Survivor between SMT2 and whatever you guys choose, since i loved it so much first time around i am buying a DS just to play it again and again and again.

And yes, i know the chapter thingie. It's just that i read some vewy, vewy old books where it was, like, Book The XXX, Chapter The YYY and always thought it was pretty cute and cool, so it is a, like, stylistic choice and stuff, no? Or i am remembering it wrong?

 

[Angthoron]

And yes, i know the chapter thingie. It's just that i read some vewy, vewy old books where it was, like, Book The XXX, Chapter The YYY and always thought it was pretty cute and cool, so it is a, like, stylistic choice and stuff, no? Or i am remembering it wrong?

It's perfectly acceptable if a little outdated. Nice LP, keep it up!

 

[SCO]

The major chaos dark demons have such great in game art. I still remember belzebu, or that other one you know.

 

[SerratedBiz]

I always like to take the Chaos routes in these kinds of games. It feels less like the vapid evil of KOTOR and more like Chaotic Neutral.

Anyways, keep it up! It's very interesting to compare the demons from the first SMT to the ones you see nowadays.

 

[Snall Trippin]

More please, bored at work for next 10 days. (Well nights.)

 

[Black Cat]

(Image dedicated to SCO)



Chapter The Fifth, the Sage of FedEx.
In which our heroine braves the most boring dungeon of the entire game and not a whole lots happens: She meets a famous sage and sorcerer, saves her friends, kills or charms a couple thousands of demons, gets some new minions, and then escapes. Virgin Mary, this part of the game is AWFUL! Good thing next update we are back on Earth and not only does it goes back to being cool but gets cooler than ever before! Yay!






Last update ended just as Tokyo was becoming a city-sized nuclear fireball and Koneko was being hurled somewhere by a last-ditch spell cast by Helena. We awake in a somewhat featureless blue place, and some hermit guy is here with us. He introduces himself by the name of En-No-Ozuno, which is another name for En-No-Gyouja, a pretty well known in certain circles mystic from japan's eight century who is usually considered to have been a magician and an enlightened hermit, founder of the Shugendou school of religious and occult thought, and is popularly held to be both a Bodhisattva and the quintaessencial wise guy in the mountain. So, yeah.

I am En-no-Ozuno.

Let's see now, there are two more who have found their way here as well. You know them both quite well. Find them and return. When all three of you are here i shall fill you in on the details. If you are injured or want to rest, my minions Zenki and Goki will take care of everything for you. You can find both of them in the rooms next to me.

Finding it obvious that those two others who were hurled here as well are Aquino and Bardon i decide to first visit those two minions En mentioned: Zenki saves our game while Goki revives, heals all our wounds and status ailments, and replenishes our MP completely for free. That's the kind of comunity service i like, yessir. You will get to meet them both at the end of the update, so wait until then for the screenshots. Also, i notice i am completely alone by now: All my minions are missing and as such i have to be extremely careful.

Just a couple of steps away fron En's house i find a Jakyo Mannor, but having no minions i just keep the location in mind and keep going. Close by i find a room where my Jack Frost is camping! He recognizes me and i invite him back to the group, so now we are two against the unknown.

We also meet the first locals: Youma Kinnari, whom you already met, and Majuu Tangie, a new demon. He is somewhat grumpy, likes to drink liquor, kicks like a mule, and can raise a wall of water that nulls Agi spells used against his party. At times if you don't have liquor on you he will get angry and attack, other times he will just go back to whatever he was doing, and in occassions he will not even ask about that at all. Since this first contact ends with him angry and a Jack Frost is no match for a Tangie we just run until he gets bored. Soon afterwards we also find Aquino, going crazy of fear and despair in some small room.

Koneko!? Is that you!? Thank God!

Shit, this just isn't my day!! In any case, the demons here are pretty tough, and i'm really asking for it if i try to take them on by myself. So, I'm coming along with you!

He tells truth: This part of the game can get pretty ridiculous very quick since you lack demon variety to fuse what you want to get and even the support demons can be pretty strong given the right conditions. Also, most of the demons you are brought back from Tokyo are no match for the creeps that live here, so until you get a good variety of locals you will be running a whole lot. Also, after becoming confident with Thor and Gotou many find the last boss battle in this dungeon made of, like, solid unfair or something.

Once back outside the first thing we meet is a Youjuu Nue, whom we already know from our battle with Gotou. When alone those aren't hard, but if you start meeting packs of them before having a full functioning team of locals they can pack quite a lot of hurt. They are Dark demons, too, so you can't just recruit one of them and have them cover you in gifts and stuff: If you go the negotiation way and try to they will surprise attack you, getting a free round and, like, thingies. Your best bet is to just follow the Negotiation path i do in the example, since it almost always works and they give good MAG (600). Some times they do not recognize who you are and will attack but in a normal battle, without giving them the free round. Some other times they will recognize you and leave, without giving you anything before. Also, they are weak to Zio.

(Nue seems like it's trying to provoke you.)

Intimidate

You are meat...

Identify yourself

I see...

Magnetite

(Nue gave you something.)

We keep wandering the dungeon. We come across Rusalka, who returns to the pack, and get our very own Tangie after negotiating with him for a while. As you will see on his sheet he has very high stamina, two skills (crush and wall of water), and the Suku-Kaja spell. The good thing of having Crush and Wall of Water is that usually Wall of Water remains active for several rounds, so if a couple of turns go by before he decides to recast it you will still be protected of all Agi spells. The problem is when it happens the other way around: He does nothing but cast Wall of Water, never trying to Crush and thus acting like little more than a movile Anti-Agi shield battery, or doing nothing but try to Crush the enemy while he burns your party to a crisp.

We keep moving, finding a closed gate we will be crossing later and our first pack of Yousei Ghandarvas, Hindi nature spirits somewhat similar to Satyrs but with horse thingies instead of goat thingies, without the part about being always in heat, and with an emphasis on pretty music and dances, so they come around as closer to The Dreaming's version of Satyrs than the original greek ones. In Shin Megami Tensei they are frail but very fast Yousei armed with the lethal Zio Exploit, so you do want to get one of those A.S.A.P just to keep them out of your backs and abuse the middle bosses of the dungeon. Note also the number of creeps on that war party. Ghandarvas love to be in big bunches, i supose because doing so allows them to better exploit Zio throughly.

Since i am a lucky cat i get my own, first try. Yay! As you can see in the Sheet they also have Lullaby, a go-to-sleep skill, and that Happy thingie that engulf your demons in bliss. Add Zio and he is a pretty good control caster, his worse point being that control casters are kind of useless in a game where you meet an enemy encounter of three to four demon bunches every other step to the point when by the end you will be having a nervous breakdown every time you face a random encounter you can't just AUTO through while pressing the TURBO key.

SMT2 is better on that since you can also AUTO spells, so most battles you just do your thing first turn and then AUTO+TURBO until you need to heal someone or change something or, like, stuff. As long you have good reflexes and a sense of timing you can even play the hardest battles that way, and since some of the last battles are bloody endless and by then you should have a bunch of demons that can take a wild beating before going down i do not know how those weird japanese guys and girls managed to play that game before the emulator age, nor this one to be fair.

We also meet some Chirei Bucca-Boos, but i do not really know what those are suposed to be, and Youma Apsaras, Ghandarvas' wives. The later ones ask some pretty weird questions every now and then, and can get pretty bizarre as you will see below. We also meet a suicidal Kinnari that acts weird, goes wacko, and gets killed.

Then finally discover Bardon was going all sob-sob in some room while we were sending tens of demons back to the Abyss in our search for him.

... Koneko!! So you're here too?

What is this place... I was searching for Helena, when all of a sudden this blinding white light engulfed me. The next thing I knew, I was here. Anyhow, that doesn't matter now, let's try and find a way out of here!

This dungeon is divided in three diferent areas: An inner one, the one where we are now, being where En-No-Ozune and his two demons live and where the Jakyo Mannor is located; a middle one, divided in two halves by the corridor that leads from the inner one to the outer one and where two powerful spirits have their houses; an outer one, where both the Soma springs and the exit are located. We will be going around those as En-No-Ozuno gives us more tasks, so right now we finish exploring the inner area, rescue Unicorn and Angel, and meet our first Majuu Nekomata.

A Nekomata is a Bakeneko, a ghost cat with shape-shifting powers, that has a forked tail. They are one of the most popular kind of Youkai, the wild spirits of Shinto folklore, to the point they appear in lots of manga and anime and japanese games and stuff. In the Megami Tensei universe they are a kind of Cute Monster Girl with either one or two tails, depending on her having her own sprite or using a variation of another's. In this one she uses the Werecat's sprite with a palette change, so just one tail it is.

She is one of the Demons with a greater level of fan recognition. She doesn't have her own art on this one game, but her Nocturne art is so amazing i will be using it instead. It was pure bliss to discover not only they had done a 3D Nekomata on Nocturne, but a fully dressed one! Yay, hurray for Japs thinking with the upper head for once!

The negotiation with her goes my way since cats understand each other. She first tries to set us up but when we do not lower our guards and decide to leave she stops being a jerk and starts, instead, being greedy: She asks for a Ruby, we do not have so she sets for a couple of Magic Stones and joins us. She has the Claw skill, that is a melee attack that hits several enemies, and two spells: Zanma and Marin-Karin. In Devil Survivor she is one of the best low-level brawlers, and there she is pretty cool with a high speed, fair attack strenght, and a good attack spell.

Then we find the last sealed door in our way back to En's place. Once we are here he decides to explain where we are and what has happened to the world we just left behind.

