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

Update 13: Kabukicho Prison



As fun as stumbling around the Labyrinth is, we still have a rescue operation to carry out.



In case you forgot, we're supposed to rescue the leader of Manikins from the Kabukicho Prison, Mantra's main facility for gathering Magatsuhi. Mantra's days as an organized power may be over, but the prison is unlikely to be abandoned, given the kind of people Mantra tended to attract.



A nearby Cache Cube contains a Float Ball (one-shot Liftoma), hinting that we're going to need an ability to fly very soon.







Soul: It's a huge torture chamber!

As expected, the highway that previously was haunted by Hell Biker brings us to to lots of red goo that will damage your party if you attempt to cross it normally. That's what Liftoma is for.



Soul: I should've bought a couple of Float Balls...

Just in case the player still hasn't figured out how to fly.



Soma is becoming more and more common. Not surprising, since most late game bosses are almost impossible to beat without MP recovering items.



Further south-west is the prison.









Wait, this doesn't really look like much of a prison to me.



Soul: ...Huh? This is just a run-down building? You got that wrong. This is a prison!! Even though the Mantra fell, there's still loads of Manikins being held here.

Something isn't right. Whatever, let's explore.



Immediately to the right is a large terminal. These are always nice.



Immediately to the left is a dead end, with a ladder leading to the upper floors clearly visible behind it. If only we could get to the other side.





Four more rooms are on the first floor. Two appear to be empty. The other two, on the other hand...



Voice: Mizuchi is holding us captive in his mirage... Someone save us!



Voice: Save us... We're trapped in the mirage...

Just what the hell is going on here?





Ex-guard: Gozu-Tennoh is gone. This prison now belongs to Mizuchi. ...I feel like torturing those Manikins in the mirage! I think I'll go do that right now. Heheheh...





OK, that was some really embarrassing writing. Was there really no other way to convey all this information without a psychotic guard suddenly starting thinking out loud?



You need something to activate it.

Then let's go back a bit and see how the prisoners are doing.



Ex-guard's voice: C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! You better keep it up, or you'll be dead! You want me to stop? You REALLY want me to stop? ...Well, too bad!! Hyahahahahahahahahaha!!
Voice: Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!! Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow!!
Ex-guard's voice: Hyahahahahahahahahaha!! Phew!! I think I'll let you off with that for today. I have this, so I can come and go into the mirage as I please. ...I'll be back!

When it comes to writing, the prison is probably the lowest point of Nocturne, by a large margin. But this place does have a fun gimmick that helps it redeem itself.



The Naga guard is back from the mirage.



Ex-guard: Wait, you couldn't be...!?
You better believe it.
Ex-guard: ...I-I don't care! This is paradise for us ex-Mantra! Whatever you did during that attack on Nihilo doesn't mean shit here!!

Looks like we managed to make a bit of a name for ourselves.



With that the Naga attacks, only to be roasted by Orthrus' Fire Breath. Just to get it out of the way, other enemies you can encounter in the prison are Mizuchi, Raiju, Yaksini, Pisaca, Preta and Yaka. You've seen all of them before, so no more combat pictures until we get to the boss.





Will you use the Umugi Stone?

Yes.

You used the Umugi Stone. The building has been shrouded in a mirage.











BGM: Kabukicho

Entering the mirage does three things: paints everything gray, causes Manikins to appear in their cells and turns the building upside down. The last part is the most important one, as certain parts of the building can only be reached through holes in the floor, which, if the prison is aligned incorrectly, turn into holes on the ceiling.



Manikin prisoner: Are we Manikins made just to feel pain!?

Let's stop this madness.



Remember the barricade near the terminal? Because we're on the ceiling, we can just walk over (under?) it.



A Mysterious Wall is on the second floor, allowing us to leave the mirage if we wish so. But let's further explore the building first.



A hole prevents us from reaching a vital section of the second floor. More on that later.



Heeho: But, hee hee ho ho! This place is scary!

Our old buddy Heeho made it here as well. Isn't he just adorable?



Finally, the fourth floor. This cell is the reason we stayed inside the mirage.

A Manikin is doing something. Will you talk to him?

Yes.



Digging Manikin: ............? Noooooooooooo! My spoon broke!



Digging Manikin: It's your fault! I needed that spoon... Take responsibility! ...I know. How about you getting me another spoon? The Collector Manikin should be around here somewhere. He has just about anything. Find him and grab a spoon. You got that? You're responsible!

Eye for an eye, spoon for a spoon. Us startling the Manikin caused him to break his digging implement, so we'll have to get him a replacement.



Another Mysterious Wall is on the fourth floor, right near the cell with the digging Manikin.



But we're going to walk all the way back to the one on the second floor and use that one instead.



Will you use the Umugi Stone?

Yes.

You used the Umugi Stone. The mirage is disappearing.



First, let's find the Collector's cell. Remember the hole that didn't let us pass? It should be on the ceiling now.



The path it blocked bring us to a cell.

...Bill............1000...............

You couldn't hear the rest.