Very well. Let me start by telling you where you are. This is the Kongokai. From your point of view, it is a place much like the after-world or the Abyss. As for the world that you were formerly in, it is no more. The destruction of Tokyo has sparked worldwide nuclear holocaust. Civilization as you know it is gone.

The Kongokai is the Diamond Realm of Budhism, related to all things eternal and unchanging. The five Budhas of Wisdom, among other thingies, live here. Its oposite is the Womb Realm, related to all things physical and active. Their mandalas put together form the Mandala of the Two Worlds, whose symbology can be interpreted as similar to the Seal Of Salomon as apropiated by Western Hermetics and similar occult riddles or poetic symbols, like the Fiery Name and the Humid Nature of old hermetics and, like, stuff.

Bardon
How did this happen? What is the earth like now? Is it destroyed?

En-no-Ozuno
There is no reason to worry. Despite the scale of the destruction, humanity has somehow managed to survive.

Aquino
Then please send us back!

En-no-Ozuno
Are you sure that's such a good idea? The world is not like it used to be. It might even be a worse place to be than the Abyss, with the destruction and chaos that runs rampant there.

Bardon
That only makes me want to go back even more, to defeat the demons and bring peace back to the world!

En-no-Ozuno
If you insist, it is possible to return to your world. If that is what you wish, then will you hear my plea first?

We are his guests after all and i am a cat of good family, so i pick Yes.

En-no-Ozuno
Very well. here is a spring within the Kongokai. I would like you to retrieve some of the Soma that is flowing from it. If you don't hurry, the spring will dry up, and you will have to wait for it to start flowing again. I have opened the south gate. I'm counting on you.

I believe he is trying to either change our minds about returning, testing our chances of survival if we do, or hoping we fail so we must wait a fair time before returning to Earth: He will give us two FedEx quests, then a hard combat quest, and then a last test before we are allowed to return to Earth. There should be an option to just stay here and become a wise hermit cat since i really can think of far worse places to be than the Kongokai and far worse company to share than the Five Wisdom Budhas and some super-famous hermit-magicians from old times, but whatever. Let's get this party rolling.

We heal, then save. Then we go south. A bit later we find our first Chirei Tsuchigumo, whose art is pretty amazing if you like spiders, and i do. He is also one of the few demons that you can see animated in pre-rendered 3D, so watch Kuzunoha Raidou Vs The Souless Army's intro if you care to. Things do not go well while negotiating with them, so it will be a while until i can see one's sheet and remember what powers, spells, and skills did they have.

While you wander the outer regions of Kongokai you will come across the gate leading back to Earth, now sealed, and small rooms where either an apparition of En-no-Ozuno gives you councel on Demon Summoning and choosing your own path or where some event from the past repeats itself, like the Mesian girl talking about God or the bald satanist going all fangirl about Lord Lucifer. Only En's ones are about something new: The first time you meet him he explains again what i said about how the alignment of the demons you currently have slightly modifies your own, but since his image blinks in and out of existence i have no worthy screenshot.

You always find him on the rooms located on three of the four corners of the Kongokai, in the last one being the Soma Springs. Those rooms are in the middle of a small complex of rooms and corridors conected by one way doors, so if you encounter hostiles here you can't run away. While leaving the first corner i come across a Kinnari who again asks me if i intend on saving the world and again i say that yes, i do. This one joins us instead of attacking, must be moon phase or something. I return to the Jakyo Mannor to fuse Rusalka and this Kinnari into my very own Youma Apsaras.

She has Raku-Kaja, that raises the party's defense, Makajama, that seals the magic powers of its victims, and Me-Dia, the basic party wide healing spell. She is quite fast and also has a high HP count, so we are not going to be left without her half-way through a battle. On my way back another Kinnari does the same question, i answer the same way, and again decides to join me. Then we get to the second corner and find the Soma Springs.

We get some of it for En-no-Ozuno's quest and continue exploring the outer area: I find my old Spartoi but he doesn't seem to recognize us, what means my party is full and thus he cannot join. Then we get to the third corner and En-no-Ozuno talks about how we must decide for ourselves what is good or bad and all that stuff, and how our alignment, and thus the Demons we can recruit, will change to reflect this decision. Then in the fourth and last corner of the outer area he has more to tell us.

Be carefull of which demons you choose to kill.

And after a small walk we are back at the center. We give En-no-Ozuno the Soma he asked and then...

... Hmm, that's still not enought. Could you go back and get some more for me?

... he decides to abuse us more to see if we decide to stay or, like, something. Before leaving i go to the Jakyo Mannor and fuse Jack Frost with the last Kinnari i got to get a Yama Cyak, a chaos demon i can't use but at least will free one slot and give me some extra fusion choices. The Yama Family is composed of demons of the night that feed on human energies: Living nightmares, creatures that feed on sexual energy, vampires, etc.

As we go back to the Soma Springs we recruit a Tsuchigumo, too, but i forgot to screenshot his sheet, so it surely had nothing important.

We wander around, get more Soma, then return to Mister Quest Giver and give it to him.

I hate him so bloody much.

By the way, there are two phantasms that live here in the Kongokai. I hear they carry rather powerful weapons. Go and find them, and bring them back here. All right?

Do I really have a choice? I pick yes because i am a good guest.

I have opened the gate to the north. However, Koneko must go there alone. I have other tasks that I would like Bardon and Aquino to do.

Fuck my good upbringing: Someone should say a couple of things to this moron, but whatever. We go through the north gate and then the corridor divides in two, going opposite directions. Each one takes us to the house of one of the Ghosties after a needlessly long walk. I pick a random one and start kicking. Along the way i find my old Jack O'Lantern, but i have a full party so he can't come, bloody sob. I then find a big door, and beyond the Red Ghost of... Law? Someone mixed up their colors, i think. When he sees i am also, for now, aligned with Law he turns into the pope or, like, someone like that.

He gives me the Kodachi of Light, a powerful melee weapon aligned with LAW, so only those aligned with the same force can use it. Since my character is currently of Law, Bardon is going to be left without a new melee weapon for a long while. We go back rest and save before going to face Chaos Ghostie. Along the way i come across the Kinnari i had before Tokyo went boom, but since i have a full party you already know she didn't recognized me. Once i find Evil Ghostie hideout i prepare to face him along with Nekomata, Apsaras, and Gandharva. He receives us like a true warrior of diversity should.

It seems your alignment differs from my own! Then you must die here!

Nekomata opens casting Zanma and getting dodged. Then Apsaras casts Makajama to the same effect. Gandarva shocks and does 5 damage to the blue evil thingie and then Koneko slashes for 7 damage. This battle is not going to be short, sigh.

Second turn ghostie opens with Maha-Agi, doing 11 damage to Apsaras and 29 Gandarvha, Nekomata, and Koneko. Then Gandharva shocks him for 5 damage, facepalm. Apsaras raises our defense, then Nekomata uses his claw attack for 6 damage and Koneko again slashes for 7. Sigh.

Third turn Nekomaka Zanmas our enemy's ethereal butt for 15 damage, Apsaras casts Me-Dia to heal the burns evil thingie caused the turn before, and Gandharva shocks him for another 5 damage, yay! Thus he gets no turn, and Koneko slashes at him for 7 damage.

Fourth turn Apsaras opens casting Me-Dia. Nekomata casts Zanma against Blue Phantom, for 15 damage, and then he answers with Maha-Agi, so unfair. Same damage as above to all but Gandharva, who dodged and THEN went to casts Zio on the evil creep, shocking him for 5 damage. Koneko slashed for 7 damage, etc.

Fifth turn begins with Apsaras casting Me-Dia, then Gandharva casts Zio on the phantasm for five damage and a lost round, yay! Nekomata casts Zanma but is dodged, then Koneko slashes at him for 7 damage.

Sixth turn: Nekomata zanmas Evil Ghostie for 15 damage, Apsaras casts Makajama but misses, Gandharva shocks Ethereal Thingie for 5 damage, Koneko slashes for 7 damage.

The seventh turn is exactly the same, thus convincing me Ghostie is immune to Apsara's Makajama and making the eighth one alike but for Apsaras slaping him for 6 damage. And again, identical would have been the tenth, were not for Gandharva missing with Zio and thus Phantasm doing the Maha-Agi thingie to us for the damage already told about above.

The next turn, the eleventh, turns to be made of pure fail. Both Nekomata's Zanma and Gandharva's Zio are dodged, and Evil answers now with an Agirao of his own, sending Nekomata back to the COMP after one strike that meant 100 damage to her. Somewhere along the line Apsaras casted a Me-Dia that did nothing to change the round's final result and Koneko slashed for the usual 7 damage, feeling useless.

Twelfth turn begins with Apsaras slaping the Ghost of Chaotic Christmass for 6 damage, then Gandharva shocks him for 5 damage and Koneko summons Tangie in place of Nekomata. Then in the begining of the following one Gandharva shocks him for the usual 5 damage, then Koneko and Apsaras attack for 7 and 6. Tangie raises a wall of water.

Fourteenth turn and we aren't still there. Phantasm opens with Maha-Agi, but the Wall of Water nulls it. Gandharva is useless with a Zio that not only comes too late but MISSES. Koneko attacks for 7, Apsaras for 6. Tangie tries to raise a Wall of Water but the Skill is still in effect, so nothing.

Now phantasm is angry: He opens casting Agirao to Apsaras, but the Wall of Water protects her. Apsaras attacks for 6, Koneko for 7, Gandharva again for 7, and Tangie rams into evilghostie for bloody 20! Yay! He's still alive, though. Sixteenth turn is opened by Phantasm slaping Gandharva for 67 damage, owie! Then Apsaras hit him for 6, Koneko for 7, Gandharva tries but misses, and Tangie goes back to try raising Walls of Water that are already there.

Apsaras opens Turn Seventeen with Me-Dia. Phantasm Maha-Agis the group but the Wall of Water nulls its effect. Then Gandharva shocks him for 5 damage and he dies, yay! AT BLOODY LAST! He left ¥1536, 640MAG, and the Guillotine Axe, a powerful melee weapon aligned with Chaos so it will be christmass for Aquino once we get him back. I hurry to En-no-Ozuno with both weapons, stoping just to heal and revive and save and stuff.

En-no-Ozuno
Good job, everyone. Koneko, this is for you.

He gives me Mikezuchi's Techi, a powerful melee weapon aligned with Neutrality.

En-no-Ozuno
You are now ready. It is time for you to return to your world, if you so choose. I have opened the east gate. You may return whenever you wish.

Yay! We are now free of this utterly boring level, right? No! As we get to the door we discover Zenki and Goki, En's minions, blocking our path. I have long tried to find out who those two are suposed to be, but the only Zenki i ever found is this one and since i avoid Shounen like the plague there is no way i am going to watch that series just to see if both are somehow related, so in ignorance i will remain. The song's catchy, though.

... but first, you must defeat us! If you cannot defeat us, we will not let you pass!

This battle can be very, very though if you are not prepared for it, and sometimes even if you are. Lucky you, the supercat is more than ready and we will be home free before you blink twice. Before coming, though, i changed Gandharva for Unicorn since the former would have lasted around two seconds on this fight.

The battle begins with Apsaras casting Raku-Kaja and raising our physical defense. Aquino casts Agirao against Goki, doing 67 damage to him, and Bardon follows with Zanma, for 49 damage. Doki answers with Makajama, but the spell is resisted. Koneko shoots back at him for 9 damage, then Unicorn dashes forward but is dodged. Zenki now does a critical attack against Tangie for 57 damage, and Tangie raises a Wall of Water because he is random like that.

Second turn begins, again, with Apsaras doing the Raku-Kaja thingie, and then Goki casts Makajama but the only Magic he manages to seal is Unicorn's. Aquino casts Agirao at him, again for 67 damage, Bardon heals Tangie with Diarama, and Koneko shoots shorty for 9 damage. Zenki again uses Critical, this time against Apsaras an for 82 damage. Then Unicorn dashes forward, again missing, and Tangie again raised a Wall of Water, making Kuroi Neko cry.

Third turn again begins with Asparas casting Raku-Kaja, and then Bardon heals her. Zenki casts Zionga against Tangie, shocking him and doing 69 damage, and Goki casts Me-Dia, healing himself. Aquino then casts Agirao against Goki for 67 damage, Koneko shoots him for 9, and Unicorn melees him for 15.

Fourth turn begins, as always, with Apsaras casting Raku-Kaja, then Bardon heals Tangie with Diarama and Aquino casts Agirao against Goki, defeating him. Koneko shoots Zenki for 6 damage, then Zenki does a Critical attack against Tangie for 34 damage. Unicorn and Tangie both miss.

Fifth turns opens with Zenki casting Zionga against Bardon for 20 damage, shocking him. Apsaras then casts Raku-Kaja but there is no longer an effect, since the group's defense is maxed. Aquino casts Agirao against Zenki for 71 damage, Koneko shoots him for 6, Unicorn dashed him for 17, and Tangie attacked him for 14. Almost there!

Sixth turn Apsaras opens with Me-Dia, healing the group. Aquino Agiraos Zenki for 71 damage, Bardon Zanmas him for 53. Zenki tries to Zionga Apsaras but she reflects the attack back to him for 18 damage. Then Unicorn dashes to impale evil thingie for 17 damage, Koneko shoots for 6, and Tangie attacks for 14. Seventh turn Apsaras again opens with Me-Dia, and then Aquino defeats Zenki with an Agirao. Way to go, us!

Given how diferent the party levels actually have gotten Koneko only gets 6144EXP from this fight while Bardon gets 24576 and Aquino 12288. We also get ¥3078 and 1280MAG for our troubles, and then En-no-Ozuno receives us beyond the door.

En-no-Ozuno
So, you've defeated Zenki and Goki... Fine, go ahead and return to your world then, but don't be shocked whne you see how much it's changed...

Light blinds us, and then Tokyo, circa 202X, reveals itself to us!

Maybe we should have stayed in Kongokai...

Next update our heroine becomes the cat with no name of the post-apocaliptic wasteland, wandering around and shooting thingies and stuff! Also, Aquino discovers what intimacy really means, one of the last havens of humanity against the ravages of demonkind will fall to Tokyo's Dream Team depredations, and we will finally be able to tell Ozawa a couple of things! And Kuroi Neko goes back to teach darke magicks, nya!

'Til next time!






@ SerratedBiz
Yes, the chaos paths aren't badly done and actually manage to be how Bioware lied Jade Empire was going to be, but every now and then (and even more on the second one with Arcadia and all that) i feel like a jerk trying to keep my alignment Chaotic when my nature is to just try to be nice to everyone. Not even in games i can be that kind of kill or be killed, pseudo-nietzchean, power-of-steel kind of jerk I end feeling guilty and restarting, this time as a civilized person.

 

[Snall Trippin]

I'll allow you to rest before posting more..sigh, so bored.

 

[pipka]

This LP confuses me. I'm confused...

 

[lightbane]

and if you were True Neutral the 2 alignment ghosts attack you?

 

[Black Cat]

@ Lightbane

Yes. As you may have noticed the neutral path involves kicking a lot of butt from both sides: Defeating both Gotou and Thor instead of becoming an ally of one, etc. Once in the wasteland i start killing thousands upon thousands of Mesian warriors trying to go back to neutral so i can use a bunch of Chaos demons too, but so far i am an unlucky cat.

The basic pattern is like this: If you are Chaos, you get to kill lots and lots of Law Aligned bosses along the way. If you are Law, you get to kill lots and lots of Chaos Aligned bosses along the way. If you are Neutral, you kill everyone but Steven, the Old Man, around ten humans, and the faeries. And by the end of the game everyone hates your guts.

Once we reach the final act we become set in the allegiance we choose at the end of the second. The last act i have been told is pretty epic in the neutral path because you must face ALL bosses where usually you would just need to face half of them and the other half would become your minions either temporarily or permanently. The second act, meanwhile, is an extended version of the first one: We get to ruin the lives of almost everyone in post-apocaliptic Tokyo, then choose which of the two sides to battle for, then turn around and kill those too in an orgy of bang-bang and zio-zio.

Being aligned with Law or Neutrality is also recomended until after Ginza, since you get an extra dungeon and two extra boss fights you will not get if aligned with Chaos.

@ Pipka

What confuses you? Tell me so i can fix it.

 

[ghostdog]

I think you're close to the point where you'll get your dog back. Well, at least what used to be your dog. He was really kick-ass.

 

[Black Cat]

Chapter the sixth, coldest dish ever.
In which Aquino fuses with a Demon and finally gets to settle his score with Ozawa, so no more listening to his endless whining, yay. Also, Tokyo's Dream Team meets and rescue Psychodiver, who will become important later on, and gets a lot of information about modern Tokyo. Our heroine also gets some new demons, defeats some Japanese God in mortal kombat, etc.






Last chapter ended as our heroes returned to Earth just to find that, as En-no-Ozuno had told them, it had been turned into a savage wasteland were demons ran free and humanity despaired among the ruins. They appeared on what once was Yoyogi Park, and as they were leaving they found a local.

I haven't eaten anything in days! Come on, please!

Since we are not, like, lacking money i decide to give the guy something. Aquino acts like a jerk, being his usual self. But then the other guy also acts like a jerk, and i begin thinking it is a shame the game does not give me the option to take my gun and riddle him full of holes, sigh.

Aquino
Don't waste you money! He's probably just a bottom-feeder too lazy to get a job, and will just spend it on booze or drugs!

Did you miss the part where we arrive to Tokyo just to find a post-apocaliptic wasteland, dear friend of mine?

Shabby-looking man
... What the hell is this shit!? Give me some Makka, you cheap bastard! If it ain't Makka, I can't buy anything! You cheapass son of a bitch! I hope you get turned into one of Ozawa's Shinjuku slaves!

... What, you don't know about Shinjuku? Go north of here, then head west. Get the hell out of here, you jerk!

The voices in my head tell me before long he will be sleeping with the fishes, so i smile and ignore the fact that he deserves to play with the little guys i keep on my COMP. We start going north, now poor since all our money amounted to almost nothing in the end. We haven't walked far, though, that a new development surprises us!

Woman's voice
Aaah! Help me!!

Bardon
Hey, Koneko, are you all right?

Aquino
What? A scream? I didn't hear anything...

Woman's voice
... Help me... Koneko... Help me...

Could it be, like, Helena calling for us? For now we decide to keep going to Shinjuku, nearest civilized place in the wasteland. Once there we find that the big building with the megascreen not only survived, but that there is someone, somewhere, with a Television Studio and the will to use it! I sure hope it is not that jerk of Three Dog, or whatever he was called. We stop to watch the transmision for a while.

Aquino
Hey, Koneko, Bardon! Check it out! That building's still intact!

Mesian
... Have faith in God! Heaven on Earth in the form of the Thousand Year Kingdom awaits you! Only those who have not forgotten their love for God will be allowed to go there!