That's our man. But we have a bit of a problem: the cell can only be reached when we're outside the mirage, and Manikins are held inside it. We'll have to make another path.



A staircase unreachable from inside the mirage connects the second and the third floors.



By climbing it we can reach a switch.



Operating the switch unlocks another passage, both outside and inside the mirage.



Back to the Mysterious Wall on the second floor.



The brand new passage allows us to reach this cell.

Manikin prisoner: The Collector Manikin is near a hole. Try jumping into a hole! You may end up somewhere you haven't been.

Good idea.



To the fourth floor and out of the mirage.





A hole on the fourth floor can be used to access a new section of the third floor.





Operating two more switches makes the section accessible from inside the mirage.



A ladder here connects to the second floor...



...and brings us to yet another switch, operating which completes an alternate path to the Collector's cell. Finally.



We hop into the mirage, climb to the third floor and use another ladder there to climb back down. Here we are, the Collector's cell.



............? ...I know you! You're the demon I met in the Great Underpass... Huh? A spoon? ...............I see. ...Alright, then. You did help me... with the Bill... *cough* I'll give you my spoon...

You obtained the spoon.

...While you're at it, could you rescue me...?

On it, good man. But first, delivering the spoon.



Will you hand him the spoon?

Yes.
Digging Manikin: Whoa! This is one powerful spoon!

What.

The Manikin began digging.





The.

Digging Manikin: ...This is incredible. I dug the hole in a flash. Alright, I'm outta here. See ya!





Christ.



Let's not think too hard about the spoon's uncanny digging powers and just follow the Manikin through the hole. Leaving the mirage will rotate the building and put us on the same plane with it.



Will you jump into it?

Yes.



Finally, a decent screenshot of the jumping animation.



We end up in another new section of the third floor.



Digging Manikin's voice: ...Dammit!! I was able to escape from my cell... But I need to defeat Mizuchi to escape from the mirage...



A staircase to the fourth floor.



Voice: Mizuchi... is on the floor above... But......... in the mirage...............

A little hint.



A switch that opens the way back to the prison's main section. We'll need to use it soon.



That doesn't sound very encouraging.



............It's quiet now.

At all.



Will you enter?

Yes.



Voice: YOU CANNOT SEE ME! ...NOR CAN YOU LAY A FINGER ON ME FROM THERE! FOOL! TAKE THIS!



You can only fight the jailer Mizuchi if you're inside the mirage. But first, we'll have to change the party a bit. Orthrus is weak to Ice, which doesn't bode well for his life expectancy.



Orthrus is fused with the Valkyrie into a Feng Huang.



A Feng Huang (or a Fenghuang, or a Chinese Phoenix) is to birds what a lion is to animals - a majestic king. They represent virtue, duty, propriety, belief, mercy and the union of yin and yang.

Unfortunately, they are still weak to Ice, so we won't stop here.



We fuse the Feng Huang with Taraka into Kushinada.



Kushinada is a lesser Shinto deity and the wife of Susano-o, Amaterasu's hot-headed brother, who saved her from being sacrificed to the monstrous snake Orochi, Perseus-style. The oversized combs you can see all over her clothes are there because Susano-o temporary turned her into a comb to hide her from Orochi.

She can't inherit breath attacks or War Cry, unfortunately, but has the fearsome healing powers of Mediarama to compensate. As for Fire Breath, we're one level away from Hell Biker with his Hell Burner attack, so it won't be missed for long.



Payback time.







Manikin prisoner: Defeat him and save Futomimi, please!!



Will you enter?

Yes.



Whoa, that's a big Mizuchi.



Mizuchi: YOU THINK YOU CAN BEAT ME? NOT A CHANCE! I'LL TEAR YOU APART!



Mizuchi: I'M GONNA TORTURE YOU! HAHAHAHAHA!!





He opens the fight with Mirage, his unique spell that deals a bit of Mind damage to everyone and can cause Panic (which is easily removed by Sacred Water you should have in abundance). He only uses this attack twice per fight, so it's not something you should be concerned about.



What you should be concerned about is this: Glacial Blast. It deals heavy Ice damage to random targets, which means that the same demon can be targeted multiple times per casting. The good news is that the Mizuchi only gets one action point and has a weakness to Fire in order to balance out his outrageous damage output.

Here's the general plan: first, we always keep him under two Rakunda spells and one War Cry. He will cast Dekunda from time to time (thankfully not as often as Matador or Hell Biker), so anything more than that will make you run out of MP quickly. After that, Daisoujou keeps doing his basic attack. Reggie does Focused basic attacks.

What our Mizuchi and Kushinada do depends on what the boss did the previous turn. If he did the basic attack, our Mizuchi heals with Media, and Kushinada drops an Agilao. If the boss used a Glacial Blast or a Mabufudyne (heavy Ice damage to all targets, but no multi-hit potential), Kushinda heals with Mediarama, and the Mizuchi uses Makakaja, boosting damage done by Agilao.