Aquino
Oh please, spare me from this bullshit! I see that intolerant proselytizing is still alive and well. This is a waste of time. Come on, let's get out of here.

Bardon
Wait, maybe we can get some good information out of this. Lord knows we could use some help in getting our bearings here anyway. Let's hear what they have to say.

Mesian
... Our job is to live faithful lives in dedication to God and do his will. We have seen the global devastation that the world has suffered since the great war 30 years ago.

Bardon
What th... Did you hear that...!? Thirty years!?

Aquino
Nope, I heard it all right! Is this really 30 years in future? Did we spend that much time in the Kongokai!?

Mesian
The destruction 30 years ago was a test for humanity, sent by God himself. Through the efforts of those that show that they can withstand the trial, yet still not lose their faith in God, the world is truly giving us an omen of its being rebuilt! Belief in God is of the utmost importance, faith is everything...

We leave and enter Shinjuku's underground mall. As we descend we find a small store named Rag's, dealing in precious stones. You can choose to change them for items, where every kind of stone corresponds to a kind of item, or for Seirei, where each of the eight Seirei corresponds to a combination of three particular precious stones. Later we will be using this store, maybe. Not now, though. We keep going down and into the mall. It hasn't changed a lot, and just like the first time we came a Mesian girl welcomes us next to the entrance to the church.

Our holy land, the Cathedral, is on the verge of being completed. It shall serve as the throne of God himself when he descends to Earth from the heavens! Once the Cathedral is complete, the Thousand Year Kingdom governed by God will become reality at long last!

As you will see when we finally get to the Cathedral, the name is not really fair to the building. I mean, when i hear someone talking about a Cathedral i imagine a big church instead of a bloody arcology containing somewhere around a dozen huge maze-like levels of dungeon crawling, two small towns, a huge nuclear reactor to make it work, and enough space for the entire armies of both Heaven and Hell to comfortably kill each other in the name of their respective ideals. Big does not begin to describe the damn thingie: In the entirety of the third act you go outside just, like, twice or thrice.

After listening to her, though, i visit the Messian Church and then go to the terminal close by to save. The corridor conecting the Terminal Room with the Mall is the only area of the main complex where one can get attacked in Shinjuku, all the other areas in this level are, for now, safe. While we return from saving, then, we get jumped by a new kind of enemy: A Gaian Hakai-Zo, whatever that is suposed to mean. Hakai i think means Destruction or something, but Zo i do not have the least idea. Their art, though, is the best human art in the entire game:

The Gaian family, that we already met when fighting against the Gaian Suicide Squads on Gotou's base, is not a true demon family but a group for all the humans troops of the Gaian Church, just as the Mesia family is for the troops of the Mesian Church. Those guys in particular are pretty amazing for their level since they have several elemental magic attacks as skills, instead of spells, and thus they can use them endlessly but randomly. When people try to play a pure human game (only the main characters and troops from the Gaian and Mesia families) this one gets lots and lots of use. I find that kind of game boring, though, so i never got to use them a lot.

After killing those guys we go back into the mall, then take the staircase into that basement where before was the secret hideout of the resistance. In the checkpoint halfway through we are stoped by a Jaki Wendigo, a new kind of demon that is so weak against fire he should die just for being on the same room as Aquino.

Or did Ozawa send you here?

Yes

Well, I don't care if you are! You're still not passing! The only one I'll let by is Ozawa himself!

The fight is short and brutal. Apsaras raises the group defenses, Bardon casts Zanma for 74 damage, Wendigo casts Bufula against Tangie for 21 damage and a Frozen status, and then Aquino casts Agirao for 305 damage. Bye bye, Wendy. We keep going from the checkpoint, kill a Yama Cyak, and find a cell with a strange man on it.

Ozawa arrests those who refuse to obey him, then tampers with their minds to brainwash them. I'm Psychodiver, and I'm the tool to which he achieves that end. When he learned of my psychic power, he more or less made me his slave.

Day after day, he forces me to enter the minds of people and twist them to do his will. When I'm not doing that, I'm sitting here, caged up like an animal. But i can't say no, or else the demons Ozawa's all buddy-buddy with will kill me.

Ah... God, I can't take this any more...!

Heheh. Sorry to subject you to the whining, kid. I complain, but it's better than being dead.

Your aura sticks out like a sore thumb, kid! Talk about your abnormal vibes! I'm sure you're just dying to know what the hell is going on, so I'll clue you in. Your spirit is inseparably tied with that of another... your "destined partner" so to speak. And that partner is in some deep, deep trouble right now.

You better go save her as soon as you can. If she gets any worse, your prognosis is not good either.

That last part refers to the voices Koneko hears every now and then. They should be a lot more common, but for some reason at times they fail to trigger correctly and you only hear them once or twice. I believe that's another bug from the translation patch, but nothing is really wrong other than the game not stoping every single Full Moon to tell you are hearing someone screaming for help in your mind. And before going to save you-know-who we need to deal with an old friend, so let's go back to the mall and keep exploring.

While going around the rooms and corridors we find many people camping around and stuff, and as always they have something to tell the first group of strangers they meet. Like this woman, for example...

... or this Mesian girl.

The building is teeming with them, and those foolish enough to venture inside couldn't take two steps before falling to the hordes within.

Not only that, but i feel an incredibly strong presence from the top of each of its two towers. I wonder who, or what, could be up there?

She refers to the building in front of which we fought Yuriko's forces to save Helena. It is not possible to enter the towers until the third, and last, act of the game, so it will be a long, long while until we finally meet with whom is up there and get to introduce the hordes within to Mister Minigun and Miss Power Armor.

While passing by the Jakyo Mannor i fuse Angel with Nekomata to get a Hakutaku, then Cyak and Gandharva to get a new Rusalka. A Hakutaku is a mystical creature of great wisdom that is said to give councel to just, virtuous kings... Or at least that is the oficial story, but you know what they say about oficial stories. Those in the topic know in truth they like to dress in blue during the day and green during the night, work as schoolteachers, are friendly with immortal pyromaniacs, and are kind of charming when not trying to eat your history. And yeah, all that last part was a joke around two and a half people will ever get, at most. Move along, nothing to see here, etc.

I will use this one demon an amazing total of zero times before fusing it into some other thingie, so i do not see the use on explaining what he can and can't do. I go back meeting the people of this happy joyous land that is Tokyo, circa 202X. First in line, some kid...

Damn you Ozawa! I hope you die!

... Uh-oh! There aren't any of the private police around here, are there? If they hear me talking like that, they'll cart me off and have me brainwashed!

... some old guy...

Since nobody who packed up from Shinjuku to move there changed their mind and decided to come back at the very least it's not as bad as it is here, I imagine.

... and some random woman.

He defers to them, and in exchange, they cannot enter Shinjuku or attack it. It's like a classic service for protection exchange.

Then we arrive to the center of the mall, where the stores used to be and still are. The first one we enter is the Armor Store, hoping to buy and sell thingies that will help us survive this new world. There are a lot of cool things to buy, but four thousand Makka are not going to take me far.

Actually, to tell the truth... some of these really WERE dug up.

Second i visit the Junk Store. They sell mostly medicine against status ailments like Poison, Petrification, or Paralisis. In this one particular case they also sell fruits that will become useful later.

Next in line is not a store but the police chief's office.

Master Ozawa directly appointed me to this position himself. As long as I'm still here, Shinjuku will remain a safe place to live!

And last of the four stores in the central area is the Weapon Store, were Koneko will finally find a better weapon than the MPS and the ammo he will be equiping until the end of the game: First he sells as much thingies as possible, then he buys both a SPAS12 and Nerve Bullets.

We abandon the central area and find our way to the local Gaian temple, next to which a guy i really hope is not the same one from thirty years ago is talking about Lord Lucifer and power and violence and, like, stuff. Yeah, guy. Whatever.

Power is everything! In order to conquer and overcome in this harsh new world, it is of the utmost necessity! But God does not have that kind of power! The only one with both that kind of power and the courage to use it fairly is Lord Lucifer!

No comments.

Now to the bars and the disco we go, since this is an exposition chapter and we must interview everyone. In the way there we meet another Mesian girl, and interview her too. She tells us their Messiah has come and is actually in Shibuya, but that she can't go there because she fears Ozawa's private police. Then we get into the first bar, the one a long time ago was the favorite of the SDF's soldiers, and meet more talkative people.

It is good to know people of the future still know the really important things from the not so much ones.

But recently I haven't heard a thing about her or what she's doing. I wonder what's up? Was it just a rumor?

So the new Messiah is some girl that recently seems to have just disapeared and may be in trouble? Does that sound like someone we know? I think going to Shibuya next would be a good idea, yessir.

Oh wow! Is that what i think it is? It is! You've genuine Yen from before the great destruction! And in near-mint condition! Hey, will you let me have it? I'll pay good money for it! Come on, please?

Yes

Great! Here's your Makka! A pleasure doing business with you! Now my collection of ancient currency is even bigger!

I don't need you anymore, go away!

He gave us some thousand Makka for our old Yen, yay. Once we start killing demons, bosses, and fanatics Makka will stop being a problem, at least most of the time. Now, though, we are vewy vewy short on it and i don't feel comfortable in obsolete armor, so every bit we can salvage is golden. On the way out we come across some retard who doesn't say anything useful. I usually would ignore him since the game is not geting any shorter but for this one time i will make an exepcion and let his voice be heard all the same.

Suspicious guys, dudes who oppose Master Ozawa... I ARREST 'em!! People that try to escape... I KILL 'em!! Yeaah!

And facepalm she did, etc.

The following conversations follow the same pattern: Brainwashed guys telling us how precious Ozawa is, Private Police telling us how much we depend on them, and extra guys trying not to get noticed. For example, we get this Cop...

If it weren't for us, you'd all be in a demon's stomach by now! I'm sure you're plenty grateful for our services, yeah? So bring us a drink!

... some guy telling us Roppongi is said to be as busy as before the war, and this old guy.

Trying a stunt like that is risky though. If you get caught trying to skip town, the police will shoot you on sight!

Then we go to the Disco. I don't, like, know a whole lot about how's the current clubing scene on and around Shinjuku, but i am willing to bet you are not even entering the Disco dressed as this guy is.

In other words, Master Ozawa has the right idea!

In any case, though, post-apocaliptic Shinjuku is one of those areas that make me think how cool would a Fallout-like game be in this setting. Like it or not it works, and it is one of the few places where people can live without getting eaten by the random demon. Yes, it has problems and everything, but nothing worse than what goes in the rest of Tokyo, 202X. And what will our heroes do? Yes, that they will do... Mostly because Aquino is still butthurt about Ozawa kicking his butt thirty years back and because once we get to Shibuya you are going to need Psychodiver's help so we will need to free him, sooner or later. Aren't we amazing?

But for now let's go back to clubing. We meet this girl...

Even so, I like it here in Shinjuku just fine! I don't want to be killed by demons! And thanks to Ozawa, I don't have to!

... and this guy.

People say it's a nice place to live, but it's just a city of the dead, teeming with zombies!

Then we go to the basement to, in the same place where thirty years before we met an american soldier going absent without leave, meet with a guy who dislikes Ozawa and stuff.

Have you heard about Ozawa? He's the one that's running this town. Did you know how he keeps his stranglehold on power here? It's not through upright and virtuous ways, that's for certain! Essentially, Ozawa struck a deal with the demons, and is using their power in order to keep the town under his control.

Rumor has it he answers to an even more powerful demon though.

In exchange for protection from the demons, the townspeople are forced to follow Ozawa's orders and not oppose his will. If anyone DOES try to disobey him, Ozawa's privately hired police force will cart them off and have them brainwashed.

Well, actually, while they call themselves a privately hired police force they're really nothing more than a bunch of thugs that are working as Ozawa's underlings. Ozawa pretty much leaves the town to them, so behind his back they do whatever they want, extorting the townspeople and causing disturbances themselves.

Oh shit! One of them's coming now! I gotta get out of here! If we're both still alive, I'll see you later!

So in post-apocaliptic Tokyo, while the war between Heaven and Hell rages on, the world works exactly as it did before the Great Destruction, the only diference being now the guy upstairs is not trying to hide it anymore behind a the curtain of Public Relationships. :D

We go back to the Disco and meet the last couple of talkative civilians, those being Ozawa's fangirl...

... and the local barman, with some valuable information.

It's rumored because it's safe there, but i wonder. There was one guy who actually came back here after going there. The guy was white as a sheet and looked like he'd been to hell and back. He just escaped with his life, apparently. He was such a wreck, he only barely managed to say one thing...

"The count fears the pot..."

Dunno what the heck it means, he may have just been driven totally insane. But I wonder what's going down over there, you know?

And that ends the interviewing! Next on the to-do list: Find Ozawa, kick his butt, throw him out a window or, like, stuff. We go save, in the way meeting an old guy who is wondering if the trade-off of being safe from the Demons in exchange of obeying Ozawa is worth it, and then go to the upper floors, where before the great destruction the local Yakuza had his base of operations. The first thing we notice is that no longer we are in a safe area: Random encounters with demons are common, and we get a whole bunch even if those floors are very, very small. First we find some Lemures, but those you already met. Then we come across our first batch of Shiki Corpses, and their art is bloody amazing...

... Even if they are really weak enemies for this stage of the game. We also come across some more Hakai-Zo, a bunch of Ghouls, and our first Juujin Werecat. Negotiation are long and dificult, at times bloody, and not precisely cheap (she asked for a total of more than 4500 Makka!), but in the end we got a new pet, yay!

She is a pretty good fighter, but as you can see in her level she comes too late on the game for her to be of much use. Soon we will be in the low thirties, so she will be at least eight levels below the enemies we will be facing every other step. She is good Fusion Foder, though, and if you get a Seirei Flamies to fuse with her once you hit Level 41 you can turn her into a Werewolf, a pretty amazing melee fighter for its level, if i remember well.

On the way to meet with Ozawa we also meet some Gaian Suicide Squads that go down as the relics of the past they are, not even surviving the first SPAS12 salvo. Then, after ignoring the cop guy watching the entrance to Ozawa's Office we come across a really out-of-deep encounter: A Gaian Oni-Joro. I will be straight about this: The only way to survive such an encounter at this stage is to talk to her until she gets bored and leaves. Normally we wouldn't be getting any of those until we hit Ginza's Sewers or, like, whatever the lower level of Ginza is supossed to be, and even then they would be very though opponents. Right now to try and fight them is suicide, pure and simple, so i defend and try to talk to her each turn until she gets bored and goes away. Thank you, fickleness! THANK YOU!

Having cleared that last obstacle we celebrate a heart-warming meeting with our old friend, Mister Ozawa! He hasn't changed a whole lot, other than by becoming thirty years older, wiser, and thinking we are a bunch of selfish brats. We are, so i will not hold it against him.

Aquino
Ozawa! You haven't changed a bit! You're as corrupt as you always were! You dominate and claim your power by surpressing the weak, just like you did 30 years ago!

Ozawa
Ho ho, what kind of nonsense are you talking about, boy? Are you saying you don't like the way i do things? Think! Those who obey me can survive in this dog-eat-dog world without worry. What's the harm?

Aquino
Shut up! I'm not going to let you get away with this!!

Ozawa
Foolish child, why won't you listen to reason? I suppose i have no choice then. Master Takeminakata, get these brats out of my sight!

I do not have the slightest idea who this guy is, other than he is some random japanese God i never heard about or, like, something. He takes us by surprise and does a lot of damage to all party members in just on swing, so Bardon becomes the voice of reason for a while.

Bardon
It's no good! He's too strong! We can't beat him, let's run!

Aquino
Damn it all! And after finally making it this far...

And run we did. Once we are back at the corridor Aquino has an idea, a plan to defeat Ozawa! He is going to willingly fuse with a Demon, predating the Demi-Fiend for a decade or so... Bardon, though, has his reservations about the plan. Not that he would have them if he thought half a minute about it: Yes, Aquino will lose his humanity... In exchange becoming virtually immortal, since Demons get reborn in the Abyss whenever they die, no longer being in the lossing side of the Humanity Vs Demonkind debacle, and being able to both bargain and pact with demons without need of the middle-man. Who wouldn't fuse with a demon in such conditions given the situation the world is in? Leaving aside Aquino's motivations being a little bit retarded, i mean.

Bardon
Good God, are you insane, Aquino!? If you fuse with a demon, you'll no longer be human any more! What good will defeating him do if you have to throw away your humanity to do it?

Aquino
Bardon! You wouldn't understand... If you'd have gone through what i have, maybe you'd see my point of view...

While going back down we come across some Yuuki Man-Eaters and a Momunofu. Nothing particular to say about either: The former are upgraded Bodyconians, the later some big samurai guys that only become a threat when you are facing very big war parties.

Back at the mall we go to the Jakyo Mannor first thing. Once inside Aquino starts rambling. I like very much how Aquino hates Ozawa but his entire mindset, his ambitions and his motivations, are given to him by Ozawa. Someone should draw Yaoi of them both, yay!

I need more strenght to defeat Ozawa... No... To fight and survive in this dog-eat-dog world! I'm going to fuse myself with a demon to achieve that end!

He then goes and fuses with my Yousei Rusalka, since subconsiously he knew with his attitude and maturity that was the closer thing to intimacy he was going to get, like, ever.

Aquino
I've done it! I've finally gotten the power I've always wanted! Nobody will be able to pick o... defeat me any more!!

:facepalm: It is depressing this guy actually represents very well the mindset and motivations behind more than two thirds of those following the Left Hand Path, bloody sigh. I go to the Armor Shop to buy a Fritz Helmet, Thunder Guard, Cyber Arm, and Jet Boots for Koneko. Let's screenshot our sheets before going back to Ozawa's office. Notice how the diference in EXP Koneko and Bardon got before actually turned around the situation to where Bardon is now of a higher level than Koneko. Aquino's level went through the roof and he got a raise on all attributes, meanwhile. Also, Koneko's Cyber Arm and Jet Boots give him two extra strenght ranks and an extra speed rank.

So we return to Ozawa, who again shows being the better half of that secret, forbiden love. Notice that he could have just cart us to be brainwashed when we fought him last time and didn't try to, so much for being the evil tyrant of Neo-Shinjuku.

You kids remind me of a group of troublemakers I dealt with a long time ago... And you look like them to boot!

Aquino
Ozawa! You won't beat me this time!

Ozawa
Why do you insist on opposing me?

Because he wants to be just like you but isn't capable of, in case you didn't notice.

That's it, I've had it with you. I'm going to have Psychodiver brainwash you and turn you into my slave. Master Takeminakata, plase capture these upstarts!