It's easy to track how far you're into the fight because the boss shrinks in size as he gets damaged.



Mizuchi: ...NAH, IT MUST BE MY IMAGINATION!

He casts another Mirage at this point, but it's completely incapable of turning the tables.



The reward for winning this fight is the Miasma Magatama. Nulls Ice, weak to Fire. Teaches four skills: Wild Dance (high chances of inflicting Panic on all enemies), Glacial Blast (you know what it does), Void Ice (a passive that makes you immune to Ice, regardless of the Magatama equipped) and Drain Ice (take a wild guess).

The mirage is disappearing.





Four Mystical Chests are in this room. They contain a Jade, a Pearl, a Sapphire and a Vitality Incense.







......You're.........a human...? No, a demon...? ...I see. You are the "Demi-fiend" I prophesied about. Very interesting.



My name is Futomimi. You may know it already, but I can see into the near future.





It seems he came to see me, but he was also caught.





You should see him, then. I sense a strange energy in him. I am worried about the other Manikins, so I must be going. Thank you again for saving us. ...Now, if you'll excuse me.



Let's see how Isamu is doing. He certainly has a knack for getting caught.







He looks like he was caught with his pants down.



Don't tell me you came to save me. You're way too late.
[Apologize.]

Jackass. No reason to start a fight over it, though, not yet, at least.

I don't want your apology. It won't change anything. It's obvious I can't count on you or Ms. Takao anymore.



About damn time he manned up a bit.





Brooding pretty boy pose, go!



At the time, I didn't know what that meant... But, while I was locked up in this room, I came to realize. Truth isn't something other people can give you: you have to find it within yourself.









The drum is spinning now.

The Amala Network... What I'm looking for is in there. The great power that'll lead me to the truth... It's calling me...















Dramatic exit is dramatic.





Reminds me of the climax of Day of the Tentacle.



...We Manikins plan to leave the area. Together, we will find a way to live without suffering.





...It seems that there is a man waiting for you at Ginza. Go and see him. ...We must be going now. Again, thank you so much. ...Now, if you'll excuse us.





Ginza, is it?







How did you know I was here?



Man, that Nightmare System... It's more powerful than I ever imagined. But, I haven't given up just yet. If he makes a move, it may give us some clues. Maybe we can figure out where the Nightmare System is located, or more about the Maiden...



I can't do much digging without raising a red flag. We need to find a terminal that Nihilo doesn't know about... Remember those Manikins that were enslaved by the Mantra? I heard they're rebuilding the town of Asakusa. Maybe there's a terminal over there that Nihilo's unaware of.



I'll see what I can do with this terminal... Wait a minute. I completely forgot about you. Hey, do you feel like going to Asakusa? If you can get there and contact me through the Amala Network, it'll make my job much easier. I'm sure you're strong enough to make it to Asakusa. So... will you do it for me?
Okay.
Thanks, I appreciate it. I'll tell you everything I find out there, so let's stay in touch, alright? I'll be waiting, then. You should check out the tunnel in East Ikebukuro. If the rumor is true, it'll take you to Asakusa. I'll be working on this terminal, but you'll probably have more luck than me. I'm counting on ya.



Next update: Ikebukuro Tunnel. Five bosses, including a Fiend.

Great job as always, a handsome and brave one!

I loved the Prison for the mindfuckery - great way to make teoretically "small" dungeon into a huge one.

KalosKagathos said:

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You simply couldn't use deinterlacing for this screenshot, could you? You made a graphicwhore cry!

KalosKagathos said:

Here's the general plan: first, we always keep him under two Rakunda spells and one War Cry. He will cast Dekunda from time to time (thankfully not as often as Matador or Hell Biker), so anything more than that will make you run out of MP quickly. After that, Daisoujou keeps doing his basic attack. Reggie does Focused basic attacks.

What our Mizuchi and Kushinada do depends on what the boss did the previous turn. If he did the basic attack, our Mizuchi heals with Media, and Kushinada drops an Agilao. If the boss used a Glacial Blast or a Mabufudyne (heavy Ice damage to all targets, but no multi-hit potential), Kushinda heals with Mediarama, and the Mizuchi uses Makakaja, boosting damage done by Agilao.

Click to expand...

FeelTheRads would said:

Trial and error gameplay, tial and error gameplay!

Click to expand...

KalosKagathos said:

Next update: Ikebukuro Tunnel. Five bosses, including a Fiend.

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Ogre Battle Episode 100?

spekkio said:

Ogre Battle Episode 100?

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Holy fuck, I haven't played in a month and I'm still ahead of you.

Carry on, though! Even though I haven't been brofisting you in this thread in a while, I've been reading.

Will read this tomorrow.
Time to get some sleep.

Awesome as always. I suppose you still have a lot to go though, that game is somewhat long...

Soul: If you go aaaaaall the way over the Codex, you'll see there aren't many LPs like this one!

Ex-guard's voice: C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! You better keep it up, or you'll be dead!

Just keep this shit up, it's great!