This time we get the jump on him since Aquino has gone super-saijan, so we get a free round. Apsaras begins by casting Raku-Kaja, then Aquino casts Agirao agains Take-Kun for 87 damage and Bardon Zanma for 59. Koneko then shoots evil guy for 24 damage, Unicorn charges forward for 15, and Tangie attacks for 12. Then second round begins with Aquino casting again Agirao for 87 and Bardon Zanma for 59, Apsaras casts another Raku-Kaja to keep raising our defense, and then Takeminakata casts Bufula against her for 28 damage and a Frozen status. Koneko shoots Take-Kun for 24 damage, Unicorn charges forward for 15, Tangie attacks for 12.

Third round is opened again by Aquino casting Agirao for 87 damage, followed by Apsaras casting Raku-Kaja once more. Bardon then casts Zanma for 59 and Takeminakata answers casting a Bufula against Unicorn, frozing him for 23 damage. Then Koneko shoots Take-Kun dead. We get a whole lot of EXP, Makka, and MAG.

Please, I'm sorry. I was wrong! D-don't kill me... Please!

When given the option i choose not to kill him, since we already defeated him, he has a bargain worked out with the local demons and Gaians, and he has shown to be a guy able to organize a party, even if not in the most fair way. If anything that's the kind of guy I want ruling Neo-Shinjuku, as long as he tries to be a little less totalitarian from now on. Aquino, though, is not happy.

Aquino
Hey, are you serious!? You're actually going to look the other way and spare him? Do you honestly think he's going to reform his ways after what he's done?

Of course i think he may be able to reform, and after all if he doesn't we can always come back, slaughter whatever allies he has then for EXP, and send him packing. He is not a brat with self-steem issues like someone i know and travel with, so he may see it is in his best interest to be our friend instead of our foe. So i'll click on ye...

Fuck you, Aquino.

Fuck you.

... Koneko! Bardon! Listen, you guys are great, but let's face it. The world has changed, and you have to fight for your very survival. Your soft-hearted approach is at best going to slow me down, at worst get us all killed! With the power I've gotten through fusing with that demon, I don't really need to rely on you to survive any more either... I think it's probably best for me to go it alone from here on. See ya!

If we're all still alive, I hope to see you again!

Just, like, fuck you.

He leaves, and then the same do we. On the way back to the mall we come across one of Ozawa's cops going hysterical and, like, stuff. We also recruit a new Rusalka to fill the spot left by the one Aquino stole from me, as we go. The first thing we notice back at the mall is that it no longer is a safe area: Ozawa's death ended the contract he had with the local demons, so now all manner of nasties and gaian crazies try to jump at us. We carve a bloody path from Ozawa's office to Psychodiver's cell, and free the little guy.

Psychodiver
I knew you guys were coming here. I could feel your aura from a mile away. Practically nobody ever comes down here, thanks to Ozawa. He keeps this place strictly off-limits.

What?

You killed Ozawa!? Hot damn! That means I don't have to sit in this stupid cell any more! Thanks, kid! 'Cause of you, I'm finally free after all this time! First stop: The bar! Time to go get smashed out of my mind!

He leaves, we follow. While returning to the mall we meet Datenshi Sytry, another ol' pal from the Ars Goetia who's not only a fallen angel but also a huge cuddable kitten. And this marks the return of our world famous Kuroi Neko teaches darke magick, nya! segment! Isn't this amazing news? Of course it is!

Meet Sitri. He is an Infernal Prince, and as such he likes Jupiter and Tin. His card's the Four of Cups and he is more powerful during the second decane of Cancer, from July 12 to July 21, during the day. His office is that of igniting loves and passions between men and women, and inspiring those thus enflamed to the kinds of acts people usually do when so, like, lit. He rules over sixty legions of spirits, and likes to first appear with a Leopard's head and Gryphon's wings until the sorceress commands him to assume human form, moment on which he takes the shape of an imposibly beautiful man, explaining why is he so popular among Goetic witches and the like. This time i will only post his sigil because all the ilustrations i found of him on traditional Grimoires, like, suck.

Now, since i am still LAW the only thing we can do is riddle him full of holes, sob sob. That we do, and once back at the mall we go to church to recover and heal and stuff. Then we go around interviewing those we find along the way, while looking around for Psychodiver. First we meet a woman who reminds me of how much people suck...

I'm going to avenge my friends!!

... And then some random kid, whatever.

After that and since we are near the Jakyo Mannor we go there to fuse Rusalka and Hakutaku into a Stonka, a big one-eyed buffalo thingie with a metric ton of HP and a very usefull skill called Bind Voice, that leaves most members of the enemy party with the BOUND status, and a couple of attack ones, and then we fuse Tangie and Tsuchigumo into a new Hakutaku.

We also go to the weapons dealer to buy Bardon a SPAS12 and some nerve bullets. After that we go to the police chief's office, now empty but for a note. We read it.

To Koneko:

I did some detective work, and learned that the police chief was the one who was doing all of Ozawa's dirty work, sending his officers out to bully and brainwash the people of Shinjuku. It's too dangerous to let someone like that live! So i took care of him. Don't worry about him any more.

Aquino.

Sigh, now we have a psychotic vigilante with super powers and a pretty low self-steem to deal with. Then we find Psychodiver but he is too dedicated to his booze as to tell us anything useful, so we go buy Bardon the same equipment Koneko has (Fritz Helmet, Thunder Guard, Cyber Arm, Jet Boots) and then leave for the wastelands, recruiting another Rusalka along the way.

And so this update ends. Next time we will travel to Shibuya, donate money to the local church, and meet the Messiah! Also we will be getting ourselves an Elf-and-Dwarf team, kill thousands of Mesian crusaders and evil insane robots, and take a dive into the unknown to face the legendary mind-raping spider and her armies of nightmares and sexy dreams in their very own lair! Stay tuned for more apocaliptic crazyness, etc.

'Til next time!






@ Ghostdog
It depends on when we go to Tokyo Destiny Land. If we go first there we will recover superdoggie around halfway through the second act. If we first go to holytown we will get him almost begining the third one. Since i usually go to TDL first it should be around... Four or Five more Updates if i keep doing one town per chapter: One for Shibuya, one for Roppongi and the Police Station and maybe Upper Ginza, then one for the jail with the Yama and all that stuff, and then the Gaian's Main Base at the end of which we get him back.

 

[Sovy Kurosei]

You're ripping through this game pretty fast!

 

[Felix]

Megaten Games are probably one of the few good things that came from Jappon.

Great LP!

It seems that SMT3 for PS2 was heavily dumbed down compared to it's predecessors. Still good game tho'.

It began to turn into genenic RPG with recent weeaboo crap, and Atlus act like Square-enix recently .

 

[lightbane]

Why the chaotic evil guys are always so retarded? and agino's devil hyper-form TM is some wannabe ninja clothes and a pre-made katana? what the hell (pun intended)?


I foresee you will have to fight him eventually and bash his whinny ass.

PS: He got lucky that at least he still has a human-shape and he's not a lovecraftian tentacle-vagina mouth horror XP

 

[Black Cat]

Chapter the seventh, spiders in your brain.
In which our heroine meets, mindrapes, and then saves the Messiah from a very bad girl with an hygiene problem. She also gets to kill lot of thingies, donate money to church, get her first two elemental spirits, kill entire Crusader Armies and Evil Robot Armies for EXP, and rants about the injustice done to her favorite Goetic Prince.






Last chapter ended as our heroes left Shinjuku for the wasteland. Now, as we rejoin them, they are traveling south towards Shibuya while facing the demons that call the ruins of Tokyo their home. In this first journey they meet Youchou Kokekucho, Yousei Kelpie, and Kyouchou Furiae. The three of them have deeply rooted attitude problems, so for now our heroes just shot them to pieces and call it a day.

While going south they see, in the distance, some kind of building. Since they consort with the Spirits of Metagaming, though, they know that to try and enter there right now is straight suicide and that they also lack the items needed for accomplishing anything inside, so they leave that for later and keep going south until they hit Neo-Shibuya proper.

Once inside they first visit the local healer's dojo and junk store, and then the still unfinished church. The priest gives them some information mostly by accident and then asks for a donation. Since soon we will be swiming in money we give him the one thousand Makka he asks for.

To tell the truth it's mostly because of a rumor floating around that our Messiah has become possessed by demons. It's a lie, of course, but because of it, trust in us has decreased and donations have been really low as a result. Please, in the name of God and those that seek his salvation, give us a small donation...

Yes

Oh, what dedication! God surely looks down on you with his divine favor! Thank you! We have taken one small step towards completing our church! May God's blessing be upon you...

If you feel really generous you can come see him every now and then, donate even more, and finally the Church will be built or something. I have already enought troubles trying to return my alignment to neutral without doing that, and in any case then HE decides to cast a great diluge over the world at the end of the second act and the church we built HIM goes Glu-Glu, so no thanks.

Next to the church is the local terminal. We save our game and record this location so we can later transmit here if needed. Then we come across a lot of talkative Mesian people in some corridor: First in line's a kid that since we are also aligned with Law is kind of outgoing with information about the Cathedral's location...

When it is completed, God himself will descend from the heavens there, and bring an era of peace to the world... Long Live the Mesia Church!

Where is it?

It's being built at the old Tokyo Bay. If you don't go through Roppongi, you won't be able to make it to the edge of the ocean to get there!

... then some old Mesian also talking about that one topic...

How on earth do they plan to do it, and where is that energy going to come from...

... some woman revealing more about the already mentioned pot hidden in Roppongi...

If only i had that, I wouldn't need to fear them...

... and a guy wanting to go visit the Cathedral, but unable to do so.

What with that forcefield surrounding Roppongi, I can't even get close.