Reject_666_6 said:

Holy fuck, I haven't played in a month and I'm still ahead of you.

Click to expand...

But you don't have to cover your progress in a foreign language at least once a week, do you?

lightbane said:

I suppose you still have a lot to go though, that game is somewhat long...

Click to expand...

The Labyrinth of Amala is a good indicator of progress. The Fifth Kalpa will be done immediately before entering the final dungeon. We still have about two thirds of the game to finish.

Sorry, but no update this (and maybe the following) week. Exams are getting near and I have to write several essays. On the bright side, I should be able to update more often during the break in January-February. Once again, sorry.

Just kiddin'.

Good luck with your essays and exams!

KalosKagathos said:

Sorry, but no update this (and maybe the following) week.

Click to expand...

So how are your essays going, Kalos? Will there be an update this week?

Crooked Bee said:

So how are your essays going, Kalos? Will there be an update this week?

Click to expand...

Only one left to finish today. Will be updating on Sunday.

Well that's good news. I just started following this. I like your advice a lot--it's helping me out. I think I took on a big challenge when I chose hard for my first playthrough.

I didn't even know you could make mitama from elementals until I read it here; I thought you had to buy them. Opens up a lot of possibilities.

Do not let Grandpa Borjoyzee down!

Update 14: Ikebukuro Tunnel



The tunnel leading to Asakusa can be entered via a subway station near the highway where we fought the Hell Biker.





Soul: It's called the Ikebukuro Tunnel.



Soul: ...My guess is, they're gonna try and revive the city of Asakusa.



When you reach the platform, there are two ways to go.



First, the northern track.



There are no lights in the tunnel. Visibility is horrible, and you can't use the auto-map properly: all it displays is a small circle immediately around the main character. To see just where the hell we're going, we need Lightoma, the last utility spell left uncovered.





For the casting cost of 10 MP, darkness stops being a problem until the next new Kagutsuchi.



Anyway, the northern track leads to a small chamber that has a Mystical Chest with a Chakra Pot inside it. Every little bit helps.



Now, the main dish, the southern track.



Oni: There's oni inside! Well, I'm an oni, too, but I ran into a strong oni inside! Plus, I hear there's a total of four oni...

If you remember, the four oni, who managed to piss off Thor and Gozu-Tennoh and were exiled as a result, were mentioned as far back as our first visit to Ikebukuro. It's time to finally face them in battle. Or not. Defeating them is completely optional, but there's a Magatama in it for us.



A large terminal is immediately to the left of the helpful oni. Frankly, I have no idea how to adequately convey the tunnel's twisted passages in the screenshot form, so instead I'll do the lazy thing and just post the auto-map of the area.



We're at the eastern terminal currently.







Three more floors below us. They're dark, they have pitfalls, and they have random encounters. We've already seen most of the demons commonly encountered here: various slimes, Mothmen, Kelpies, Nues. But there's one exception.





This guy. Sarutahiko, a minor Shinto earth god and the husband of Uzume, the heavenly stripper who helped us so much in the Matador fight. I hate him. Why? First, whenever you hit him with a physical attack, there's a decent chance of him counter-attacking for moderate damage. Second, he knows Dragon Eye (converts 1 AP into 4 half-APs) and Focus. Fail to kill him in a single turn, and things will start to look bad: should he concentrate on attacking the main character, the chances of getting a game over screen will become dangerously high. At least they're never encountered in groups.



The Mizuchi hits level 38. Evolution time.







This is Long (or Seiryu), the Azure Dragon. In China, he represents east and spring. In Japan, he serves as a guardian of Kyoto on top of that.

He's going straight into the fusion pot.



We fuse Long with a Momunofu into a Succubus.



An Aquans is used to upgrade an Angel to an Archangel.



Archangels occupy the eighth place in the divine hierarchy. Much like Angels, they can serve as messengers, but they also form the backbone of the heavenly host.

The Archangel is fused with an Inugami into a Unicorn.



Finally, the Unicorn and the Succubus are fused into the Hell Biker. He won't learn Hell Exhaust until his first level up, but you have to start somewhere.



I'm the Fiend Hell Biker. My anger is hell's blessing.



A Nigi Mitama is created from an Erthys and an Aquans to transfer Mana Refill to him. That, and two placeholder skills.



With the Hell Biker's power on our side, let's go oni hunting. The first one is located on the B4 floor in a small cave at the south-west.





Kin-ki: ...WHAT DO YOU WANT? I AM KIN-KI. YOU FILTHY DOG...

Kin-ki is not listening. What will you do?

[Introduce yourself.]



Kin-ki: ...WHAT, YOU'RE THAT...!? DAMN DEMON-HUMAN FREAK!! SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST!!





So this is Kin-ki. As far as Nocturne bosses go, he's pretty boring. Then again, he doesn't even get boss music (the forced battle track plays instead), so he isn't meant to be too climatic. At the start of his turn, there are two things he can do:

1. Dekunda, if he's debuffed.
2. Beast Eye. Converts 1 AP into 2 half-APs. The first one is spent on Rakukaja, Rakunda, Tarukaja or Tarunda. The second one is used for a physical attack. He knows quite a lot of them, both single-target and AoE.

A curious ability of his is that while he's not outright immune to physical damage, he might as well be. Basic attacks have trouble reaching double digits, and physical skills don't fare much better.

So what you do is nullify his buffs and debuffs, set up yours (buffs are especially useful, as he can't remove them) and nuke him with your best direct damage spells.



When low on health, he gets pissed off and starts using Dragon Eye instead of Beast Eye. 3 half-APs are spent on buffs and debuffs, one on attacking. If you have 4 Rakukajas set up at this point (and you should), this doesn't make much of a difference.



Rest in peace, Kin-ki.



Another highlight of the tunnel is a Cache Cube on B5 floor with 3 Trolls inside it. They get the first turn and use it to unload a bunch of Mabufula spells. Fun.



Yet more fusion takes place before the next big fight. First, we buy a Flaemis, a fire elemental, at Rag's.



I can't believe I didn't have a reason to post their concept art until mid-40s.

Kushinada is fused with a Hua Po into Orthrus, we then fuse Orthrus with an Angel into a Feng Huang.



Finally, the Flaemis is used to upgrade the Feng Huang. Baihu is the result.



Baihu (or Byakko) is a pal of the Azure Dragon. He's the White Tiger, the guardian of the west, associated with autumn.

Stone Bite, unpredictably, is a physical attack that has a chance of turning the target into stone. It will be used for really great cheese tactics at the end of the update.



A Nigi Mitama is used to give Baihu Mana Refill.



Male Manikin: There are four ex-Mantra oni here. They're scary. The leader oni's gonna come out if you defeat the other three, and he's really scary! ...In other words, I'm scared.

While looking for more oni to kill, we encounter a Manikin who tells us that the most powerful oni will not come out until his underlings are defeated.



More Mystical Chest goodness.



Time for another fight. This cave is at the north-western part of B4, and the only way to get here is through the pitfall on B3.





Sui-ki: I'm Sui-ki. I'm a cold demon.









Sui-ki is even more straightforward than Kin-ki, if that's possible. Starts every turn with a Beast Eye. Can use Focus, a couple of physicals, Mabufu and Ice Breath. No buffs, no debuffs, no Dekunda, no Dekaja. Weak to Fire. We spend several turns on buffs, then have the Biker spam Hell Burner for huge damage.



As it was with Kin-ki, Sui-ki starts using Dragon Eye near the end. He also gains Mabufula and Glacial Blast, but even that's not enough to penetrate our defenses at this point.



2 down, 2 to go.



An important-looking place is near the small terminal on B2.



The leader of the oni dwells here, but we haven't caught his interest just yet.



The tunnel ends nearby.



Soul: The end of the Ikebukuro Line--!

We're free to leave for Asakusa.



Instead, let's take another subway track and see where it leads.



To the hideout of an oni, of course.





Fuu-ki: I'm Fuu-ki. You must have some time on your hands, making it all the way down here.







Fuu-ki: C'mon, I beg of you! Ha... Yeah, right!





Fuu-ki is the last of the lesser oni we'll face. Just like the previous two, he starts every turn with a Beast Eye. He knows several physical skills, but mostly he's about Force attacks - and he can buff them with Makakaja, so we use Rakukaja and War Cry. That's it for the defense.

On the side of the offense, Reggie exploits his weakness to Electricity with Shock, potentially setting up free criticals for the entire party.



As the other two, he starts using Dragon Eye eventually. If you freely let him Makakaja himself before, you'll probably get KOKO DESU KA'd with a Tornado onslaught he unleashes here, but otherwise you should do fine.



Daisoujou's Meditation actually manages to completely drain him out of MP on the second to last turn of the fight. As his AI is scripted to use Dragon Eye every turn, this makes him a sitting duck, unable to fight back.



But not... essential.



Back to the leader's cave.













Note: he actually buys option 2 and lets you go, if you choose it.



Ongyo-ki: Learn your weakness through my illusions!



Oh boy, here we go.













The difficulty of this battle may range from nigh impossible to a cakewalk, depending on whether or not you know the trick to it.

As you can see, Ongyo-ki can summon mirror images of himself out of thin air. Hitting a clone destroys it, but counts as a miss (costs two action points). Hitting the real one destroys all clones. All AoE attacks miss automatically and do nothing, if at least one clone is present.

What Ongyo-ki does depends on whether or not there are any mirror images summoned. If he isn't alone, they gang up on you, and it hurts a lot. I mean it. If all images have been destroyed, he does a Dragon Eye, casts Tarukaja, Rakukaja and Sukukaja, then Replicates again. If all buffs are set up, he spends actions normally reserved for buffing on attacks. Sometimes he attacks anyway, but that's a rare occurrence.