As you may deduce given those developments, the next stop in our path of devastation and crushed dreams will be Roppongi. Once we finish with Shibuya we will go there and destroy another functioning, if morally gray, community because they are in the way and we feel like it, sigh. At the end of the corridor we find a TV set where again some Mesian message is being received.

Ozawa's tyranny has finally been brought to an end! Witness! This is an act of God! God has brought this miracle to show his worshippers that he has not forgotten them! He is always watching us from on high!

Someone should Tivo this thingie for when we next meet Aquino. :D

Once we leave the TV receiver thingie we meet our first Chirei Dwarf, and then our first Mesian Templar. Since we are under a full moon we kill them both, and the later leaves a Plasma Sword, one of the best common melee weapons of those aligned with Law. Koneko equips it, and then Bardon gets the Kodachi of Light.

We came across the local Jakyo Mannor not far from the entrance, then began exploring deeper and deeper. We got Luck and Inteligence Incenses, came across some werecats that meant no harm since we are already allied to them, and met our first Yousei Elf, but the negotiations did not went my way and she left.

Later we also found our first Mesian Zealot, who after noticing we are aligned with Law asked if we were part of the Mesian Church and when we answered that we, indeed, were he gave us a bunch of Makka. Those, the Templars, and other Mesians have four diferent reactions when you are aligned with Law and are friendly to them and, if needed, lower your weapons: They give you money, they ask you for a donation and then leave, they ask you for a donation and then join you, or they join you outright. As you will later see they are extraordinary fusion fodder and you should at least in the dungeons be friendly to them and donate money hoping to get one of them to fuse with your demons. Then you can go to an area of the overworld map where they appear in great numbers and auto-kill them to amass ridiculous amounts of Makka, then repeat.

Then we come across another Yousei Elf. We again try to negotiate with them.

I'm scared...

(I lower my weapon)

What an idiot! Ha ha ha ha ha!

Yeah!

They attack us, we just defend for a round and then try talking to them again. This time she asks if we are going to love her even though she is a demon and, when we answer that we will, begins asking for things as a show of our sincerity. Two Magic Stones later i have my own Yousei Elf, yay! Let's see this girl's sheet.

She has Dolminer, Zionga, and Diarama. She also is fairly quick, but even in the second row she will get killed by a harsh look and her MP will not last for long, so depending on how you play it is better to keep her on the COMP and then bring her out for Boss Fights, where her Zionga and Diarama will be useful and her MP enought. The Yousei Rusalka is a better Healer for when Dungeon Crawling, but lacks the Zio and thus is not as useful against bosses.

A bit later we meet another Dwarf, and as always with the Demons i like I am friendly to him. He does not come cheap, but he comes without trying to cut our heads or eat our hearts or whatever the others like to try before joining, so i pay with a smile and move on.

If you know what's good for you you'll stay away from me, youngster!

(I act unfazed)

Ha ha ha ha! You've got guts, kid! Tell me what you're after!

(I ask him to become my minion)

Give me 729MAG, and I'll become your minion, boy.

Yes

Hmm... this still isn't enough.

Next, hmm... 1041 Makka. That's fair enough, isn't it?

Yes

Hmm... this still isn't enough.

Next, hmm... 1249 Makka. That's fair enough, isn't it?

Yes

Hmm... this still isn't enough.

Next, hmm... Magic Stone. That's fair enough, isn't it?

Yes

I am Dwarf. I am at your service!

No Hee-Ho? In any case i now my very own petite angry cunt, yay! He has Raku-Kaja, Hanma, and the critical skill. He is also a pretty good frontliner, durable and strong, and along with Elf he is the demon that will so far remain on my active service the longer. It is a shame in those older Megami Tensei games demons do not get EXP, he would get pretty amazing before long. Having recruited him i go back to the Jakyo Mannor and fuse Unicorn with Hakutaku to get a Seirei Flamies.

He has Agirao, Maha-Agi, and Wall of Fire... But seriously, if you are using your Seirei to fight the joke went far over your head: The entire point of those guys is to fuse them with other demons to evolve them inside their very Family. We then keep killing thingies and exploring, donating fortunes to the Mesian crusader army in hopes of getting one to join us. We also meet our very first Yama Lilim, and riddle her full of holes.

The Lilim are the daughters of Lilith in hebrew mythology, sexual demons who also like to kidnap and murder children as a revenge against God. They are probably an apropiation by those evil Jews of some of the many demons and devils of storm, night, and sex the Assyrian and Akkadian had, since they can be seen as sharing qualities with the Lilitu and, maybe, the Ardat Lili. In turn, both entities (and thus also the very same Lilith) are suposed to be related to the very, very old Lamashtu, a Mesopotamian evil demi-goddess who was not evil because of her nature but because she liked to and thought it was fun and, like, cool, so yeah. You can't get more Chaos Aligned than that. Go girl!

On the second floor we also get ourselves a Mesian Templar guy to fuse into something random, yay. We also get a Garnet from a treasure box and a Magic Incense from another, and speak to an old man that believes some guy he heard lived in Shinjuku and had the power to dive into other people's minds could be of use to defeat the demon that has possessed the Messiah... Who could that be? I then go back to the Jakyo Manor and fuse the Templar with Apsaras to get a Seirei Sylph, who has no art since she uses the Pixie's sprite.

We go back to the second floor. The central part of it is shrouded in darkness so we need to use Bardon's Mapper spell to navigate it, and there are also a couple of one-way doors. On the oposite end to the staircase we found a Mesian Girl going hysterical over the Messiah being possessed by a demon, and in the room she guards...

On the way back down we meet another Mesian girl, this one telling us she heard a rumor that there's a huge Oni living on the building to the west, that we passed on the way there, but that she isn't affraid since God will protect her. Then we get a Diamond from another treasure box, that will become useful in the next update, and go all the way back to the Terminal to get transmited to Shinjuku and meet with Psychodiver in his favorite bar.

It's thanks to you that I can even be here too! So, you say that there's been this voice that's been calling to you in your mind whenever the moon is full... Whoever's calling you has something that's invading their mind. Maybe another psychic like me, maybe a demon.

At any rate, because of your connection, whatever is messing with her mind is affecting yours as well. Let's have a look-see.

...

Looks like the voice you've been hearing is a girl in Shibuya.

You could have just asked, you know?

You rescued me, now it's my turn to help you. Perhaps there's something i can do about this. I'm going to go ahead to Shibuya. You should come as soon as you can. If your minds are connected it will make a prognosis a lot easier to have you nearby.

That should do. Instead of transmiting back to Shibuya, though, we walk, since i want to grind the Wasteland for a while. While so doing we meet the Gaian Executioner Riders...

... and after killing more things recruit a Chirei Bucca-Boo that we then fuse with Werecat into our own Yousei Kelpie, yay! In the wasteland we also fight, or at least come across, Youma Isoras, Wendigos, Stonkas, Jeryuu Cocatrices, and Mesian Magi (since i am a very cultivated cat i know such is the plural for Magus, nya!).

We also get our first taste of the evil robot army we will have to face in a future sidequest. Meet the Machine Bit Ball...

... the Machine T9SC/P...

... and the Machine T93F, in case you had any doubt Megami Tensei takes the Kitchen Sink approach to Setting Design and Development.

Once i get bored of grinding Crusader Armies, Evil Robot Armies, and random demons i return to Shibuya, buy nine each of Dis-Poisons, Dis-Paralyzes, and De-Stones at the Junk Store, and go meet with Psychodiver in the upper floor.

Your powers of perception never cease to amaze me, Diver.

Someone, or something, has burrowed into the deepest recesses of her spirit. In order to free her, whatever it is has got to go. In thanks for saving me, I'll use my psychic powers to astrally project us into her mind.

Fuck this, now that image will be lurking in my nightmares for all time. This isn't fair in the least!

... Eh? Something's odd here... there's like a... a black mist floating in the ether around the center of her soul...

I can't do it! I'm too afraid to go any further! Sorry, but you'll have to go it alone from here. Be careful, though! While at the moment you're just an astral projection, if you die here so does your body back in the real world!

I'll wait for you here where it's safe. After all, if i die, you're stuck here for good! If you want to go back to the real world, come on back and I'll take you out.

We venture forth into the dungeon at the center of Helena's soul or, like, whatever this place is suposed to be. The first random encounter is a Yakshini. I convince her to join us even if I refuse to give her my diamond, since it is all mine and only mine. She can cure poison and packs quite a punch, though her special skill is more or less useless.

Then we face Kijo Lamias and Yama Nightmares, along with the wide range of creatures we already know like Yama Lilim, Yousei Kelpie, Akuryuou Pishasha, Youma Apsaras, and Akuryou Lemures. It is somewhat crowded in here, all things considered.

The dungeon is divided in two areas: An outer, round area that can get somewhat confusing but is nothing to write home about, and an inner area made of weird corridors conected to others only by teleporters. As we advance we find small rooms where scenes related to Helena replay: In the outer area there is only one, replaying the rescue from the ceremony in the dreamworld. When it ends and the evil guys die her consciousness comes to talk with us.

I wasn't scared though. I had known for a long time that you wer going to save me.

I just knew it...

Soon afterwards, while trying to dig deeper into the maze, we find our first Datenshi Orobas. As always, this means it's Kuroi Neko teaches darke magicks, nya! time! This time, though, with a warning: I am going to rant, like, a lot.