If you take a closer look at the pattern, you'll notice a glaring flaw: if there was away to guess where the real Ongyo-ki is consistently, he'd almost never bother to actually attack, as long as you made sure to remove his buffs as well. And that's the trick. Fighting Ongyo-ki on full Kagutsuchi results in the real one having a shadow below his feet.







That's all there is it to this fight. Too gimmicky to my tastes, but it's certainly something different.



All oni we defeated can now be created through fusion, if we meet level requirements.



The more immediate prize is the Murakumo Magatama. Resists physical damage, weak to Fire and Ice. Teaches passives that null Mind, Nerve and Curse and Chaos Blade, a physical AoE that hits random targets, can inflict Panic and enjoys an increased critical hit rate.









At long last, light.



Principalities can be encountered around these parts.



Principalities are the seventh in the divine hierarchy. They are patrons of individual cities.



And this is our destination. Asakusa, where the Manikins seek to build a better world.











Joy.



Male Manikin: ...Ah, it has such a sweet ring to it.

Cool story... Wait, is that a terminal?



Female Manikin: We're free! There's nothing that can hurt us now! The Mantra? We don't give a damn!

Happy for you, miss, we really are, but there's an embodiment of death itself currently hounding us, so if you could please let us use that terminal...



Well, damn.

Will you stay here?

No.

It's right here! We want to bloody save!

......It looks like you won't be able to escape...

Well, damn.



The reason the camera angle changed here is because this Fiend is meant to catch you as you're leaving the terminal. In fact, it can be encountered in any major town, not just Asakusa.























I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

Conqueror, Pestilence, the White Rider. The first Horseman of the Apocalypse to ride out. As you can see, there's nothing in the original Bible passage that actually ties this figure to pestilence. This interpretation probably owes much to bows being the traditional weapons of plague gods.

It is the will of the candelabra... Longing for but a single owner, they call out to each other and bring us together!



But, if you lack the strength to do so...



Here it goes.





The White Rider has two action points and can summon up to two Virtues, thus increasing the total to four. Virtues themselves, true to the Rider's words, will Rakunda your party, greatly increasing the damage you take.



While we're at it, Virtues hold the fifth rank in the divine hierarchy and are responsible for miracles.



Back on subject. Virtues are annoying. There are two ways to deal with them. The first one is to exploit their weakness to Force with Tornadoes. Effective, but costly. It's way more fun to exploit their other weakness, Death. Not with instant kill spells, but with the Stone status effect.



Like this. It prevents them from joining the fight, as the Rider can neither remove the effect, nor summon more Virtues, because they're technically alive.



Next thing you'll want to do is protect yourself from this, the Prominence spell. It's a Fire-based cousin of Tornado and Glacial Blast, which means Baihu is in for a world of hurt, if he gets hit. Fog Breath and War Cry are mandatory for his survival. The White Rider knows Dekaja, so buffs are less useful.



And when you feel safe, you can start using Focused attacks on him. He goes down in no time.



Once the White Rider is dead, all that's left is crushing the statues of Virtues.



An aside: I'm quite sure the White Rider has God's Bow, a spell that instantly kills any target not immune to Expel, but he never used it on this playthrough. Strange.



Finally, the terminal.



Oh, hi there.





It took a while, but I was finally able to pinpoint the route to this terminal. Not bad for an ordinary human, eh? Oh yeah, I found out something interesting about Asakusa. This is where the Manikins are created. They're made from the black mud that's scooped up from a river around here. No wonder they want to rebuild this town.







It's perfect for monitoring their activities and finding out about the Nightmare System.



It shouldn't take too long, though. Why don't you go look around for a while?





Next time: another andyman of ITZ and Asakusa.





EDIT: The update used to mention Kusi Mitama. That was a mistake, and Nigi Mitama were actually used instead.

KalosKagathos said:

Click to expand...

The trick to this boss seems almost impossible to find on your own. Unless you happen to be attacking on full Kagutsuchi (only a 7% chance of you doing that randomly) or you regularly abuse Bright Might (what I do) you're going to lose all the time.

Also, I think it's lazy design when a boss is nigh-invulnerable if you fight him normally, then becomes weak as hell if you find the trick. If it were up to me, he should be very tough without the trick but still a challenge with the trick.

Massive

Nice to see this LP return

Wonderful, thank you KK.

And knowing the right trick making a battle a cakewalk is good design in my book. Making it impossible without the trick is, however, not so good.

Agreed about Ongyo-ki being cheap. He's the only boss in the game I had to check GameFAQs for. That said - and it's pure theory here, I haven't actually tried it - he should be beatable without the trick if you abuse Tetrakarn and reflect all physical damage back at him. Physical attacks are all he's capable of, so if they don't damage you, there's nothing he can do, and you'll wear him down eventually. Will take a fuckton of MP, though.

Could someone try this if they're planning a playthrough in the foreseeable future? Onkot, a level 37 Yoma, learns Tetrakarn on level 38.

EDIT: Daisoujou with Makatora can solve the MP problem, I think.

The lack of bump on this page offends me greatly. It's time to prove that my words were no empty threats. I will burn in hell for this.