Meet Orobas, Infernal Prince and fifty-fifth spirit of those listed in the Ars Goetia. Being a prince he likes Jupiter and Tin, and his card is the Two of Swords as he is in alignment with the elemental forces of Air. The is stronger during the nights of the first decane of Libra, thus from September 23 to October 2. He commands twenty legions of spirits and has the office to ingratiate the sorceress to her friends and enemies, reveal all things of past and present and future, and always answers true when asked of God and his creation. He is one of the most, if not the most, loyal spirits of the Ars Goetia and will always be close to the summoner and protect her against his own brethen if necesary.

Experienced Goetic magicians and witches usually point at him as one of the most beginer friendly Goetic Demons, since it is very rare he will turn against the summoner as long as she is respectfull and does not try to force him to task he finds to be shit banal boring and beyond the line of duty as indicated by the covenant. If we are to believe his reputation he will at times correct the workings of the summoner, explaining mistakes that would have been fatal if commited while summoning some of his less friendly brethen and will not take advantage of the errors newbies are bound to make, nor use them against the sorceress. Also he is said to at times give Familiar Spirits even when it is not, by covenant, part of his office, and if the summoner is nice and well-bred and asks kindly enough he can enter into a kind of pseudo-familiar contract himself, by which he will always answer the sorceress callings without the need of ritual nor ceremony for as long as she swears to only call upon his aid in this form when things are really going south and is all or nothing. So he is actually the friendliest, cutest evil horsie ever and all that stuff.

Of course, if all your experience with Prince Orobas came from the Shin Megami Tensei universe you would instead believe he is an angry, thugish, brawling retard who does nothing but kick butt of those weaker than him because he is bored or someone did not bow to him enought times or he fell like it! I mean, really, i know some liberties are to be expected and am usually more open minded than most, but fuck you, japan. Really, screw you. Next time do the bloody homework, you damn gooks.

That's his sigil, and if you ever saw a cuddly horsie you know how Orobas looks so no need to make me search around all my books for an ilustration or, like, stuff. Back to our experiment in mind-raping for goodness, after doing the entire outer area an the first tile of the inner one i need to retreat and heal, recover, and all that. On the way out Psychodiver gives us some chatty chat.

Psychodiver
Glad you made it back in one piece. Do you want to go to the real world?

Koneko
Yes

Psychodiver
How do you feel? We're back in the real world. If you want to go back into her mind, just come back here. It's only a matter of time before the demons in this girl's soul brak down the last of her defenses and completely possess her body. They need to be defeated as soon as possible.

We go heal, revive, save, etc. Then we go back into it, again with the phrase i want to unread. Then i must leave again to heal, revive, and save because this maze is not precisely easy. And then we go into the souldungeon once more! Third time's the charm: First we get to the replay of the rescue from Yuriko's forces, then a strange one about something we do not remember happening and where Helena is a little girl... But the memories are in chronological order, how can this be?

You were born specifically to become the Messiah that will save this torn and sundered world. It is your destiny to become the Messiah and lead the people in the name of God. Like it or not, that is the path that you must follow...

And then, finally and after no small pain and hardship, we come to the center of the labyrinth! What horrors await us there? We cross beyond the last door and into the dangerous, ponderous unknown and find the evil behind all this madness, the sick mind behind this bloody labyrinth full of enemies and angry Orobas and where in some areas you are jumped every single step by three or four bunches of enemies. Needless to say even if the game gave a choice for diplomacy i would pick violence, thank you.

Humans? Well, that's certainly not what I expected. I was just about to get this girl under my complete control. I won't let you interfere at the moment of my triumph!

And then first turn begins with Bardon casting Zanma on her for 57 damage. Then Elf casts Zionga for Shock and 16 damage, making her loss her turn. Koneko shoots her for 29 damage, Stonka charges forward for 49 damage, and then Dwarf goes critical but is dodged.

Second turn begins with Arachne casting Marin-Karin on Dwarf, charming the little creep. Bardon casts Zanma on Arachne for 57 damage, then Elf casts Zionga but is dodged. Koneko shoots Arachne for 29 damage, Stonka charges but is dodged, then Dwarf goes critical against Bardon but he avoids the angry cunt. An explanation: When a character is charmed he still does whatever action you had given him but against your party instead of the enemy, so you either cure him, return him to the COMP, or order him to defend each turn until the effect goes away. I messed up and forgot to buy the pricey Golden Pills, the only items that remove all status effects. You are suposed to use Dis-Poison, Dis-Paralize, Dis-Stone for those thingies and Golden Pill for all the others, or even those same ones in a pinch. So in the next turn i order Dwarf to return.

Third turn is opened by Bardon casting Zanma against Arachne, for 57 damage. Then Elf casts Zionga against her for Shock and 16 damage. Stonka charges but again is dodged, Koneko shoots Arachne for 29 damage, then Dwarf returns to the COMP.

Fourth turn begins, as always, with Bardon casting Zanma against Arachne for 57 damage. Then Elf casts Zionga for 16 damage and shock, Koneko summons Yakshini, Stonka tries bind voice on our enemy but to no effect.

Next turn begins with Arachne casting Maha-Zanma on the group for 65 damage against Stonka, 38 damage against Yakshini, 39 damage against Elf, 47 damage against Koneko, and 20 damage against Bardon. Then Bardon answers with a Zanma of his own for 57 damage, Elf casts Zionga for 16 damage, Koneko shoots for 29 damage and puts Arachne to sleep, Yakshini attacks for 37 damage and Stonka charges for 49 damage.

Sixth turn now: Elf casts diarama to heal Stonka and Bardon casts Zanma for 57 damage. Koneko shoots for 29 damage, Stonka the Bondage Creep tries again BIND Arachne with null results, and Yakshini hits her for 37 damage. That finished her, nya! We all get 9216EXP, and we get 1152MAG. Then the girl's consciousness appears to thank us.

Girl's consciousness
I'm saved! Thank you! Come back to the outside world as soon as you can!

We go back where Psychodiver is waiting for us. Happy cat is happy because no more enemies jump us: Having killed Arachne ended the demonic presence on Helena's mind. So it is a nice, relaxed stroll through a featureless maze of red and blue corridors.

All right then, we are leaving her mind.

Helena
... Koneko... You came! You saved me!

Thrice, by last count. You should consider taking some personal defense courses, you know? Or buying a minigun, maybe. Or both.

It looks like... I was reborn into this world again. My memories of my past life are all but gone. However, the one thing i remember was you. My fate is... inseparably intertwined with your own. I must accompany you on your path, wherever it may lead. No matter where you go, I will follow, and be there with you.

That explains the strange, third vision we had while inside her mind. Now with Helena back in tow we return to the first floor while the Mesian girl guarding the door goes hysterical because The Messiah is leaving them and, like, stuff. While so doing we come across a Rusalka that gives us a Lotus Whip since we are all buddy-buddy with them, a melee weapon better than anything i have so far found for Helena so she equips it.

Once down i fuse Seirei Flamies with Stonka to get a Majuu Tammuz, then Yousei Kelpie and Seirei Sylph to get a Yousei Hobgoblin. I messed up before, posting the Hobgoblin's artwork for the Orc, so now i will post the Orc one for the Hobgoblin and call it a day. But let's do this in order, first Tammuz's art and sheet and explanations.

He has two skills, Critical and Paralysis-something. The first you already saw with the Dwarf, the second shoots a needle that hurts just a little, little bit but paralises the enemy it hits, with some exceptions like robots and undead. The spell is Parala-Di, that heals de Paralysis STATUS but since we have items for that we will not be using it a whole lot. Now, let's see Orc's art and Hobgoblin's sheet...

He has Taru-Kaja, Maka-Kaja, and Maha-Agion. Given we do a lot of Zio-Zio during bossfights he will be casting Maka-Kaja all through them, and Maha-Agion is good for random encounters with, like, lots of undead and stuff. As we are leaving we recruit another Werecat, then we Transmit to Shinjuku to buy Helena a SPAS12. She already has Nerve Bullets. We also stop at Shinjuku's Junk Store to buy a Hiranya for later. Then we leave for the wasteland! Next stop: Roppongi, some very powerful individuals from among Pedobear's faithful, and meetings with both Yuriko and Bardon's Helena. Later we will also do at least part of Ginza and the Police Station of Evil Robot-thingies! Also, we will crush beneath our heel the meager dreams of a little girl! Stay tuned for it!

'til next time!






@ Sovy Kurosei

That's because i am the strongest, most skilled and wisest neko-neko to ever sail those seas, nya!

(thanks for giving me the excuse to post one of the sequel's most bloody cute demons in advance, sob sob)

@ Felix
Yes, but it is still good. The worse offenders are the last two Personas, which are in the brink of being beyond hope and turning fully into JRPG with all the dating sim stuff, but in general the games are still pretty unique, have lots of weird and experimental mechanics, and the setting remains consistent even while almost every line is now set in their own alternate timeline. And even at its worse Megami Tensei is ages ahead than most other JRPG games out there thanks to the unique settings and gameplay and at least trying new things every once in a while.
Not bashing you, though. I actually share your opinion about Atlus going more and more mainstream as of late, but it is more of some movement or variation on japanese culture since Atlus always was mainstream over there, so any changes they are making are keeping with ther immediate context. Is in the western world where we always thought of Atlus as being against the mainstream, even if by mainstream Atlus used to understand weird japanese underground subcultures and the like.

@ lightbane
In the Law path you face him just before the end and defeat him. In the neutral path i do not know, since this will be the first time im following it. In the chaos path he, like, gets killed by his own greed in one of the most pathetic moments on Shin Megami Tensei universe and when the forces of Chaos are just a couple of steps away from total victory. Yay, he smart!

 

[betamin]

Damn good LP man, I could never get into these games but always saw the potential, maybe I'll give it another try