Naoto had always prided herself on her powers of observation. Second to none, as befitting the great detective she was well on her way to being. It was therefore natural that the peculiar events at the start of her second year at Yasogami High would catch her attention. Or, more specifically, the set of peculiar events involving Kanji Tatsumi.

For example, his repeated attempts to carry her school textbooks. The second year reshuffle had placed both of them in the same class. At least three times a week, Naoto now found herself assuring Kanji that yes, she was perfectly capable of carrying her own bookbag to the classroom, there really was no reason why she wouldn't be, now give that back, Tatsumi.

(Admittedly, she had the vague impression this might have happened before, once or twice. Ridiculous notion, though. She would have noticed.)

Kanji also appeared to be following her everywhere. It had begun with him joining Rise and her on their walk home. Which had made sense; Kanji also lived in the shopping district. What was inexplicable was his tendency to appear when Naoto was browsing in the bookstore, or walking home from the police station, or in any other number of places where a teenage not-quite-delinquent normally would not be. Naoto half expected to turn around in the girls' locker room one day and find him standing there staring at the ceiling. This was yet another odd habit of Kanji's, and would typically accompany the stuttered beginnings of a conversation that never quite went anywhere beyond the weather. The ceiling would hold his attention the entire time.

Decidedly impolite, Naoto thought. So was leaving his leftover lunch on her desk - a habit which he now indulged on a fairly regular basis. Rise had suggested that perhaps Kanji was trying to share. Naoto, meanwhile, concluded that decoding whatever bizarre inner motivations powered Kanji Tatsumi simply wasn't worth the effort.

Which, unfortunately, did nothing to abate her curiosity. Or her frustration. The combination of the two left her in her current position: sitting at her desk, glaring at Kanji from across the room in the last few minutes before afternoon class.

He was completely inexplicable.

"Something up, Naoto-kun?"

Naoto shook her head, still watching Kanji. It took a moment before she registered the voice - or rather its owner, who leaned over her shoulder and pushed her cap down over her eyes.

"Funny," Rise chirped. "Cause you've been staring at Kanji for like ten minutes now." When Naoto pulled her cap back up, Rise's lips were curled into a smirk. "What's so interesting?"

"Nothing. At all," Naoto muttered, and folded her arms. "Thank you for your interest."

Rise sat down on the chair in front of Naoto's desk - completely disregarding that it belonged to another student, but that was hardly surprising - and rested her chin on her hand. "Must be something, Naoto. Otherwise there'd be no point, right?" She grinned. "And you never do anything that's pointless."

Well. That was certainly true.

"Kanji's behaviour has just been...odd in recent weeks. I wish to ascertain why."

Rise frowned. "Odd?" Then she shrugged. "He seems pretty normal to me."

Surely Rise had noticed too? She had some sort of innate talent for knowing everybody else's business, frequently before they did. Naoto had originally assumed it was a trait of her Persona, before realizing it was more a trait of Rise Kujikawa and something best never questioned.

She let out a frustrated sigh, and leaned forward over the desk. "He simply will not leave me alone, Rise. It's absurd! Taking my bag out of my hands, stuttering nonsense at me...and he is constantly following me around!"

Rise stared at her. Moments passed. Naoto began to feel vaguely uncomfortable.

Then the smirk returned. "Yeah. I know. He's been doing that stuff since January."

Naoto blinked.

"Because, Naoto," Rise added, very slowly and carefully, "he has the world's biggest crush on you. Ever."

Naoto blinked again, then opened and closed her mouth for good measure.

"Mystery solved!" trilled Rise with a smile, and she stood up and walked out the room - leaving Naoto staring at Kanji again, facing the unhappy prospect that she might just be the worst detective in history.

*

Later that night, Naoto instead decided that Rise was insane.

There was no other explanation. Kanji had no reason to be attracted to her, of all people; someone who, until only a year ago, everyone had taken for a boy. Girls like Yukiko and Rise herself were far more suitable. Almost every boy at school was chasing Risette or the Amagi Challenge, and occasionally both. Naoto was certain that either of them would have won that ridiculous beauty pageant, if not for Yasogami High's female population suffering sudden mass psychosis.

Detective Prince, indeed. Ridiculous.

Naoto rolled over in bed, and glared firmly at the wall. What self-respecting male would pursue someone who posed as a boy? Someone who wore a boy's uniform, liked boyish things - and more than that, successfully deceived everyone for years? The answer, of course, was that they wouldn't.

Even if a little evidence perhaps pointed to Kanji holding her in some sort of regard, maybe, if you looked very hard and squinted, that hardly meant that Rise's assertions held any truth. He was a steadfast ally and nothing more. And if Kanji wasn't interested, that left Naoto with a very simple course of action: do absolutely nothing.

Not that she'd ever intended to, she reminded herself. No reason to waste her time. Kanji held no interest for her, and she held no interest for Kanji.

Naoto diligently reminded herself of this the rest of the night, as she lay in bed unable to sleep and still glaring at the wall.


*


By morning, she was considerably less sure of herself. Thinking about it, a crush was a very convincing - and horrible - explanation for Kanji's recent behaviour. And Naoto might, if she was honest with herself, have been just a little blind for not noticing. Willfully or otherwise.

She could hardly be blamed, though. Great detectives weren't supposed to detect crushes. The closest thing in the novels would be a femme fatale, sashaying into a hard-boiled detective's dimly lit office with a crucial case and perfectly coiffeured hair.

Naoto tried to imagine the same scenario playing out with her and Kanji, and got hopelessly stuck around the 'sashaying' part.

Regardless, she had always been ill-disposed to romantic entanglements - mostly because they were precisely that. A waste of time and energy. Other people were incomprehensible at the best of times. Particularly clumsy, tattooed boys who refused to leave her alone.

She looked up from her textbook. Egyptian headdress or not, Ms. Sofue's history class was crushingly dull. But paying attention today had been even more difficult than usual, and the main reason for this was staring at her from two desks to the left. When Naoto caught Kanji's eye his gaze instantly snapped back to his book - which appeared to be turned to the wrong page, and might possibly have been upside down.

Two minutes later, the same thing happened again. And three minutes and forty seconds after that. A quick flash of blue eyes meeting hers, before they instantly glanced away.

Naoto decided it was suddenly very hot in the room, judging by the heat rushing to her face. She spent the rest of the lesson tugging at her shirt collar, failing to pay attention to Ms. Sofue, and trying not to watch Kanji watching her.

*

*

At lunch, feeling thoroughly out of sorts, Naoto retreated to the roof. The weather was cold for October and few students had ventured there of late.

Unfortunately, Kanji Tatsumi was one of them. As Naoto exited the stairwell, he looked up, caught her eye - and again, turned away.

Fine, thought Naoto, and sat on the ledge at the precise position keeping her at the maximum possible distance from Kanji. She hadn't brought lunch - she'd been so distracted this morning that she'd even had to return home for her bookbag shortly after leaving the house - so she settled for staring at the ground and contemplating everything except teenage boys and their ludicrous crushes.

Preoccupied as she was, she failed to notice the figure standing in front of her - at least until it let out a very loud cough.

Naoto glanced up - meeting Kanji's fierce glare. It might have been intimidating, had he not also been biting his lip, running one hand through his hair, and clutching a bento box with a kitten on the front.

"You...uh. You ain't..." he began, then growled, before trying again. "You didn't eat lunch."

"No," answered Naoto, pointedly not mentioning that she'd forgotten to bring it. Detectives didn't forget anything. Or perhaps that was elephants, thinking about it. Or tigers? Detectives as well, Naoto eventually decided, and remained silent until Kanji thrust the bento box in her general direction.

"I-I made too much. So eat it, alright?"

"No," repeated Naoto, slightly more firmly.

Kanji scowled. "Why? It...s'really good, I promise! I didn't--"

"I do not," Naoto muttered, now staring at the ground, "welcome your attention, Tatsumi. If I require your assistance, I will ask for it."

And she hadn't. Just like all those times inside the television. Kanji had pulled her up, tossed medicines to her, and taken hits on her behalf when she was on the floor. All behavior which she'd previously been oblivious to, but which was now so obvious she felt her cheeks flush dark red at the thought.

"I don't want to eat your lunch," she added, sounding petulant even to herself.

She glanced back up, just for a moment. Kanji looked crushed.

"Uh. Okay." His voice was quieter than she'd ever heard. She felt him move away, and footsteps sounded over the concrete roof.

Best not to lead him on. This was for the best, Naoto told herself - completely unable to explain why she felt so guilty.

*

By Friday, Naoto had lost her temper with Kanji on fourteen separate occasions. Which was completely out of character for her, and also beginning to attract attention.

"You are being such a jerk," Rise pointed out on their way home after school. Kanji had ceased accompanying them. "Kanji doesn't mean any harm."

Naoto stared glumly at her feet as they struck the footpath. As far she was concerned, anything that interfered with her work and disrupted her composure was most definitely harmful - including Kanji Tatsumi and his ridiculous infatuation.

"I know he's kinda nervous around you, but you wouldn't believe how much better he's gotten. Seriously!" Here, Rise giggled. "When I met him last year he was just all over the place about you."

Naoto paused. Hadn't that been in June? Before everyone knew she was...

"Plus, you two would make the cutest couple ever."

Before everyone knew she was a boy.

Meaning, possibly, maybe, that Kanji didn't actually care.

"Rise, I have no interest whatsoever in such affairs," Naoto snapped, finally breaking her silence. "Kanji Tatsumi's...feelings towards me, whatever their nature, are entirely irrelevant."

Rise just giggled - again - and tipped the brim of Naoto's cap down over her eyes. Again.

Foolish girl, Naoto thought, then assured herself that there was absolutely no point in chasing others or in romantic feelings of any form, not when a person had Important Things To Do.

(And absolutely none of those things, she reminded herself, involved Kanji Tatsumi.)